Minimum Viable Kitchen
When we moved to Tokyo, we brought nearly nothing with us. Somehow, this nothing stretched across four maximum-allowance suitcases. Still, beyond some personal effects, and a carry-on with my essentials (laptop, camera, etc.) we brought mostly clothes. So when we found a new apartment, we were basically starting from scratch.
This is both exciting and terrifying, but most of all, I found it clarifying. I’ve always thought of myself as–if not a minimalist, someone who can get by with only a little. I still long for the day I adopt a uniform like Steve Jobs (okay, maybe three or four).
That said, I’m a very particular person. I have a strong sense of aesthetics. I favor quality, and tend to find what I want, and stick with it. I know what I like and what I don’t, what I want out of an object, what makes it beautiful or unappealing, and tend not to differ too far from that.
What was it I actually needed to be able to make the meals I often prepared?
Japanese apartments are generally pretty small, but when you’ve got nothing, there’s a ton you need to get. Some things are obvious, like a bed (my suggestion of a floor futon didn’t make it out of the design phase), and others I can never remember I need until I get there, like coasters.
Of particular importance to me was our kitchen setup. I love cooking. It’s been something I've found pleasure and pride in since I first started living alone. After two months in a furnished apartment with just one nonstick skillet, I was itching to take it more seriously again.
We had a ton of fun going to a ceramics store, and finding beautiful dishes, imagining the sorts of meals we might make. But it was also an exercise with constraints. We have a limited budget, limited storage space, and only two electric burners. I had to think about the sorts of meals I often make, the sorts of things I’d like to prepare based on my interests, tastes, and the sorts of ingredients I can find in Japanese grocery stores.
In Chicago, I had a range of different pans and pots in different finishes, made from different materials, with different sizes and uses; and a full pantry to supplement our fridge. Here, I was going to have to show a bit more restraint.
What was it I actually needed to be able to make the meals I often prepared? What kind of meals did I even want to make? What was our kitchen set up for, and what could I supplement? It wasn’t about providing the absolute most bang-for-my-yen, nor about giving myself the absolute widest range of flexibility; it was about thinking deeply about how I cook, and what the minimum amount of items I could use to get me there.
Once I'd come up with a basic list of what I wanted to get, I needed to figure out the best way to allocate the resources I had. Which were the things worth spending money on? What could I afford to go for the splurge item on, and what did I need to be a bit more realistic on? A knife is important, but I don't really care too much about which turner I use. Of appliances, I spent by far the most amount of money on the rice cooker (I bought this before we even made it to the apartment, actually), but realized just two, kinda shoddy stainless steel mixing bowls from the dollar store would be just fine.
When I sold my Fujifilm, it was for a camera that arguably does less. But the fewer features my Leica has I need more than the plethora of options I had at my fingertips with the Fujifilm. It does exactly what I want, with more thought and care paid towards the user experience and ergonomics than any other camera I've used. In over a decade of photography, I've figured out what it is I need in a camera, and found the tool I feel suits me best right now.
Eventually, I settled on a stainless steel pan and another stainless steel pot. These are both fairly small, sized for the electric range, but felt like the most versatile items I could get. There’s a bit of a learning curve with stainless steel compared to nonstick, similar to using carbon steel or cast iron, but nothing too tricky. It will last forever, can be easily cleaned, and requires basically no maintenance unlike carbon steel or cast iron. And with it, I knew I could do everything I wanted to do in it, from searing to simmering to deep-frying. I spent a little more than I would've liked on this, ensuring I got a pan with a heavy bottom, to best distribute the heat from the electric range. Alongside this I bought a two-knife set, a Japanese-style chef’s knife and petty knife (I would’ve preferred a paring knife, but didn’t see the option), an end-grain cutting board, and a toaster oven.
There’s no microwave, no dishwasher. Yet so far I haven’t missed either terribly. Most importantly, I’m having fun cooking for the first time since we moved. I have a bit more literal space (though just a bit!) to work with, and feel like I have the room to take it a bit more seriously. There are things I can’t do, or need to find a new way, and I’m excited to do that, same as I’m excited to make some new recipes and expand my repertoire. It feels like a fresh start.
What are your absolute essentials? If you had to start one of your mediums or hobbies, what’s the first thing you’d get? Let me know!
