Hot Oden Ingredients

Recently, the Kibun Foods Oden Research Group published a book titled "Oden-gaku!" (Shodensha Shinsho). Since 1994, for over 30 years, we have been investigating, analyzing, and presenting hot pot dishes in the form of the "Kibun Nabe White Paper." In 2023, we launched the web media "Odengaku" to share the charms of Japanese food culture.

That's interesting. Even though we just say "oden," it seems to have a lot of depth.

Exactly. The way oden is eaten varies by region. Not only the oden ingredients (dane), but the seasoning also differs significantly depending on the dashi materials and preparation methods. To help people understand this diversity, we included a "Japan Nationwide Oden Map" at the beginning of this book. It makes the differences in preferred ingredients and seasonings for each region clear at a glance, and we've also included popular shops and recent trends, so I hope everyone enjoys it.

Growing up in Nagoya, home-cooked oden always meant miso oden to me. There are two types of miso oden: one where it's simmered in a clear broth and miso sauce is added later, and another where it's simmered in miso from the start. In my house, we ate it by adding miso sauce afterward.

It is said that the "den" in oden comes from "dengaku." The practice of putting miso on konjac or tofu eventually evolved into a simmered dish. In Nagoya, miso must have been used since the time it was eaten as dengaku.

I think so. Nagoya's miso has a very rich flavor.

I believe the style of simmering in red dashi miso became established as part of that trend. There are various theories about when the simmered type originated, but in "Oden-gaku!", we state that it became mainstream during the Meiji era.

So initially, miso was applied to simmered ingredients. What triggered it to become mainstream in the Meiji era?

There are various records, but it seems that in the past, items skewered and simmered were sold at food stalls.

"Donki" in Hongo, which appears in this book, was founded in 1887 (Meiji 20) (it is now closed). I was born and raised in this neighborhood and was often sent to buy oden at Donki. When we had guests at home, I would be handed a pot and sent on an errand to Donki.

I don't remember the prices of the ingredients, but I would ask the shopkeeper to "put in a few hundred yen's worth," have them put it in the pot, and take it home. That was an era when tofu sellers in the Yamanote area of Tokyo still did mobile sales while blowing a trumpet, and that is my first memory of oden.

Actually, for today, I interviewed an oden shop owner I know. According to them, the overwhelmingly popular oden ingredient at the shop is daikon radish. They can even estimate the day's sales based on how many orders for daikon come in during business hours.

Popular ingredients are eggs, shirataki noodles, and hanpen for children. Among mothers, chikuwabu is the clear winner, followed by kinchaku (tofu pouches). Among fathers, beef tendon is the top choice, followed by fish paste products. I like eggs, shirataki, and chikuwabu, but I unexpectedly discovered that I have the palate of a child (laughs).

The first time I ate chikuwabu was during elementary school lunch. As a child, I found it delicious and even begged for chikuwabu for dinner at home. I threw a tantrum when my parents mistakenly bought chikuwa, so they went out of their way to the shopping district to find it, finally discovering it being sold in a bucket of water in the corner of a local greengrocer.

Um... what is chikuwabu? I'm not very familiar with it...

Oh, you don't know it? It's a flour-based product made to look like chikuwa.

I didn't know. So it's not chikuwa.

It's a bit larger than chikuwa. I also started living in Tokyo after entering Keio, and I didn't know about the existence of chikuwabu until then. However, it's one of the top favorite ingredients for people in Tokyo.

So, do people in Tokyo not eat chikuwa?

No, of course they eat chikuwa too, but they also like chikuwabu.

The ingredients used differ by region. Beef tendon is popular in Western Japan, but it wasn't in our home's oden. I've also never eaten wheat gluten (fu) as an oden ingredient.

How about ganmo or atsuage (deep-fried tofu)?

We had atsuage, but the first time I ate white hanpen was in Tokyo. I learned about it when I saw a friend from Nagano ordering it.

I always wonder, but I think "local oden" includes things that emerged naturally in a region and things that were created later.

That's true. For example, Nagoya has miso oden and Shizuoka has black oden, but the background of their birth or the routes through which they spread are not fully known.

According to "Oden-gaku!", the east-west distribution of hanpen and beef tendon is clearly divided. It's interesting to call hanpen, which is eaten in Eastern Japan, "High East, Low West," and beef tendon, eaten in Western Japan, "High West, Low East."

