When I was younger I didn’t listen too closely to my grandfathers stories which I regret deeply. He used to be held prisoner in Russia during the second world war. I only remember pieces of his stories that he would repeat often the older he got but we never thought of recording them. He passed away almost a decade ago. My grandmother on the other hand is still alive and turning 97 this year. She is a lot like the woman in the documentary below which I stumbled upon recently and fell in love with.

There are so many amazing stories those people could tell. They experienced a time of war, a time when parents gave away their kids to relatives because they themselves couldn’t take care of them, a time when getting by was the best there was.

The documentary series below tells the stories of some grandmothers in context of them cooking “osechi” which is a series of dishes cooked for Japanese New Year. Enjoy and if you’d like to see more check out their YouTube channel.