“Creature Cookie” specialty store in Mie Prefecture celebrates biodiversity

In recent years, biodiversity has been attracting attention both in Japan and overseas. According to the Ministry of the Environment, due to the impact of human activities, the rate of extinction of species on earth is between 100 to 1,000 times faster than in the natural state, and many organisms are in danger.

Under such circumstances, Kurimaro Collection, a cookie specialty store based in Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture, uses cookies to introduce the charm of living things and the importance of biodiversity. This time, we interviewed Kozue Kurita, the representative of Kurimaro, about how she decided to open a cookie specialty store, and how she tried to express biodiversity through cookies.

Creating a hand-crafted cookie world

Kurita, who has loved living things since childhood, is an artist who spreads the charm of animals through cookies. She says that crafting, such as originally drawing pictures and making hand-made projects, was one of her ways of self-expression.

Kurita: When I was a child, I found it difficult to express my feelings and convey my opinion. That’s why I used to express my emotions by drawing characters who laugh and cry on my behalf.

Also, since I was a child, I have liked living things and have been comforted by them. I grew up in the countryside, so I watched killifish and fireflies in the river, and raised tadpoles into frogs before returning them to nature. I also had rabbits and hamsters at home, so animals were familiar to me.

These childhood memories prompted Kurita to actually start making things with living creatures as motifs.

Kurita: At first, I was making various animals with felt and yarn as a hobby. At that time, I was addicted to creating paper clay, but I thought cookies were like clay, so I started making animal-shaped cookies. My friends were happy when I made cookies for them.

Making “real” creature cookies

After that, in 2016, Kurita opened a cookie specialty store, Kurimaro, in Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture. Kurimaro makes 200 to 300 kinds of cookies, and there are a wide variety of living things such as animals that live in the forest and the sea, deep-sea fish, insects and microorganisms. When she collaborated with an aquarium, she designed cookies while actually interacting with the animals and receiving advice from the keepers.

Kurita: At first, many people entered the store with the impression that it was a “cute cookie shop.” Customers range from small children to the elderly, and as they come into the store, they look for animals resembling their pets.

The development of Kurita’s cookies and the message behind them are also unique. During the rainy season, she produced a mold series with the message, “I want to spotlight the molds, who tend to be seen as villains, as the main characters,” for customers who say, “they are too cute to eat.” In fact, she has sold cookies containing natto bacteria and mold bacteria. In addition, customers can learn about the growth process of living things through cookies, such as expressing the metamorphosis of frogs from eggs to adults, and selling them until autumn when frogs hibernate.

Kurita also says that she is particular about the ingredients of the cookies.

Kurita: We try to incorporate local production for local consumption as much as possible. For example, we use a blend of three types of wheat flour from Mie Prefecture, and the cookies themselves are whitened so that the baked color does not affect the design of the colorful creatures. In addition, we try to use ingredients that are kind to the body, such as bringing out the color and flavor from the vegetables, and use chickpea broth instead of eggs so that children with egg allergies can eat them.

Communicate biodiversity through cookies

Kurita, who has represented a wide variety of living creatures through her cookie making, thinks about the charm of living things as follows.

Kurita: I think what I like most about living organisms is that even if some people don’t like the particular life form, others love it. For example, jellyfish have a simple shape when made into cookies, and may not be as gorgeous as other animals. However, for someone who loves jellyfish, the cookie is very pleasing.

I want to see customers happy to find creatures they like. When we think of living things as creatures, we can see small differences such as shape and lifespan, but each creature has its own background of evolution in order to survive, so I think that each of them has a perfect figure. So, I have continued to make cookies to express the charm of such creatures and the unique beauty of biodiversity.

Kurita, who has loved living things since she was a child, has experience working at a science museum after studying environmental issues at university. She said that at that time, she often carried out projects related to environmental issues, and she had the opportunity to be conscious of the environment in which living things live.

In fact, Kurita focused on the creatures of Okinawa, home to many endangered and endemic species, and made cookies representing a collection of endemic species there. The Amami-Okinawa region, whose biodiversity was assessed in July 2021 and registered as a World Natural Heritage site, accounts for 0.5% of Japan’s national area, yet has 95 endangered species and 75 endemic species. By making cookies that incorporated the characteristics of Okinawa’s endemic species, Kurita wanted people to learn about the native species that inhabit Okinawa in order to protect biodiversity.

Kurita: There are social problems even in our daily lives, and I want children to know these problems. As one of the creatures living on the earth, I am also conscious of the equality of living things. At first glance, a creature appears to be peculiar, but if you describe it with the word “cute,” we gain a more positive and affectionate impression towards it. I think the same is true for human diversity. It is exactly this sense of capturing the whole creature’s unique value that is important.

The appeal of living creatures conveyed through experiences

Kurita is still developing various initiatives to increase the variety of living things.

Kurita: Regarding cookies, we are still increasing the types of creatures, but from now on, we will consider regional factors and narrow down the types of creatures that we want to focus on. If we pay attention to the types of creatures on earth, we can increase the number of cookies inexhaustibly. However, when I think about making 2,000 kinds of creature cookies in my limited life, I’m always thinking about which creature I should focus on and what kind of messages I can convey to society by hitting that spot.

Currently, Kurita is focusing on making cookies, but she says that she is looking for ways to convey the charm of living things, besides this as well.

Kurita: Since the cookie is a characterized, flat still-life, I want to convey the charm of these life forms by making use of various other possibilities such as liquids and solids. Food is a familiar part of our daily lives, and I want to focus on new experiences in our lives.

Editor’s note

At first glance, Kurimaro looks like a cookie specialty store that sells cute creature cookies, but from Kurita’s story, it turns out that cookies are an opportunity to learn about the profound world of creatures. They are one of the tools for communication with people. As a result of her experience working at a science museum, Kurita is able to create attractive cookies that go beyond the scope of a cookie specialty store and create a place of learning like a zoo or an aquarium. Through Kurimaro’s cookies, I hope that readers will also step further into the world of living things from their favorite animals and think more about the incredible importance of biodiversity.

Originally published on IDEAS FOR GOOD.
Translated by Mari Kozawa.