Indeed, beef tendon has a strong image of being from Kansai.

I feel like Nagoya had neither beef tendon nor hanpen.

Actually, Nagoya does have hanpen, but it's called "white hanpen." The name likely changed when things from the east spread to the west.

This is because in Nagoya, "hanpen" refers to satsuma-age (fried fish cakes). It's written as "Hampei," and it's said that it came to be called "white hanpen" to distinguish it from that.

Speaking of different names, satsuma-age is called "tempura" in Kyushu, isn't it?

That's right. It seems quite common for oden ingredients to be given different names when they take root in other regions.

How many types of fish paste products does Kibun handle now?

Broadly speaking, about 120 types. If you include seasonal limited-edition products sold during New Year's and other times, it reaches 200 items. However, the number of items is fewer than before.

Why is that?

One reason is the increase in dual-income households. During the era when full-time housewives were in the kitchen, simmering in a pot was the mainstream, and we commercialized various items. Even for satsuma-age alone, we had a rich lineup including burdock rolls and squid rolls.

Later, as cooking time became shorter on weekday nights, cases of heating in the microwave increased, and the items purchased became more limited.

That's a bit sad.

In the past, there were variations in color and shape, and there was a way to enjoy them visually.

It's fun when there's squid in the satsuma-age. Have the best-selling oden ingredients changed compared to the past? Is there a rise and fall for fish paste products as well?

In the past, a characteristic was that each ingredient was large. Recently, they have gradually become smaller.

Is that because the number of family members is decreasing?

Rather, it might be because the number of dishes on the dining table has increased.

So it's no longer the style of putting a big pot in the middle and saying, "Today is oden!"

I think there is also a need to eat many different types of ingredients.

I see. In households that cook from scratch, I feel like they might make daikon, potatoes, or even cabbage rolls, but are there still households that make fish paste products?

They might make fish balls (tsumire) or meat balls, but it has likely decreased compared to the past.

Then, does each household have its favorite fish paste products or manufacturers?

Since the fish caught across Japan differ, the preferred fish paste products also vary by region. In areas where whitebait (jako) is caught, jako-ten is popular; if it's sardines, then tsumire; in Aichi Prefecture, it's chikuwa around Toyohashi, and in Aomori, it's botan chikuwa. The taste of the dashi also depends on local soy sauce, miso, and sake breweries, so oden using local ingredients and seasonings is eaten.

Among fish paste products, there are various types of kamaboko, aren't there? The variations are truly rich, such as using only one type of fish or not using additives.

That's right. At our company, we also sell low-sodium ingredients to meet consumer needs. As you said, kamaboko is where differentiation has progressed the most.

Is Kibun also exploring new innovations for oden ingredients?

We have always been doing things like combining fish with something else. A product we released 40 years ago called "Uogashi-ageⓇ," which mixes tofu into fish paste, has grown to become the number one selling fish paste product, surpassing products made only with fish paste. Since there is currently a texture boom, we are also challenging ourselves by mixing in ingredients with a good bite.

However, since oden itself is a basic dish that has existed for a long time, there are aspects where dramatic changes are difficult to occur.

Among the oden ingredients where Kibun has emphasized regional characteristics, which area sells the most?

We have released local oden for Aomori, Shizuoka, Himeji, Takamatsu, Kagoshima, and others, but the top one is Nagoya's miso oden.

What! Is it really eaten that much locally?

No, it's not just people in Nagoya buying it, so I think it's popular nationwide.

So it can be bought nationwide.

That's right. This year, as a new addition to the local oden series, we released "Tokyo Shitamachi-style Oden." Furthermore, as part of our famous shop supervision series, we are also developing new innovations such as Nagoya's "Akakara Oden" and Hakata's "Ippudo Tonkotsu Oden."

"Ippudo Tonkotsu Oden"—do you eat the oden in Ippudo's soup?

That's right. Under the supervision of Ippudo, we recreated a soup that matches the image of their ramen. Like "Akakara," this product was developed with a strong focus on the dashi (broth) flavor.

Is this the first time you've collaborated with a famous restaurant for oden?

Yes. Until now, we've highlighted regional characteristics by focusing on ingredients and eating styles, but this is the first time we've put the dashi front and center. I think the expansion of distribution networks has played a big role, allowing us to deliver flavors from various regions nationwide from a single factory. If people find it delicious, I'd be happy if they actually visited the local areas to try it there.

