Špela Drnovšek Zorko
ペッフテラン: experimental baking workshop
ワークショップ｜2022
There is a herb – pehtran, we call it, Artemisia dracunculus, or tarragon in English – that other cuisines tend to reserve for savoury dishes, but that in Slovenia is mostly found in sweet treats, in a type of cake called potica, or in cookies. Pehtran cookies are one of exactly two kinds that my mother bakes (the other kind, oozing with bitter chocolate and tart jam, we perfected together) and since the herb grows bountifully in our home village, she usually has heaping supplies of dried pehtran to hand.
Less than a month after my arrival in Tokyo, a small package followed: clothes I had forgotten to pack, and a packet of pehtran. It can be drunk as a tea, too, and some nights I mix it with other hand-picked herbs from the home garden. But once, undaunted by the limits of a toaster oven, with the help of Maholo’s sure hand and sharp eye, we made Tokyo pehtran cookies: too sweet, made of white flour where at home I would have used spelt, but delicious nonetheless.
There was another dress I had forgotten, it turned out, and my mother sent me that one, too. Tucked alongside it: a packet of dried dobra misel, origano, Origanum vulgare, aromatic and tipped with purple buds, whose native Slovenian name translates literally into ‘good thought’. This name I always confuse with another, the Thymus genus, which we call materina dušica – or ‘mother’s soul’. There is another recipe I know, for easy, moist bread, buckwheat and rye. Who will lend me their oven?
ペッフテラン(Pehtran: スロベニアのハーブ): experimental baking workshop
故郷を思い出す特別な味はありますか？香りはどんなものでしょうか？
私が東京に来て間もない頃、故郷の村でとれた乾燥したペッフテラン（英語：tarragon、日本語：タラゴン）を母が送ってくれました。スロベニアでは、伝統的にこのハーブを使ってお菓子をつくります。仲町の家のキッチンで、ペッフテラン・クッキーを焼いてみましょう。どんな故郷の思い出を語り合うのでしょうか。はたしてハーブの香りはするでしょうか？ そして何より、オーブントースターでできるでしょうか？ ワークショップが終わったあとクッキーはお持ち帰りいただけます。ぜひお家で食べてみてください！
日時：12月16日（金）13-14時/ 16-17時 （各回約60分）
場所：仲町の家
企画者：Špela Drnovšek Zorko
ペッフテラン(Pehtran: a Slovenian Herb): experimental baking workshop
Is there a particular taste that reminds you of home? How about a smell?
Just after I came to Tokyo, my mother sent me a packet of dried pehtran(English: tarragon, Japanese: タラゴン) from my home village. In Slovenia, we traditionally use this herb to bake sweet treats.
Come and join me as I try to bake some pehtran cookies in the kitchen of Nakacho House.What memories of home will we tell each other? Will we be able to smell the herb? And most importantly: can we do it in a toaster oven?
You can take a cookie home with you to try after the workshop!
Date and time：December 16th (Fri.) 1-2pm/ 4-5pm (twice a day)
Place：Nakacho House
Organizer：Špela Drnovšek Zorko
ARTIST
Špela Drnovšek Zorko
I was born in Slovenia, or Yugoslavia as it still was then, and have lived in several other countries since, some briefly and some for longer. I’ve only been a Tokyo resident since April 2022 but my affection for the city is layered with memories of previous stays. I’m an anthropologist, and at the moment, a visiting research fellow at a university in Tokyo, where my research deals with migrants’ experiences in Japan, especially migrants from Central and Eastern Europe. I love Japanese food, but as a vegetarian, I’m always on the lookout for konbu dashi!
