ASAKUSA Underground > Eat Alfalfa
In general, vegetables in Japan are expensive. When you travel alone, it is cheaper to eat out than to cook at your accommodation. Beef bowls, curry and rice, ramen noodles, and other fast foods are by no means expensive (\300 to \750 at a cheap diner). You can also buy and eat an unbeatable Cup Noodle for \150. The problem is that these dishes do not come with plenty of vegetables. Inevitably, you have to spend rather much for a salad dish in a restaurant. To avoid this, you should travel with sprouts. Check Sprouting while Travelling chapter of 'The Complete Sprouting Book by Per and Gita Sellmann, Thorsons Publishers Limited'.
To buy grains of sprouts seems easy. You can pop in at any gardening shop or even a 100 yen shop (where everything has a price tag of \100) and buy them. However, if you want to buy truly organic grains of Alfalfa, it is not easy for a tourist. Most Japanese consumers buy those organic grains on Internet, suspecting that the grains sold in a shop on the corner may be contaminated by pesticides.
To shop on Internet, you need to have a fixed address in Japan. You can ask your innkeeper to take care of it, but you are not sure you can get your purchase before you leave there.
One of the most popular suppliers on the net seems to be Salad Cosmo. Some tourists from America may remember the Salmonella scandal at their American subsidiary in Dixon, CA. In spite of it, the company appears to be still one of the most conscientious producers of organic foods in Japan. (It is a pity that we have few organic foods in the strict sense here.)
They don't have a head quarter in Tokyo, but in Gifu prefecture, which is much closer to old wooden Gassho Houses in the snowy mountains than to Tokyo Disneyland. It shows the way they think. Nevertheless, they have their Kanto office, not in Tokyo, but in Yokohama. You can go there if you are desperate to get good Alfalfa grains.
[Related articles]
・Two old men, Fukuoka and Lao-tzu
The greatest organic farmer and his philosophy.
・The best Minshuku
A minshuku hotel where they serve only organic vegetables.
・Cheap Sushi near Asakusa
A organic-conscious Sushi restaurant.
[Recommended sites]
・adekun.com
An insight into Japan, beginnings of self sufficiency. Growing organic vegetables in Japan, recipes and anything else.
-Salad Cosmo / Kanto area office
zip. 224-0044, 3-16-10 Shin-Yokohama, Kouhoku-ku, Yokohama-shi
Keihin-Tatemono Dai-3 building 601
サラダ・コスモ 関東地区営業所
横浜市港北区新横浜3-16-10
To find out the exact location, use diddlefinger.
The site is your best guide when you work in Tokyo or travel in Japan.
Eat Alfalfa
In general, vegetables in Japan are expensive. When you travel alone, it is cheaper to eat out than to cook at your accommodation. Beef bowls, curry and rice, ramen noodles, and other fast foods are by no means expensive (\300 to \750 at a cheap diner). You can also buy and eat an unbeatable Cup Noodle for \150. The problem is that these dishes do not come with plenty of vegetables. Inevitably, you have to spend rather much for a salad dish in a restaurant. To avoid this, you should travel with sprouts. Check Sprouting while Travelling chapter of 'The Complete Sprouting Book by Per and Gita Sellmann, Thorsons Publishers Limited'.
To buy grains of sprouts seems easy. You can pop in at any gardening shop or even a 100 yen shop (where everything has a price tag of \100) and buy them. However, if you want to buy truly organic grains of Alfalfa, it is not easy for a tourist. Most Japanese consumers buy those organic grains on Internet, suspecting that the grains sold in a shop on the corner may be contaminated by pesticides.
To shop on Internet, you need to have a fixed address in Japan. You can ask your innkeeper to take care of it, but you are not sure you can get your purchase before you leave there.
One of the most popular suppliers on the net seems to be Salad Cosmo. Some tourists from America may remember the Salmonella scandal at their American subsidiary in Dixon, CA. In spite of it, the company appears to be still one of the most conscientious producers of organic foods in Japan. (It is a pity that we have few organic foods in the strict sense here.)
They don't have a head quarter in Tokyo, but in Gifu prefecture, which is much closer to old wooden Gassho Houses in the snowy mountains than to Tokyo Disneyland. It shows the way they think. Nevertheless, they have their Kanto office, not in Tokyo, but in Yokohama. You can go there if you are desperate to get good Alfalfa grains.
[Related articles]
・Two old men, Fukuoka and Lao-tzu
The greatest organic farmer and his philosophy.
・The best Minshuku
A minshuku hotel where they serve only organic vegetables.
・Cheap Sushi near Asakusa
A organic-conscious Sushi restaurant.
[Recommended sites]
・adekun.com
An insight into Japan, beginnings of self sufficiency. Growing organic vegetables in Japan, recipes and anything else.
-Salad Cosmo / Kanto area office
zip. 224-0044, 3-16-10 Shin-Yokohama, Kouhoku-ku, Yokohama-shi
Keihin-Tatemono Dai-3 building 601
サラダ・コスモ 関東地区営業所
横浜市港北区新横浜3-16-10
To find out the exact location, use diddlefinger.
The site is your best guide when you work in Tokyo or travel in Japan.