This episode is one in a mini-series about a range of soups and simple foods from different food traditions that are suggested, prescribed, maybe sometimes even foisted on someone feeling under the weather. I consider a basic udon soup. Where it’s the bounty of the land that nourishes a chicken, it’s the bounty of the ocean and sea washing up on every millimeter of Japan’s coastline that infuses udon noodle soup with its curative power. Marc Matsumoto talks me through how to make dashi; the basic fish stock at the heart of a good bowl of udon noodle soup and okayu, a rice porridge. Marc is a private chef, culinary consultant and TV host with a base of clients around the world. He grew up and worked for a time in the US, but is now based in Tokyo. He has a website, norecipes.com, that teaches you basic cooking techniques but also offers a range of recipes from different cuisines, with a skew to Japanese food, including a basic dashi and udon noodle varieties.