Are there certain criteria for commercializing a product?

For example, people can probably imagine the taste of Nagoya's Miso Oden, but can everyone picture "Aomori Oden" in the same way? Of course, Aomori Oden is well-known, but at the planning stage, the most important thing is whether we feel strongly about wanting to deliver the taste of its biggest feature—the ginger miso sauce—to people nationwide. Apparently, Aomori Oden was often eaten as something to warm the body while waiting for the ferry.

So that's why there's ginger. (Flipping through "Oden-gaku!") Oden in Okinawa even has pig's feet in it. I'd like to try that.

Okinawan oden is probably more of an extension of simmered dishes (nimono) rather than a hot pot dish. In a warm region, it's more natural to think of eating ingredients that have already been simmered once, rather than gathering around a bubbling pot. If you view it as a simmered dish, the types of ingredients change too.

As highlighted in "Oden-gaku!", our staff visited famous shops across the country. The fact that it is so diverse is proof that oden represents regional food culture, and the abundance of hidden deliciousness is part of its charm.

Currently, convenience stores are the ones providing the fun of choosing oden.

That's true. Does convenience store oden also vary in taste depending on the shop or region?

Convenience stores also change the ingredients and dashi by region. Broadly speaking, East and West Japan are different, and the seasoning varies between Kanto and Tohoku, or Kansai and Kyushu. Oden in Kyushu is sweet.

I didn't know that. Does the taste change that much by region?

Even between Tokyo and Osaka, there's first the difference between bonito dashi and kelp (konbu) dashi. Actually, oden has a history of spreading based on the dashi of each region, so there's a huge variety to begin with. Because of that background, shops like the chain "Oden-ya Takeshi" have appeared, offering both flying fish (ago) dashi and chicken dashi. I think many shops develop their own unique menus to stand out.

So the taste and preparation methods differ by region. It's similar to Ozoni (New Year's soup).

Exactly. Both Ozoni and oden are based on "home cooking."

There are also regions that make oden with dried sardine (iriko) dashi. Every land has its preferred flavors.

Lately, there's a wide variety of hot pot portions available, so you can choose the flavor you want to eat.

True. When you go to the supermarket, there are rows and rows of portions.

Are the methods for making dashi also finely divided across Japan?

I think regional preferences for familiar dashi are very strong. In Kyushu and Shikoku, dried sardine-based iriko dashi is more common, while in Oita, where shiitake cultivation is thriving, flavors using dried shiitake are preferred.

Ago (flying fish) dashi is a trend lately, and the source—the flying fish—is a fish often caught in Fukuoka. Tokyo has flavors from all over Japan, but when it comes to the taste of old Edo, it's still bonito dashi.

Karebushi, which is dried bonito that has been molded, is a luxury item now, but it was originally used often in Kanto soba shops. On the other hand, in Kansai and Nagoya, bonito flakes that haven't been molded are used. Even with the same bonito flakes, preferences differ greatly, and this is especially prominent in the restaurant industry.

Is it Kyoto where they make oden dashi with kelp?

I wonder. Around Nagoya, it's bonito-based dashi, and they also eat kelp rolls (konbu-maki) as an oden ingredient.

Whether people eat a lot of kelp rolls or not is another thing that divides regions in Japan.

Is that so?

In Eastern Japan, kelp rolls are eaten, but in Western Japan, kelp is for making dashi, and it seems there aren't many instances of eating it as an oden ingredient.

That's interesting. My grandmother was from Kyushu, and our family's sukiyaki was the style where you put soy sauce, sugar, and sake directly into the pot to cook. In Tokyo, it's common to use a pre-mixed sauce called warishita. I first learned about warishita when I went to Tohoku on a middle school field trip. I saw warishita being splashed into the pot for dinner and thought, "What is this?" (laughs). That's when I realized our family's sukiyaki was the Kyushu way.

It's the same with Ozoni. My wife is from Tokyo, but since her parents are from Fukuoka, Ozoni to her means yellowtail in a soy sauce broth. For me, being from Tokyo, Ozoni broth was a clear chicken soup style, but I was completely overruled.

In my house, we almost never had the habit of putting fish or seafood in oden. Putting octopus in it is surprising to me.

