The Exquisite Feeling of the 'Fu' in Wheat Gluten
The most unnecessary thing in the world is
the gold leaf on top of a soft-serve ice cream.
I've been wondering about this for a long time.
What purpose does that gold leaf serve?
What kind of desire does it satisfy?
Is it the feeling of 'I'm eating something luxurious'?
Or is it a store strategy to increase the unit price?
Of course, gold leaf has no nutritional value.
It just passes through you if you eat it.
It has no taste either. It doesn't contribute to the deliciousness.
Even if people say it creates an atmosphere,
personally, I think we don't need that kind of atmosphere.
Conversely, there are things that seem completely unnecessary
but are somehow charming.
What I would like to recommend are
'fu' (wheat gluten) and 'konnyaku' (konjac).
When I was in elementary school,
my personal ranking of things that are pointless to eat
was fu, konnyaku, and cucumber in the top three.
It's not that I disliked them, but
I couldn't find much meaning in eating them.
In elementary school terms, they were things that 'didn't matter'.
It's different now.
I simply think they are delicious.
Why didn't I think so when I was a child...
I don't really understand the taste of fu or konnyaku on their own.
Fu doesn't really have a taste to begin with, and
konnyaku is not exactly delicious, if anything.
The smell is a bit bothersome, and...
However, that's only when looking at them individually,
but they change drastically when used in cooking.
They protect and express the flavors of the dish.
This indirect free-kick style technique
is certainly difficult for elementary school students to understand.
For a child, the idea of 'bringing out the best in others'
is something that doesn't even cross their mind.
It was a high-level deliciousness that can only be understood
after gaining a certain amount of life experience.
Cucumbers are similar.
Biting into a chilled cucumber on a veranda in the hot summer,
one factor is whether you are in an environment where you can enjoy such luxury.
It is quite difficult to enjoy a cucumber bought at a supermarket
on its own.
However, it changes drastically when pickled.
It's also good with mayonnaise.
It is indeed a type that changes through external help.
That said, compared to other vegetables,
the image of cooking and eating it is thin.
I think it is still for advanced users.
Among these three, 'fu' is definitely
number one in terms of being hard to grasp its true nature.
I'm sure there are many adults who say,
'I don't know what's good about fu'.
In terms of soaking up the flavors of ingredients,
fu is unparalleled and excellent.
Especially when it comes to soups, its ability to hold flavor is amazing.
It's not that fu itself has no taste.
There is a difference between delicious ones and mediocre ones.
However, it doesn't push itself forward with its taste.
It remains modest and brings out the best in others.
Kenji Miyazawa might even say,
'I want to be like that'.
And the most wonderful thing is
the naming 'fu'.
The way it drifts like a 'fu'.
It doesn't assert itself too much, yet it has a presence.
It's just like the wind. Fu.