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Aug. 1, 2009
By W. Blake Gray
How well do American food lovers know miso? That was the essential question Sendai miso producers wanted to ask.
They chose a well-visited spot for the query: the Saturday morning farmers' market at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco. This market sees 10,000 to 15,000 visitors every Saturday, who generally have a much higher level of food knowledge than average consumers.
 JETRO Sendai Miso Booth
The answer to the main question was gratifying: About 95 percent of visitors to the miso booth knew about miso, according to survey results. Moreover, a surprisingly high number -- about 70 percent -- had purchased it.
However, it must be added that people who answered the miso survey were self-selected on two levels. First, they came to a farmers' market. Second, they chose to visit the miso booth and take the survey, rather than ignoring it.
Nonetheless, the survey gave an interesting view of American consumers of miso.
The majority of survey respondents (about 63%) did their shopping in organic-focused markets like Whole Foods. A significant minority (about 11%) reported shopping in Japanese supermarkets like Nijiya.
However, when asked where they had bought miso, the numbers reversed. More people (about 41%) had bought miso in a Japanese supermarket than in an organic-focused market (34%).
Most survey respondents cook almost every day: about 77%. Despite that, almost half of them reported first learning about miso in a restaurant.
For those who cooked with miso, miso soup was their most common creation (about 50%). But a significant minority (about 14 %) also made miso dressing, and just under 10% had cooked miso with fish.
Of course, if miso producers had simply set up a survey with no payoff for consumers, they wouldn't have gotten many answers, or made many friends. Aware of that, they made plenty of people happy, giving away 1000 free samples of miso in about 3 hours.
The miso producers set up in a booth outdoors, in view of the Bay Bridge, on a beautiful sunny day. Volunteers from Sendai who were knowledgeable about miso encouraged passersby to try it, and to take the free samples.
Giving away 1000 samples of miso is a good way to get attention, and choosing this venue may have maximized the impact. Working chefs often visit the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market first thing in the morning, taking advantage of special parking arrangements given to chefs, an important consideration in downtown San Francisco.
Displaying miso to this group has an important ripple effect: Chefs may be curious about miso, and thus start using it in their restaurants, where they will reach a wider audience.
"We come every week to this market,” said chef Bruce Hill of San Francisco's Bix restaurant. "We come rain or shine. Never miss it. This is where we find inspiration for our restaurant. You'll find the best chefs and the most committed chefs here early in the morning. It's really great to get chefs exposed to miso and all the benefits of it. It's a great ingredient.”
Moreover, the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market influences home chefs well beyond San Francisco and even California, as it is considered one of the most important stops on the tourist trail in a city where tourism is the No. 1 industry. Many of the visitors are food lovers looking for new culinary ideas to take to their home cities. Visitors from Massachusetts, Illinois, Florida, New York and Rhode Island were among the people sampling miso at the tasting booth. But of course there were many Bay Area residents as well.
Chef Shotaro Kamio of Yoshi's restaurants in San Francisco and Oakland created two simple, fresh dishes that allowed people to sample miso. First was a green salad with Sendai Miso Dressing.
"I like the salad dressing,” said one woman from Boston. "I can taste the garlic. I like the idea of putting miso dressing on a salad. It's got the miso flavor, but it doesn't have as much salt.”
A South Bay resident, whose family is originally from China, said, "I like this dressing. Normally I just make miso soup. It's kind of eye-opening. I never used miso salad dressing before. It's really nice with the cabbage.”
 Sendai Miso Salad Dressing
Kamio also made Sendai Miso Salsa, which was served with corn chips. With its bright red tomatoes, it looked exactly like regular salsa, though a closer inspection revealed the use of miso.
"I like the salsa best. It's spicy,” said a man from San Francisco.
 Sendai Miso Salsa
In addition, and perhaps most important, visitors could sample miso straight from the bowl dipped with raw carrots and celery, allowing them to appreciate its unadorned flavor.
"I often eat miso,” said one woman from San Francisco. "But just in soup up until now. I've brought miso to the office and made miso soup by mixing it with boiling water. I bring cole slaw and put it in. It's good to know you can just eat miso like that, with the carrots. That's got to be good for you.”
