Savour a Studio Ghibli-inspired pop-up at Bengaluru’s Bento Bento

If you are a fan of popular Japanese animation makers, Studio Ghibli, and have been virtually relishing the steaming ramen bowls and cakes seen in their films, you are in for a treat. Chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar of Edible Archives (Goa) and Bento Bento (Bengaluru), is recreating a few of these classic dishes at an upcoming pop-up, Studio Ghibli Food Series

If you are a fan of popular Japanese animation makers, Studio Ghibli, and have been virtually relishing the steaming ramen bowls and cakes seen in their films, you are in for a treat. Chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar of Edible Archives (Goa) and Bento Bento (Bengaluru), is recreating a few of these classic dishes at an upcoming pop-up, Studio Ghibli Food Series.

“I often try to recreate and live in the Ghibli moment, as a part of my daily practice,” says Anumitra, who became a fan of Studio Ghibli when she was studying in Delhi and first saw My Neighbor Totoro. “Something happened to me and I wanted to watch more. We had Japanese studies departments in both Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, so I asked all my friends from those departments for recommendations and watched several others including Spirited Away and Ponyo,” says the chef, who, nudged by a colleague, went on to create a pop-up menu inspired by these films.

“But I took time and thought to curate this menu… the dishes that have made it to the menu have gone through many, many versions,” clarifies Anumitra, who has spent several years living and working in Japan.

Diners can look forward to bacon and eggs from Howl’s Moving Castle, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and tomato from Kiki’s Delivery Service, onigiri from Spirited Away, Satsuki’s bento box from My Neighbor Totoro, mackerel fry from Up on Poppy Hill, rich double chocolate cake from Kiki’s Delivery Service, among others.

Chef Anumitra says she got hooked to the Japanese idea of a romanticised everyday life through Studio Ghibli way before she went to Japan. “When I worked there, I paid more attention to everyday life and food, as I’d seen in the works of Hayao Miyazaki, the Studio’s director. In the professional kitchen, I learnt how to make sushi, ramen, udon etc, but in everyday living, I learned about the regular hearty onigiri eaten on the go; about a Japanese-style breakfast that my landlady used to make for me; about eating in a small inn near the sea on a holiday…The familiarity of miso soup and rice came from Ghibli, and when I experienced it in Japan, or later, cooked it at home for any ordinary Wednesday dinner, I felt like I was living the Ghibli moment.”

While Anumitra says trials for these dishes “have been happening in my personal kitchen for over a decade,” translating it all in an Indian kitchen was not easy. “Studio Ghibli’s food is the romanticised representation of comfort food for people in Japan. In India, the representation of Japanese food is sushi, sashimi, ramen…. would people here associate daily foods like pancake and sausage (Kiki’s Delivery Service) or tomato stew with cheesy bread (Tales from Earthsea) with Japan? Would they want to eat it?” Even sourcing ingredients was no mean feat. 

“In some cases sourcing was so difficult that we had to give up on some dishes, like the herring and pumpkin pie from Kiki’s Delivery Service. For other ingredients, it was not easy but we managed to source them, like omeboshi, that quintessential Japanese salty sour plum preserve.” The chef also enjoyed substituting certain ingredients with very specific Indian counterparts. For instance, she is using a creamy red bean from the high-altitude areas of Arunachal Pradesh, which is a close cousin of the azuki bean otherwise used in anman (steamed buns) from Spirited Away.