How about daikon radish?

I love daikon. It's so comforting when it's soaked in the dashi broth. Since the ingredient itself isn't too assertive, it goes well with any seasoning—it's a truly modest food.

Daikon is overwhelmingly number one no matter where you go in Japan.

When I asked people I interviewed beforehand, "What do you eat as a professional?", the answers were daikon, chikuwabu, deep-fried tofu (atsuage), konnyaku, and egg. This is because they are all ingredients that soak up flavor and become delicious. Apparently, they serve as a check for the dashi.

Shops known as famous oden establishments put a lot of effort into preparing the daikon.

I thought so.

When daikon that is fully soaked in dashi is served, you can tell it was properly prepared since the day before. Since the oden pot also contains things that finish quickly, like hanpen, you can't actually just simmer everything together.

For example, as satsuma-age (fried fish cakes) simmers, the dashi within the ingredient seeps out into the pot, while conversely, the daikon absorbs the flavor. I think shopkeepers balance the flavors and adjust the textures of the ingredients by mixing various types.

Clarity is essential for oden dashi, but I've always wondered what they do with the leftovers after the shop closes.

I'm not sure about the daikon, but I don't think they reuse the ingredients as-is. I often hear that dashi is topped up and reused, but since it gets cloudy from the oil in the satsuma-age, you need to properly remove the oil and manage the quality. If oil remains, it will deteriorate.

So it doesn't work like eel sauce.

Well, with eel, you want the fish fat to seep into the sauce. Generally, I think restaurants manage and top up their oden dashi. In the case of convenience stores, they wash the pots at set intervals to keep bacteria away.

I wonder what oden shops do during the summer.

They serve oden just the same, but sales probably don't go up as much as in winter.

Is it the same for Kibun's oden ingredients?

In the 1940s and 50s, we sometimes made shaved ice or sold bento boxes in the summer. Back then, without refrigerators, fish paste products also spoiled easily.

According to "Oden-gaku!", an oden shop in Akita heats their dashi every single day without fail, even during Obon and New Year's. I wonder if oden is eaten often in Akita even in summer.

Oden shops in Tokyo also serve it every day throughout the year.

Does Kibun change its product lineup between summer and winter?

We roll out assortments that can be eaten immediately after taking them home in the fall and winter. This summer, we launched an oden assortment that is delicious even when chilled.

Chilled oden sounds delicious too.

Yes. We included unique ingredients like lotus root that are delicious whether chilled or simmered.

A shop I often go to in Osaka called "Kohaku" bills itself as French oden and serves "Porcini Oden." It's a regular simmered daikon topped with a porcini mushroom cream sauce, and it's truly delicious. I always go there when I'm in Osaka.

That sounds delicious.

Traditional oden is great, but new innovations like porcini oden are refreshing. Kohaku's menu also has tomato oden, and you want to eat delicious things regardless of the season.

Speaking of new directions, "Shiki no Oden" in Ginza comes to mind. It became very popular 20 or 30 years ago for its vegetable oden. They slowly warm a peeled tomato and serve it with dashi poured over it at the end; I was amazed that vegetables could become oden like that!

I think it was around the end of the bubble economy, but the restaurant industry at the time probably couldn't tap into new demand without various innovations.

As you say, many different types of ingredients appeared around this time. In contrast, over the last 10 years or so, I have the impression that the variety of dashi has been increasing.

Speaking of new directions, isn't Thai Suki (Thai-style hot pot) similar? Thai hot pot also has a lot of fish paste products.

That's right. Fish that aren't oily are best suited for paste products. The light-flavored fish commonly caught in Thailand might be well-suited for oden ingredients.

Speaking of unusual varieties, there is the "Kanimen" (crab shell) from Kanazawa oden. It's made by stuffing crab meat back into the shell and simmering it with the oden; it's a traditional ingredient that locals have enjoyed for a long time.

That sounds delicious. For me, Kanazawa oden has an image of containing wheat gluten (fu). It's very tasty because it absorbs all the umami.

Among regional oden, Shizuoka oden has a real impact. There's that black broth, of course, but it's also served with a generous topping of bonito powder.

That's the so-called "Shizo-ka Oden." I introduced it in "Oden-gaku!" as well, but actually, for the people of Shizuoka, that oden is something they often eat out rather than making it at home.