 Miso Veggie Dip
The booth was staffed by student chefs from the California Culinary Academy, who stayed busy refilling sample cups of salad and salsa. Employees of Jetro as well as employees visiting from several Sendai miso producers worked around the booth, encouraging visitors to try miso, handing out samples and taking surveys of visitors.
The booth was very popular from the time it opened, drawing a large crowd that ranged from professional chefs to out-of-town visitors curious about what everyone was tasting.
One visitor was wine writer Jordan MacKay, wine and spirits editor of San Francisco's 7X7 magazine and author of the recent book "Passion for Pinot: A Journey Through America's Pinot Noir Country.”
MacKay said he loves miso and would like to learn more ways to use it.
"I eat miso soup every time I have sushi,” MacKay said. "I would love to learn how to use miso more. When I was in college I worked in a health food restaurant that had a miso dressing. It was delicious. I would like to know more about miso. I don't understand enough about it to have faith that what I'm getting is what I can use. I know there's a lot of differences between misos but I don't know the differences. I believe it's a big carrier of umami. I would be interested in ways to sneak miso into food.”
MacKay said miso would be a good pairing partner for his favorite type of wine, Pinot Noir.
"I can see miso with Pinot, especially with the Oregon Pinots, the ones that are a little punchier with more acidity,” MacKay said. "I'm psyched to try this sample (of miso).”
Hiroaki Kamata, president of Kamata Soy Sauce and Miso Company in Japan, handed out samples of miso at the event.
"I like to introduce miso to people,” Kamata said. "Some people have never tasted it before. They seem to like it. Miso is very healthy. There's lots of variety and lots of cooking styles. Miso will take the fishy smell off of fish.”
Akira Takahashi, marketing manager for Sasaju Miso Company, said of the event, "It's good business for miso and Japanese food. Chefs say they didn't know different areas of Japan make different miso. Now they know shio (salt) miso and akai (red) miso.”
But Takahashi said that talking to ordinary home cooks, rather than professional chefs, was his favorite part of the event.
 Tasting the veggie dip
"We can meet normal people who live in San Francisco and we can see them try miso,” Takahashi said. "Thursday there was a cooking class and everybody there had some culinary knowledge and they all know miso already. Today's customers don't know miso, or they know miso soup only. Today, Chef Kamio made salsa and dressing. It's something different. It's American style. Japanese people don't know salsa miso dip.”
The survey asked the following questions of visitors:
1. How often do you cook?
2. Where do you go for groceries?
3. Where do you look for information for foods, such as recipes?
4. Do you know about miso?
5. If so, how did you get to know about miso?
6. Are you interested in miso?
7. Have you ever purchased miso?
8. If so, where did you purchase it?
9. What did you cook with miso?
While the miso producers wanted information, they gave out information as well. A poster reproduced several times, and even worn on the back of one enthusiastic volunteer, emphasized the many health benefits of miso. The list included:
• Protein: Reduces cholesterol, strengthens blood vessels
• Vitamin B12: Promotes red blood cell formation, helps prevent anemia
• Vitamin B2: Helps prevent oxidation in the body
• Vitamin E: Contains antioxidant properties; impedes the aging process; helps prevent cancer.
• Isoflavones: Possess anti-cancer properties; help inhibit breast cancer; alleviate menopausal symptoms
• Postaglandin E: Helps prevent high blood pressure
• Brown pigment: Helps prevent oxidation in the body; impedes the aging process; helps prevent cancer
• Fats: Contain fatty acids which maintain healthy, vibrant skin
• Lecithin: Helps prevent hardening of the arteries; activates brain functions
• Sapenin: Reduces cholesterol by removing natural fats; helps prevent hardening of the arteries
• Choline: Helps prevent fatty livers; eliminates toxins from the liver
• Minerals: Contain ingredients needed for physiological functions; regulate bodily functions
• Trypsin inhibitor: Activates secretion of insulin; a promising compound that may prevent diabetes
• Dietary fiber: Eliminates toxins from the intestinal tract; helps prevent colon cancer
All of that said, though miso's health benefits were a big selling point, what most attracted so many people to the miso booth was the free samples of salad with miso dressing, miso salsa, miso with crudites, and the free bag of miso to take home.
"Oh look!" one woman exclaimed. "Goody bags!"
With a package of miso and Kamio's recipes, they were goody bags indeed.
Download recipes (PDF, 396 KB) for the salad dressing and salsa presented at the event.
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