Nishime will always have a special place in my heart and belly because it is a dish my family had for every special occasion; it’s a New Year’s food (osechi-ryōri) so we always had it for the new year. But we also had it for Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, memorial services, and other occasions in which our wider family would gather. We didn’t gather often, so when we did, it was special—and this dish was always on the table. Like a gumbo or chili, there is no one definitive recipe for nishime. Each cook makes it slightly differently, and while the stew’s origins are Japanese, this recipe has been adapted to the Hawaii experience and palate.

Nishime will always evoke memories of my grandma cooking the stew in her little kitchen at her plantation camp house. After she passed away, my aunt took over the nishime “responsibility.” Though I didn’t enjoy the dish as a kid, I developed a love for it in adulthood, and taught myself to make it using a recipe from a Hawaii community cookbook, and my childhood memories of nishime’s flavors and textures. 

JENNIFER HASEGAWA is a community cookbook archivist, poet, and information architect born and raised in Hawaii, and now living in San Francisco. Her roots in Hawaii and work as an information architect led her to create The Kau Kau Chronicles, a website dedicated to preserving a bit of Hawaii history in the form of out-of-print cookbooks published by community organizations in Hawaii the mid-to-late 20th century.