Kyoto: Shojin food

Izusen: Shojin Food, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Ah food! Kyoto has some pretty amazing places to eat .. what am I saying?!? all of Japan has great food.
Kyoto is unique in the fact that being a land locked city and with a large population of Buddhist monks a vegetarian cuisine developed. Part of my walking tour included a stop for traditional Shojin food. the little red bowls stacked into each other to make a pagoda.
All the food is local and seasonal.. from what I can remember chestnut, black beans, tempura, rice with mushrooms, miso soup, daikon, various pickled vegetables. Sweet wine (plum ??) Ah! I wish I could have remembered more.
Oh! and fresh tofu - I read somewhere that it's a specialty in the north east of the city (due to the abundance of clean water used to make the tofu)

Izusen: Shojin Food, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Kyoto (an introduction)

Choakuji Temple - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

I feel like I don't even know where to start when I go to talk about Kyoto. I took a two day walking tour the city, did a lot of self (and book) -guided exploration and met some wonderful people.

My week in the city was something I won't soon forget and it still feels me with a warm nostalgic feeling. I highly recommend taking a large chunk of time to visit Kyoto. You shouldn't rush around this place.

To that end I would highly recommend the apartment I rented - clean, centrally located and cheap. Everything you could want. Just ignore the terrible website.

This shot is of Choakuji Temple - located in the east of Kyoto and tucked in the mountains behind two other bigger temple complexes it was a nice respite.