Mise en Place: Omake
Gensokyo, land of fantasy and illusion. Walking through its fields, one could easily be forgiven for thinking it lived as a relic of the 19th Century. In its towns, however, the 21st Century struggles to emerge, like a chick from an egg. In turns cosmopolitan and provincial, its humans, animals, fairies, and youkai live in a melting pot easily disturbed by the whims of the powerful and bored. In short, Gensokyo's a land of paradox, it's my hometown, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm Koishi Komeji. I write, I eat, I travel, and I'm hungry for more.
Koishi Komeji: No Reservations.
Historically, the first stop for any visitor to Gensokyo was the Human Village, if only for safety. It wasn't all that long ago that newcomers were considered fair game for the countless highwaymen, hucksters, and hungry youkai that prowled the land. Once they reached the Village, a newcomer would then have the same protections as a local and could walk around safely.
Now, any person can freely travel all throughout Gensokyo without fear. Yet you should still go to the Human Village right away, if only to see the changes a vibrant economic boom can make to a small town. Be prepared to walk, though. There are no buses in Gensokyo, and it's best that way. Who would want to miss the natural splendor of the countryside? But if fields, mountains, and forests aren't your thing, you can hire a cat cart. It isn't that much faster, but your driver can fill you in on the local gossip and folklore on the way.
"This all changed a few years ago," Rin Kaenbyou called out over her shoulder as she pulled a small wooden rickshaw. As the kasha ran, Koishi sat on the cart's bench, one hand holding her wide-brimmed hat on her head. The feline driver showed no sign of fatigue as they passed a rice paddy. "After the Hakurei Priestess created the spell card rules. That leveled the playing field between the strong and weak. Now a child can walk from one end of Gensokyo to the other without worry." Rin winked at Koishi. "I know I wouldn't have been able to do this in the old days." She sprinted faster.
"Certainly, not everyone follows the spell card rules," Koishi said, wincing as the cart bounced over a rock.
The cat youkai laughed. "Those that don't find Reimu waiting for them. That Hakurei Priestess shows them just as much mercy as they showed others."
The young satori traveler cringed. "So, none then."
Rin laughed and said, "Good riddance, I say. Between her rules and the new kappa inventions, life's a lot better now."
"Is there anything you miss from the old days?"
"Some of the food carts. You can't find good cheap lampreys anymore. Progress, I guess," Rin said, licking her lips. "Oh, and Koishi? Please don't forget to see Satori. She misses you something fierce."
"Thanks," Koishi said, shrinking into her chair.
After she shared a recommendation for an authentic Chireidein barbeque restaurant, I reassured Rin that I'd check in with my sister. I then set out throughout the Human Village to find what Rin could not; cheap lamprey from a food cart.
Tucked away throughout parts of Europe and Southeast Asia, you can find small food carts and stalls. Often run by one family for generations and focusing on one specialty, you can tell the best of these from the long lines of locals waiting their turn for the food. Like Rin, I could remember a time where Gensokyo was filled with these mom and pop shops, many times ran by farmers trying to eek a little more cash from their harvests and slaughters. These thrifty souls lived the ancient challenge of the poor cook; making the leftover and the inedible edible. In the process, more often than not, they made tasty food that would be the envy of any large city chef.
Yet the noble food cart proved to be just as frustrating to find as trying to catch a glimpse of a kirin in Gensokyo. Fields where food carts once converged now lay empty, or worse, are paved over with the newest TGI McFunster's abomination imported from greater Japan. After growing frustrated and hungry during my two hour search down the Village's now bustling streets, I began to despair. The food cart used to be part of the Human Village's soul. What does it profit a town, to gain so much, yet lose its soul?
If I couldn't find the lamprey stand, I'd at least try to find the cook. A tip from a friendly hell raven sent me here, to the hottest new restaurant in the Village, the Maya Noodle Bar. Instead of common Japanese fare, though, Maya serves a strange mix of the familiar and the foreign, providing its customers with Spanish tapas side by side with more traditional seafood and rice. Despite the name, noodles aren't featured here, save for a Cajun riff on Chinese noodles.
"The old cooks are still here," Maya's head chef, Mystia Lorelei, said, sliding a plate filled with grilled lampreys and fried potatoes bravas toward Koishi. "But you'll now find them in restaurants like this instead of the streets."
"Why did you leave your cart?" Koishi said, between bites. The two sat out in the Noodle Bar's patio.
Mystia shrugged as she waved down a green-haired waitress with a snake ornament in her hair. "For the challenge, really. Before I came here, I cooked only lampreys and rice. Now I have much more to play with. Ocean fishes, new vegetables, marrow, and more. But I wouldn't have been hired if not for my food cart."
"Cooks are at a premium, then."
"With all the money coming in, everyone wants the sophistication of the megacities, especially with food. So any smart would-be restauranteur is going to look for a chef that can not only cook well, but can turn out a lot of dishes in a short time," Mystia said, taking a small plate filled with clear cubes covered in fruit from her waitress. "So all the cooks pushing little carts struggling to get by suddenly have big money offers because the owners know they can get the job done."
Koishi took a cube and slipped it in her mouth. Her eyes widened as she chewed. "What did I just eat?"
Mystia laughed. "Fish marrow with apricot caviar. You should have seen our waitress's face when she first tried it. You'd have thought she had just been kissed." With a clatter of plates against the floor, the red-faced waitress ran inside the kitchen.
"I can see why," Koishi said, dabbing a napkin at the corner of her mouth. "Don't you miss your old stand?"
Mystia pointed to a polished wooden cart at the edge of the patio. "Not really. I made it part of the restaurant, both physically and in the menu as well. Most of my cooks wouldn't have gotten a job in anything other than a cart, so we take care to remember our roots."
"Yet your menu is anything but traditional," the food critic pointed out, sipping from a glass of water.
"I forgot who said it, but food's the new rock and roll," the chef said. Behind her, rabbit ears poked out from the bushes near the food cart. "People are fierce champions of restaurants, just like bands and music. The Noodle Bar gives them something different from everything else in the Village. People either like us or hate us, but no one confuses us with any one else."
"So, you're not worried about competition?" Koishi said, watching as a team of rabbit youkai converged on Mystia's cart, taking up positions at the front and rear.
"Not at all. We're-" the songbird chef said. Wood creaked and protested as the rabbits pulled the cart away from the patio. One dark haired rabbit stopped and showered the restaurant in flyers. ""Get back here!" Mystia shrieked, dashing after her rapidly retreating cart.
Koishi finished off her plate as she read one of the flyers that floated her way "The Bamboo Child. She's right, food is fiercely partisan here."
After the break, we'll see a spell card battle, and, yes, Rin, I'll finally catch up with my sister, Satori...
Disclaimer: The Touhou Project belongs to ZUN. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations belongs to the Travel Channel.