If you put too much bonito powder on, the flavor of the ingredients gets buried, but it's interesting as a regional dish. It makes you feel like, "Since I'm here, I might as well try it."

By the way, do you eat your oden ingredients with Japanese mustard (wa-garashi)? I usually eat it with mustard, but I wonder if this also varies by region.

I use it too. It adds a nice change to the flavor.

Fukui is the specialty area for Japanese mustard.

Indeed, Fukui's "Ji-garashi" (local mustard) is famous for being very spicy.

Surprisingly, Kyushu's yuzu kosho also goes very well with oden.

I'm the type who likes to eat while drinking sake, so I'm not very good at eating rice with oden as a side dish.

But there is a culture of eating chameshi (tea-colored rice) at oden shops, isn't there?

That's true. At Nonki, there were many customers who ate chameshi to finish their meal. The long-established shop "Otako" is also famous for its "Tou-meshi" and "Tou-cha," where they place tofu on chameshi and eat it while breaking it up.

They eat well-simmered tofu on top of warm rice, don't they?

Since you mix them together to eat, it's by no means elegant (laughs), but it's very delicious.

Is the combination of chameshi and oden popular? Actually, the other day in Nara, I had chameshi cooked with hojicha for the first time. It's a bit different from pouring oden broth over rice.

You can eat chameshi at many shops. At famous long-standing shops, oden and chameshi go hand in hand.

Chameshi is just something you naturally feel like eating to finish off an oden meal.

There are quite a few people like Mr. Kashiwara who want to eat it as an appetizer.

I see. In my home, we ate it normally as a side dish. If it has miso on it, it goes well with rice.

I see.

"Sukesan Udon," which has recently been opening shops across the country from Fukuoka, also serves oden on its menu.

Oden at an udon shop!?

Udon and oden are a relatively popular combination in Western Japan. Not just in Kyushu, but also in Shikoku and Hiroshima, the style of eating udon and oden together has become established.

Do you eat the udon and oden separately?

Yes, the udon comes out as udon. Since there are regions with that kind of food culture, Kibun views oden as something that can be a side dish. "Oden-gaku!" was also written based on this premise.

I see.

At Sukesan Udon, it's a self-service style where you can take your favorite oden skewers from a six-compartment pot. Shops with this style have been increasing lately; at a chain izakaya I went to in Umeda the other day, there was a six-compartment oden pot right in front of the seats. This shop is popular with young people because you can eat all-you-can-eat oden with eight varieties.

I know that shop. It's "Coronagirai," right? They currently have about 20 locations nationwide.

Previously, there was an exchange between me and our development manager. Regarding Kibun's packaged oden products, I suggested that the amount of broth included might be too much. I thought that if you're serving it on a plate, the broth should just lightly soak the ingredients, but the packs were filled to the brim with liquid.

Certainly, when you think of oden, the image is of ingredients floating in a shallow amount of broth.

When I said, "If there's this much, it'll spill," they said, "No, that's not it." According to the manager, the relationship between these ingredients and the liquid is like ramen and soup, or rice and miso soup. In other words, while the ingredients are the main part, they want people to drink the broth like they would miso soup or soup, and have that satisfy them as a full meal.

I see. Following that logic, I guess chikuwabu would be equivalent to the noodles (laughs).

By that logic, you wouldn't need rice (laughs), but I learned that for young people, oden has become a legitimate staple food.

That said, in the era of food stalls, oden was an appetizer to go with alcohol. Gradually, it entered the home and came to be eaten with a homemade taste. So, if asked whether it's a side dish or an appetizer, I think it's a case of "it was originally an appetizer, but now it stands on its own as a side dish."

But still, on days we eat oden at home, the image is putting a pot in the middle of the table and saying, "Today is oden day!"

Lately, unless it's a birthday or something, scenes where the whole family eats dinner together are decreasing. It's changing from a style of sharing a pot at the table to a style where people take their favorite ingredients from a pot in the kitchen and eat at their own times. That's probably more helpful for mothers nowadays.

That's true. It's hard to cook dish by dish when everyone's meal times are different.

Hot pots are basically something everyone gathers to eat. They are most delicious when eaten right off the heat. In that regard, I think one of the charms of oden is that it can be eaten deliciously even after some time has passed.

