DashiDashi

Unfortunately, this is mostly due to pure unadulterated laziness, rather than any Zen-like insight.

It was fast becoming clear that eating the same three meals — rare steak (quick to cook), pan-fried sea bass (very quick to cook), and instant tom yum noodles (cheap and quick to cook) — in rotating succession was not the way to go.

Italian was out – the pleasure side ruined by association with impoverished student days. French cookery lost on the pain scale – complex sauces, lengthy preparations, and recipes quoted in hours rather than seconds.

Not being a fan of couscous or heavy spices ruled out several more culinary options. I was running out of continents here.

In hindsight, the answer was clear as soup. After years of near-certifiable levels of sushi addiction, it was time to give the rest of Japanese cuisine a go.

The rest, they say, is cookery.