Photo/Illutration Mackerel sandwich (Photo by Chikako Tada)

Since last summer, I have been working for an international event scheduled for 2025.

I communicate with officials from countries worldwide in English and French. As the event nears, I am bombarded with e-mails daily, like a ping-pong rally.

The list of countries is now approaching 40. The other day, I had a face-to-face meeting with staff from five countries who were visiting Japan.

It was challenging, but I loved speaking to them in person.

I tried to show a little hospitality by wearing a kimono-like dress and practicing saying “hello” and “thank you” in each of their languages.

I had learned a bit of Polish as a student, so I surprised them with a greeting in Polish.

The director of a certain country, a tough negotiator, told me at the end that it was a beautiful meeting. I felt so relieved.

When the delegation from a French-speaking African country came to Japan, I joined the meeting online.

After about 20 minutes, a female executive made a gesture of drinking from a bottle and asked for water. I could see over the screen that the Japanese staff left to get some.

I felt very sorry for them. There was no water prepared for the meeting.

I called out to her in French: “I’m sorry we didn’t have any prepared. You must be thirsty, Madame.”

Although I said only that, she said, “You saved me!” After the meeting, a colleague who had attended in person told me, “The atmosphere was ‘Love Chikako!’”

Imagine this: In a foreign country where you can’t speak the language, even something as simple as water can be more challenging to get than you think. I believe it’s essential to stop being quiet and start talking.

Now, I’d like to introduce my favorite mackerel sandwich, which I like to make with sub rolls.

Sandwiches are convenient because we can eat them while working without being away from the keyboard.

Well, whether that is good or bad is up for debate. They’re easy to make, so I find them useful. Even if you don’t have time for a leisurely lunch, having a sandwich wrapped in a cloth in your bag feels good, doesn’t it?

Ingredients for two servings

2 sub rolls / 2 slices salted mackerel / 1 tsp olive oil / 1 tbsp sake / 1/4 onion / 1/4 tomato / butter (Bibb or Boston) lettuce, to taste / 1/2 lemon cut in wedges

Directions

1. Thinly slice the onion. Slice tomato into 1 cm thick slices.

2. Sprinkle sake on mackerel fillets. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Grill mackerel, skin side down, for 5 to 6 minutes.

3. Turn over, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the bones.

4. Cut a slit lengthwise in the sub rolls. Layer the butter lettuce and mackerel on one half.

5. Add onions and sliced tomatoes, and fold over to cover with remaining half of the sub rolls.

6. Add lemon wedges. Squeeze lemon over the top before eating.

* * *

This article originally appeared in the March 2, 2025, issue of Asahi Weekly.

Bento-Tada-L
Chikako Tada

Chikako Tada: The author of seven cookbooks, Tada is a Japanese food journalist and editor of Pen & Spoon, a website devoted to food (https://pen-and-spoon.com/). She worked as a newspaper reporter for 12 years before going freelance. She spent two years studying baking in Paris and began making bento around 2016 during her seven-year stay in India. She returned to Japan in 2020 and lives in Fukuoka.

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