Age 15 island departure: Junior high school students in Ie get a lesson in preparing a “luxurious” lunch with fish preparation lesson from local fishing cooperative

Age 15 island departure: Junior high school students in Ie get a lesson in preparing a “luxurious” lunch with fish preparation lesson from local fishing cooperative

A student guts a fish while listening to advice from one of the fishing cooperatives female members. September 17, Ie Junior High School in Ie


September 29, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Yukito Kinjo

Ie – In preparation for the “Age 15 island departure,” when students leave Ie island to go to high school, the Ie Fishing Cooperative (Ryuichi Hachimae, president) held a “Fish Cooking Classroom” for 49 3rd-year students at Ie Junior High School (Manabu Tamaki, principal), where they learned things such as how to prepare a fish for cooking.

When students go to Okinawa’s main island for high school, they also need to start cooking for themselves. The lessons are held every year, and stress the importance of cooking for yourself as well as fosters a sense of independence that is linked to leaving one’s home island to pursue education. They learned to cook using mibai (Malabar grouper) and taman (spangled emperor) fish.

The cooking lesson was carried out following the guidelines set in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and for the first time fishing cooperative president Hachimae joined the class as a fish preparation instructor. The students experienced for the first time grappling with the proper way to remove the fishes’ scales an innards, then cut the mibai into cubes for a fish soup, and cut the taman into filets and prepared them in a meunière sauce.

Before cooking, fishing cooperative member Kazuyoshi Miyazato gave a demonstration on portioning a 35 kg yellowfin tuna, captivating students and teachers alike with his magnificent knife-work. The portioned tuna was then cut into sashimi by the students. The three dishes were then lined up on the table, and the students and fishing cooperative members enjoyed a luxurious lunch together. One student, Masato Akata said, “preparing the fish was tough, but managing the fire level and the seasoning was also difficult. I want to practice at home before leaving the island.”

Third-year teacher Akihiro Hiyane said, “The class works with local people, helps build pride for our island, and we hope it produces wonderful adults that come back to the island, and I thought the class went very well.”
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)

Go to Japanese


　


Previous Article:
Next Article:

[Similar Articles]