Eat with a local in Japan

Some of my most treasured travel memories involve food. Like the time my husband and I went to what was billed as New Delhi’s best rumali roti stall, where we turned the hood of a car into a table so that the extravagantly thin and succulent flatbread could be wolfed down before it cooled. Or the time I introduced my in-laws to a Johannesburg street vendor’s vetkoeks, slightly sweet, slightly sour dollops of fried dough.

 So when we were planning a trip to Japan and my husband heard about EatWith.com, we knew we had to try it.

 EatWith links travellers to chefs and talented home cooks around the world to share a meal. It’s one of several sites, including EatFeastly, VizEat and PlateCulture, offering opportunities to dine informally with locals. The price is set by the chef, typically comparable to a mid-range restaurant meal.

 We used EatWith to book a date with Shino Fukuyama, a marketing manager who loves to share her country’s cuisine and culture, and experienced what felt like a homestay for an evening.

 Fukuyama’s father was a foreign correspondent and their family lived in Mexico and South Korea. In 2002, her husband’s job took them to New York. They devoted much of their spare time to exploring restaurants with a Zagat guide. But it was a Thanksgiving dinner in the suburbs with the family of her husband’s co-worker that gave her a taste for sharing worlds over a meal in someone’s home.

 She studied how to teach sushi-making in 2010, and opened her home to visitors after Japan’s tourism industry began to revive following the 2011 tsunami.