Inside L.A.: Sweet Eats

A lesser known fact about me: I am a quarter Japanese (and yes, a natural blonde). My paternal grandmother emigrated from Japan in the late 1940s when she married an American soldier. I've only been to Japan once, when I was 2 years old, but my entire life has been subtly influenced by Japanese culture.

One of the most important aspects of any culture is of course the food. And in Downtown's Little Tokyo, amongst the sushi bars and ramen houses, there is a little gem: a Japanese confectionery shop called Fugetsu-Do. Founded in 1903, the family-run store is said to be the oldest business in Little Tokyo. Fun fact: Fugetsu-Do lays claim to the invention of the fortune cookie (surprise, Japanese Americans invented this Chinese treat).

My family has been visiting Fugetsu-Do for years for the freshly-made sweet mochi, called daifuku. Many Americans are now familiar with the term mochi thanks to the modern invention of mochi ice cream balls. Traditional mochi is a sticky rice cake and daifuku is a sweetened mochi filled with red bean paste. My favorite is maccha daifuku, which is made with green tea mochi.

A dessert made from rice and beans might sound a little strange. But if you're up for trying something new, you should definitely take a trip to Fugetsu-Do, located on First Street across from the Japanese Village Plaza.

You can find out more about sweet mochi and Fugetsu-Do on their website.

Image taken from http://elle.fr