Meanwhile, back at Hoshizawa’s cooking class, the excited buzz in the room finally started to subside and the dishes were ready to sample. The results were simple but delicious: the heaviness of the millet dumplings was offset by the slightly sweet kombu sauce, while each sip of soup sang with the individual flavours of salmon, potato, carrot and kelp. It was all delectable, but as I was eating, I realised that it was about much more than food. I was tasting a slice of an almost-lost indigenous wisdom that will, hopefully, now start to get the attention it deserves.