All organic vegetables lunch tray at Magokoro (Photo: Robert-Gilles Martineau)

(Writer: Robert-Gilles Martineau)

Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture is an internationally celebrated tourist destination.

Unfortunately for all the beauty of the city, its mountains, old buildings, ancient culture and striking sea shore, the vast majority of its restaurants and cafes are little more than traps for the crowds of tourists and surfers to head into and pay through the nose for largely average fare.

Fortunately, a number of locals realized that things really had to change in their culinary offerings and so, by combining a huge range of organic food grown in and around the Kamakura area with the bountiful marine products of the Pacific Ocean can now offer ideal breakfast, lunch, and dinner blends to satisfy all tastes and priorities in as far as food ethics go; be a person omnivore, vegetarian or even vegan.

The same locals, in raising their own food awareness formed their own association - The Japan Vegetarian Society (in 1993) - to help their fellow citizens and newcomers alike to discover restaurants, cafes and shops in accordance with personal food faves and methods of preparation.

Over the years they have since grown into a small but extremely active non-profit organization with their own blog-meets-website and also a semi bilingual free pamphlet with guide and map - distributed to no less than 51 establishments in the area!

Blog address: http://vegemapkamakura.blogspot.com (Japanese)
Call 0467-25-2668, if you cannot find the map.