Things to Do and Eat at Tomorrow's Healthy Food & Green Festival

The Healthy Food & Green Festival is tomorrow and here's a sample of all the good eats and stuff that we'll have! There's also the JRO Essence of Japanese Cuisine Demonstrations happening throughout the day as well. Four demonstrations (Dashi & Umami, Okonomiyaki, Mentaiko, and Soybeans) will have free tastings afterwards and gift bags filled with our sponsors' products for those who participate in giving us feedback. The festival has so much more that we can't fit into this post, so come tomorrow (Sunday, August 22nd) from 11 AM to 6 PM to check us out! We're on Madison Avenue between 43rd and 45th Streets. Hope to see you there!

Forty-Eight Hours Before the Healthy Food & Green Festival...

It's late Friday night before Japantown's Healthy Food & Green Festival this weekend, and the entire team is still running around to tie up some loose ends.

Here's one interesting highlight of our day: our shipment of nobori (long, narrow Japanese banners commonly used in festivals and events) with the JapanTown logo just came in and we all pitched in to assemble them. For a moment there, it looked like we turned into a small flag-making factory! It was lots of fun. We got 50 nobori for our compact two-block festival, and they're super tall to ensure that people will be able to spot us for miles away. Nobori are apparently unheard of in the U.S., so we had to order them from Japan, where we found a manufacturer that made environmentally-friendly poles - quite fitting for our Healthy Food & Green Festival!

Map of the Healthy Food & Green Festival!

It may not seem like it, but we got a lot of stuff packed into two blocks. Food demonstrations will be happening all day in the JRO area in the center, food vendors will be on the left of the street, and most non-food vendors on the right. It's laid out this way because we're trying to facilitate traffic to avoid a massive crowd like the one at last year's fair. Please use this handy map to help you plan your itinerary for this Sunday. We'll give you details about the vendors' updated menus and products soon, so stay tuned!.

House Foods America Offers Taste and Comfort

JapanTown welcomes House Foods as a sponsor at the the Healthy Food and Green Festival! House Foods is the top-selling tofu seller in the United Sates, using only non-genetically engineered, United Sates grown soybeans. House Foods is very concerned with the versatility of nutrition that soy and tofu offer, including weight, bone healthy, and pregnancy health benefits. For their customer's convenience, House Foods offers over a dozen different variations of tofu, and recommends tofu recipes for a very flavorful, healthy experience. House Foods will also be providing the tofu for the two demonstrations at the JRO Essence of Japanese Cuisine exhibit. Make sure you stop by the Healthy Food and Green Festival to check out House Foods for an exquisite experience in tofu!

Love Your Insides with Yakult!

JapanTown welcomes our new sponsor, Yakult, the brand well-known for its delicious nutritional fermented dairy drink. For 75 years Yakult has been improving digestion and nutrition worldwide. They strongly believe that a healthy intestinal tract will lead to a long life. Similar to yogurt, Yakult contains probiotics, or "good bacteria," which combats harmful bacterias in your digestive system, allowing your body to build up natural defenses. Yakult also conveniently comes in multiple sizes, their signature brand being the 1 shot bottles (2.7 ounces) for adding to your daily diet. There are also comes in different flavors, including apple, orange and grape. The name Yakult is derived from the Esperanto word for yogurt. The Yakult website contains an abundance of information on proiotics and about their particular strain lactobacillius casei, for those who are interested. Stop by the Healthy Food and Green Festival on Sunday to have a taste some Yakult!

Visit Suzuki Farm for Organic Japanese Ingredients

Founded in Delmar, Delaware, Suzuki Farm has been offering the East Coast fresh, organic, chemical and pesticide-free Japanese vegetables for 26 years. On their 28-acre farm, they grow more than 30 kinds of vegetables that are essential ingredients in Japanese cuisine, including organic daikon radishes, kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), edamame, and fuki (Japanese rhubarb), mame yuzu (a citrus fruit), and gobo (burdock). It's not easy to find locally- and organically-grown Japanese produce in NYC, so come visit Suzuki Farm at the Healthy Food & Green Festival this Sunday! Perhaps our JRO Essence of Japanese Cuisine demonstrations will inspire you to cook up some delicious okonomiyaki or macrobiotic dish, and so you can pick up your ingredients at Suzuki Farm. Additionally, we'll have reusable totes for you to carry your purchases!

This Versatile Towel, Tenugui, is Making Big Steps in Fashion and Therapy

Wuhao New York specializes in Japanese tenugui, a traditional towel that is used for everyday household uses but has become a very popular internationally in the fashion market. Tenugui have also been used as a bandana, giftwrap, or simple decorations. Wuhao will be demonstrating some of the versatile uses of tenugui at the Healthy Food & Green Festival, exercising the Japanese expression "Mottainai," or "Don't waste." They have also invited guests from the Ohashi Shiatsu Institute to demonstrate (on willing participants) how tenugui can be used for Shiatsu massage therapy, developed by Ohashi Institute themselves. All visitors are welcome to a ten minute tenegui shiatsu massage by these trained professionals, and the first 50 customers will also receive a free Wuhao mame-shibori tenegui!

New Accessories Vendor for Sunday's Festival

A new vendor at the Healthy Food & Green Festival is Tesage by Yukiko Sato. Tesage bags and purses are smart and efficient as well as water resistant due to a micro fiber lining.

Ramen + Salad = Healthy & Delicious Snack

A couple weeks ago we posted a review about the restaurant Souen, and here's a pic of what they will be serving at the Healthy Food and Green Festival: organic ramen salad! This nutrition-packed recipe consists of cold ramen noodles with vegetables, seaweed, corn and sesame seeds with a sesame vinaigrette.

A Real Tea's Tea

One of our sponsors, Ito En, will be offering two of their most popular tea brands: Oi Ocha and lightly sweetened Tea's Tea. Oi Ocha is an all natural unsweetened tea drink that includes catechin tea antioxidants. The Tea's Tea green tea is naturally sweetened with Cane Sugar. All of Ito En's products are authentically brewed and contain all natural products for a healthy, flavorful tea taste. Tea lovers make sure you stop by their booth at the Healthy Food and Green Festival this Sunday!