The set ingredient for the “Edo Tokyo Vegetables – Tokyo High School Students Cooking Contest 2024” (sponsored by JA Tokyo Central Union), a cooking contest for high school students using “Edo Tokyo Vegetables” derived from Tokyo’s native species and traditional cultivation methods, has been decided as “Magome Sansun Carrots.” Participating high school students from Tokyo are creating original recipes and making preparations for the upcoming practical examination.

This year marks the third time the contest has been held, and it was started with the aim of passing on the history, stories and taste traditions of Edo Tokyo vegetables to the future by learning about, learning about and tasting the appeal of Tokyo’s agricultural products. In 2022, 64 people from three schools participated in the contest, with “Goseki Bansei Komatsuna” as the theme. Last year, 391 teams from 17 schools and 555 people competed for recipe ideas and cooking skills using “Terashima Eggplant.”

This year, a total of 545 individuals and teams from 22 schools are expected to participate. Recipe submissions closed on the 6th, and eight outstanding entries will be selected through a paper review on the 13th. A practical evaluation of cooking and presentation will take place in mid-October. The winning entries will be commercialized and sold at the Tokyo Taste Festa, a food event run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, to be held in late October.

The judging criteria are: 1) Do they understand Edo Tokyo vegetables? 2) Do they make use of the characteristics of the assigned ingredients? 3) Do they contain ideas and ingenuity typical of high school students? 4) Does the recipe make people want to make and eat it? Original elements are also required.

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The Tokyo Metropolitan Akabane Kitasakura High School Culinary Department (Kita Ward, Tokyo), which won the championship and a special award last year, is working hard to create new dishes in order to win again. Mayumi Ikeda, head teacher at the school, who is in charge of the competition, said, “By participating in the contest, we can help pass on the culture of Edo Tokyo vegetables. In addition, by creating recipes, we can learn about the region and society in which we live, and the world, and through cooking, we can help develop chefs who value Tokyo and Japan.”

Thirty-five second-year students from the school’s cooking department will be participating individually in the contest, along with 12 teams of three first-year students. Last year’s third-year student, Tomoki Kawazu, won the individual competition, explaining his motivation for going to Kitasakura, “I love cooking, and I can get my chef’s license as soon as I graduate from high school,” and imparting the secrets of his studies to his juniors, saying, “It’s important to understand the organizers’ intentions for the recipes and the works.”

Head teacher Ikeda says, “The appearance of the work is also very important. I hope that the students will create their works while thinking about the feelings of the farmers who grow Edo Tokyo vegetables.”

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Edo Tokyo vegetables were on the verge of disappearance at one point due to the harsh cultivation environment, including a lack of successors, a decrease in farmland, and dependence on imported food, but in 2011 the JA Tokyo Central Union established a name for them, and currently 52 varieties are certified.