Unlike noodles, the ingredients don't get soggy, and even if they get cold, they can be eaten deliciously again if reheated.

I think it's a dish that fits today's lifestyle.

Talking about everyone sharing a pot reminded me of when I used to work in the editorial department of Shukan Bunshun; there was a scoop war going on regarding the marriage of the current Emperor. He was the Crown Prince at the time, and it was said that His Highness would not use his chopsticks in the same pot as others. However, I heard that he frequented an oden shop called "Takohachi" in Mejiro, near Gakushuin University, and very much enjoyed eating oden there.

It was probably because the people he shared the pot with were those with clear backgrounds, such as the president of Gakushuin. In that sense, sharing a pot is a symbol of closeness.

It creates a sense of unity, having eaten the same thing.

At that time, His Highness also reportedly learned about Fukui's Kokuryu sake at Takohachi. Of course, I didn't hear this directly from His Highness, but was told by someone in the Palace Management Department.

In the long history of oden, the placement of oden pots in 7-Eleven was a major change.

Certainly, being able to buy it at convenience stores made oden very accessible.

The pots in the store are managed with lids properly on, but the scent of the broth still wafts through the shop. I think it's amazing that they decided this was a good thing.

I see. That change might be significant. Furthermore, for consumers, being able to buy just one piece was also a happy thing.

Exactly. That's how they brought the familiarity of oden into convenience stores. Introducing the oden pot to the store and creating a sense of home warmth was a big change.

It's certainly very innovative.

Because of that, the style of buying and eating, or eating while standing, also became established. I'm from a generation that was told "buying and eating snacks is bad" and "you shouldn't eat while walking," so this impact was very large.

Historically speaking, the place for eating oden moved from food stalls to the home, and furthermore, dietary habits were born where people moved from sharing a pot to eating individually within the home. After that, a need arose for children to eat oden with their pocket money on the way home from Juku, and the ways of enjoying it changed as the range of ingredient options expanded.

It has become much easier to eat compared to the past.

I think the fact that it can be eaten deliciously even after time has passed also leads to ease of operation for the shops.

Certainly, the fact that the ingredients don't get mushy makes it easier to operate.

Tasks like regularly washing and replacing the oden pot naturally require efficiency, and oden ingredients are easy-to-handle foods in those situations.

By the way, can Kibun's oden ingredients be bought at convenience stores?

Yes, you can. Though not necessarily all the time. This is because the manufacturers for convenience store oden ingredients actually change every year.

So, does that mean the flavor changes every season, even at the same convenience store?

I think it's more accurate to say they "change it." Manufacturers go through multiple prototypes based on intentions like, "This year, we want to go in this direction."

At convenience stores in Aichi, you get a miso topping when you buy oden. Is this service something that doesn't exist in other regions?

Miso is a topping unique to the Aichi and Nagoya areas.

I thought so. Nagoya has a strong image of miso, but it is actually a "hidden dashi culture region" as well. There are quite a lot of dishes that use dashi.

What kind of dashi is popular?

There are various types, but since my family home runs a dried bonito wholesaler, we used to make dashi from bonito flakes. We would dissolve miso in it normally and add sugar to give it a sweet finish. In Nagoya, many dipping sauces are sold, and people often just use those, but those dipping sauces always contain bonito flakes as well.

I feel like there is still room for creativity in oden seasoning, like with porcini oden. Korea also has a dashi culture, so I think making it Korean-style by using dashi from dried sardines or beef bones would be popular with young people.

That sounds good. It might sound strange to call it bone dashi, but I have an image of Korean soups being rich in dashi.

You get great dashi from both the bones and the marrow, and chicken bone dashi should also work well. Ramen shop soups express themselves freely regardless of whether they are Japanese, Western, or Chinese, and there seem to be many elements that could be applied to oden. For those who like ethnic flavors, oden with fish sauce might also become popular.

Fish sauce would certainly be a matter of personal preference!

That said, Japan also has fish sauce. Kanazawa, which uses "ishiru" in its cooking, is exactly a fish sauce culture.

That's true.

I think it would be fine to have a new Kanazawa oden that incorporates ishiru. These seasonings are like relatives of dashi, and since spices and herbs are actually dashi ingredients too, I feel that if a good balance is found, the possibilities for oden will open up even more.

The enjoyment is really expanding in many ways. We would also like to take on new challenges.