Her website is divided into two sections, \u201cJournal\u201d and \u201cEssays\u201d, and through these two \u201cchannels\u201d she tells of her own experiences and those of others with a love of wholesome, well-sourced food. As the \u201cHumans of New York\u201d website gives a glimpse into the lives of others through a beautifully shot portrait, or simple yet symbolic photo, so does Prairie let us into the lives of others, through their relationship with food.<\/p>\n
Prairie grew up on the east coast of America before studying a Liberal Arts degree at Stanford. It was in America that she met her Japanese partner, who runs a very successful pottery business from their home in rural Karatsu. Prairie tells me that she has always had \u201ca life-long fascination with art\u201d and a keen interest in photography, and on completion of her degree she wanted to pursue more formal photographic training. She studied in Maine, where she was able to learn about film photography at a time where it was being phased out in preference of digital photography.<\/p>\n She has an eye for aesthetics, and so in a lot of ways it seems so apt that she should have chosen to live in Japan, where beauty can be found in all manner of places. She describes, in a particularly beautiful Instagram post<\/a> of a single bonsai tree, how it feels \u201cpredetermined\u201d that she were to come and live in Japan, but that it was not something she had ever considered before meeting her partner.<\/p>\n She has now been working \u201cseriously\u201d on her website, which she suggests may be more aptly termed a \u201cweb magazine,\u201d for the past three years. The content \u201ccomes in waves,\u201d but she tends to write a Journal entry two to three times per month. Its process has been full of \u201cevolutions\u201d; it was something which she initially turned to in order to \u201corchestrate\u201d her life and stop her feeling \u201clost\u201d as she began to split her time between America and Japan.<\/p>\n Prairie was interested in food in the States but it was in Japan, where she began to observe her partner\u2019s mother\u2019s cooking, that her interest really took hold. Growing up, she \u201cloved cooking\u201d and her own mother was a \u201cgood cook.\u201d However, in Japan her interest in culinary treats became a way of \u201cnavigating\u201d how to be part of society here, which is no mean feat for someone who arrived with \u201cno Japanese at all.\u201d Prairie describes following her mother-in-law around the kitchen, observing, noting down and copying the recipes, which were made with seasonal ingredients.<\/p>\n I\u2019m intrigued to know how Prairie views food culture in Japan with regard to food culture in the US. Our relationship with food is \u201cquickly changing\u201d, she believes, which is both \u201cinteresting and exciting.\u201d She is abreast of the farming culture in America, which has transitioned from small to corporate farms. This is not good for land or produce and often results in long haul transportation to supermarkets where the produce is then sold on.<\/p>\n Of course it is \u201chard to generalise\u201d, but Prairie and I talk about the Community Supported Agriculture scheme (CSA) and Maine, where Prairie lives for half the year. In Maine, for example, there has been a shift back to local farming and a seasonal, organic produce trend has developed. Being able to buy directly from farmers means cutting out the middle-man (the supermarket) and in turn, reduces the risk factor. Families invest in their local farm and are happy to purchase whatever farmers succeed in growing, be that five tomatoes one year, or bushels the next. This relationship between farmer and consumer installs trust, and has meant more young people are considering farming as a career.<\/p>\n Japan is on the cusp of a similar shift, Prairie thinks. Since the Fukushima disaster, there seems to have been a shift to prioritising healthy crops in Japan, as people realised that there was a need to be careful about where food comes from. Prairie revels in visiting the local market to find out what is in season there and notes that February to May is a particularly exciting time in Karatsu. <\/p>\n As far as Prairie has understood the situation, it is difficult to farm in Japan without being part of Japan Agriculture (JA), who often puts pressure on farmers to maximise production through the use of pesticides. She is interested in meeting and writing about Japanese food producers who work outside of these conditions, although this can be tricky.<\/p>\n Having \u201clanded in a family\u201d in Japan though, she has been able to meet many interesting personalities simply through \u201cword of mouth.\u201d Since they make tableware, \u201cpotters like to eat and cook\u201d and so she is well-placed in Japan to explore the food scene.<\/p>\n One man she has met, a jinenjo<\/em> (wild yam) farmer<\/a> from Karatsu became so disillusioned with the JA system, which makes a huge profit from farmers\u2019 crops, that he decided to find an alternative way to sell his produce. He \u201cworked his tail off\u201d to produce a superior product which he could sell to department stores, who don\u2019t trade under the same rules as the supermarkets do.<\/p>\n I am curious to know what Praire thinks about consumers often being deterred by the price of organic, well-sourced produce in comparison to its more affordable supermarket counterparts. Her response is simple: \u201cThe price of [supermarket] food now is unrealistic\u201d, she says, explaining that we have become used to very cheap produce over the years, which has been made possible by the increase of large-scale farming which is subsidized by the government, and we now expect to be able to buy cheap food. <\/p>\n Prairie\u2019s knowledge of Japanese foods is extensive and her love of it is great. I ask if there\u2019s anything she misses when she returns to America and we quickly arrive at the topic of \u201cfood geography.\u201d Prairie explains that for her, food is tied to geography and that she alternates between American and Japanese cuisines depending on which of the two countries she finds herself in. Her personal stance is that she is not so keen on \u201csubstitution of ingredients\u201d as she sets out to source her food locally and seasonally and likes to work with what\u2019s available: \u201ceverything we love about washoku<\/em> has to do with living in Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n With so many delights displayed on Cultivated Days, I wonder what an average food day is like for Prairie, or if such a thing exists. Living in the countryside, \u201c99% of meals are consumed at home at the dining table.\u201d Co-running the pottery business with her partner means that days are busy, and leftovers are often served for lunch. For Prairie, she has grown to see food as a source of pleasure. It is one of the things which \u201cmost directly affects us\u201d, and is \u201cone of the things we spend most of our time doing.\u201d <\/p>\n Prairie is fascinated by Japan\u2019s ancient culinary customs and traditions, and keen for them to be preserved. Thanks to a recent grant from VSCO<\/a>, an American photo software company, which she received through \u201cluck\u201d, she is able to finance her \u201cpassion project,\u201d with the aim of educating readers about Japanese Culture.<\/p>\n![\"Prairie](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Prairie-interview-apr-2016-008.jpg?resize=640%2C427\")
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\nA photo from one of Prairie\u2019s favourite articles about the freediving tradition of the ama<\/em>. <\/p>\n![\"Prairie](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Prairie-interview-apr-2016-003.jpg?resize=640%2C960\")
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\nFrom the Essay \u201cReintroducing Sake to Japan\u201d: Prairie meets Daisuke Komatsu who, disillusioned by the life of a salaryman, wanted to revive the family sake<\/em> business. <\/p>\n![\"Prairie](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Prairie-interview-apr-2016-030.jpg?resize=640%2C427\")
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\nFrom the Journal entry \u201cHer Hands Remembered\u201d: Prairie\u2019s mother-in-law is her cooking inspiration <\/p>\n![\"Prairie](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Prairie-interview-apr-2016-047.jpg?resize=640%2C960\")
\nThe great outdoors: Prairie picks sansho<\/em> at her home in Karatsu<\/p>\n![\"Prairie](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Prairie-interview-apr-2016-046.jpg?resize=640%2C427\")
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\nThis wakame sunomono<\/em> salad recipe is featured in Prairie\u2019s spring Journal post. <\/p>\n