Cooking Potatoes in a Dormant Supervolcano

[n2doc]

The last thing we would have expected to learn about food in Japan is an unusual way of cooking sweet potatoes. But the inhabitants of the tiny village on the shore of lake Unagi are not only effectively living in a volcano, but also put the volcanic gases rising to the surface in their back gardens to good use: they use them to steam-cook vegetables.

Very few foreigners venture to the volcanically active Satsuma Peninsula at the southern tip of Japan (pictured above is Mt. Kaimon). Had the weather been more suitable for viewing the spectacular eruptions of nearby Sakurajima volcano, which was the main focus for our small group of volcano photographers this past January, we would never have discovered the strange treasures of the Unagi crater.

Whilst driving around looking for volcanological features, we ventured across a small country road which fortuitously took us right into Unagi crater over a low point in its rim. We continued to the tiny village of Unagi, which consists of about 50 houses tucked in the northeast corner of the crater by the edge of the lake. As we drove, we noticed plumes of steam rising from various points along the road and even out of the small gardens and yards behind houses.

The Japanese adore geothermally heated Spas; there's one even in this tiny hamlet. But the idea of building a whole village in a fumarole field seemed at best odd, and the simple concrete structures which had been built around many of the steaming vents were even more puzzling.

I poked my head over a wall to get a closer look at the source of one of the plumes, and was startled to find two Japanese women fussing over a package laid on top of the vent.



more:

http://news.discovery.com/earth/hot-potatoes-volcano.html

Images and text by Richard Roscoe, guest blogger for Discovery News. Dr. Roscoe is a microbial geneticist. He devotes much of his spare time to the study and photographic documentation of active volcanoes and penguins, and is the creator of Photovolcanica.com.

[hobbit709]

1. And if it wakes up, they'll be flash cooked the same way.

[MineralMan]

2. When I was a kid, the family went to Yellowstone. I caught a

couple of trout in the Yellowstone river. As an experiment, my mom wrapped the trout, along with some butter and seasonings, tightly in aluminum foil. We went to a bubbling hot spring not far from the location where I caught the trout, and put the package in the boiling hot water. After a few minutes, we retrieved it, opened the foil and picked away at the fish with our fingers. An interesting, and educational snack.

My parents were always looking for weird stuff like that to do with us. Very nice.

[n2doc]

3. Sounds like you had great parents! n/t

[MineralMan]

4. Yes, they were, and still are, at 85 years of age now.

They were always looking for opportunities like that one. We spent most of our vacations on camping trips, which were moving nature-study classes. Cleaning fish became anatomy lessons. A skeleton of a squirrel found on a hike was turned into another lesson, with equivalent bones being pointed out in our own bodies.

Stones were turned over so we could see the things living under them. Snakes and lizards were caught, handled, studied, then released. Birds and furry critters of all sizes were coaxed into coming close with tidbits of food, so we could get a good look, always with a little lesson about them.

If my dad was working on the lawnmower or the car, he'd do a running commentary on what he was doing and why. As I got older, I did the work, with his instructions. My mom, who is a fantastic cook, would have us "help" in the kitchen, teaching us about food and nutrition while we learned how to prepare food.

She taught me that there were basic cooking methods and basic recipes for things like cakes and pies and cookies, along with ways to modify those basic recipes to get what you wanted. The result is that I'm a very good cook and haven't looked into a cookbook for years.

I talked to them once about all this, after I was grown. They just shrugged it off and said, "That's what parents do. They teach their children what they know."

Marvelous!

[AlecBGreen]

5. I hope Im that good a parent when I have children

thanks for sharing!

[MineralMan]

6. I'm sure you will be.

Always remember that a parent's main job is to teach. Teaching children is a constant process, from the time they are born until the time they leave and go out on their own, and even after that.

[AlecBGreen]

7. im glad to hear that

im a teacher (high school freshman earth science) and ive always thought this is good prep for when my wife and i have children. by the time they're teens ill have seen and heard it all :)