Recently, 7th-grade students from AMICUS Junior High School took part in an international online exchange with 6th-grade students from Nanshi Elementary School in Taiwan.
The theme of the exchange was “International Cooking & Food Culture Exchange.”
Students introduced their local dishes, shared recipes and food histories, and cooked the dishes themselves. They then enjoyed tasting the food together online while communicating in real time.
AMICUS students are shown testing Okinawan local recipes in advance to share with the students in Taiwan.
Some students commented, “I realized how much effort goes into home-cooked meals!”
Among the Taiwanese students, Okinawa soba and taco rice were especially popular!
One memorable episode involved making the taco rice meat. Since it was their first time cooking, they accidentally forgot to add some ingredients, and everyone worried about how it would turn out. However, by adjusting the seasoning, they were able to finish the dish successfully, which made them very happy.
The AMICUS 7th graders cooked five dishes introduced by the 6th graders from Nanshi Elementary School:
Taiwan-style carrot shirishiri (stir-fried carrots), coconut chicken curry, luwei (Taiwanese-style braised dishes), hot and sour soup, and simmered winter melon.
The students were surprised to discover that there are dishes in Taiwan and China similar to Okinawan cuisine. In particular, they noticed that the Taiwan-style carrot shirishiri was very similar to the Okinawan version.
At the same time, they learned that many Taiwanese dishes use coconut milk and spices, which differ from the soy sauce- and dashi-based flavors commonly used in Okinawan cooking. Experiencing these differences gave the students a valuable opportunity to reflect on food culture and history.
At the end of this event, some students shared that they would like to exchange not only food but also traditional culture next time, such as Okinawan karate.
This exchange has raised expectations for even deeper international collaboration between the two schools in the future.