Interview with Setsuko Yuki, a famed food coordinator Japanese Cuisine Changing World Food Culture
2010 Jul/Aug
PERSONAL PROFILE
Interviewer: Yoshihiro KATAOKA (Freelance writer)
The world is avidly watching "Japanese cuisine." This is what Setsuko Yuki feels every time, as a food coordinator who has successfully coordinated many popular TV cooking programs such as "The Iron Chef," when she meets a foreign chef. Her feeling is growing stronger. "Our cuisine may give a new impact on the world's food." This expectation makes her heart leap as she busies herself on the front lines of the world's cooking scenes. She eagerly discussed the power and possibilities of Japanese food culture in a recent interview with Japan SPOTLIGHT. Eating Raw Meat: A "Miracle" You participated in the "San Sebastian Gastronomika" of the world's foremost gastronomic society in Spain last November as the chairperson of an executive committee of the Japanese team. Yuki: It all came about because of the "TOKYO TASTE - The World Summit of Gastronomy 2009" that we held in Tokyo in February 2009, inviting chefs from around the world. At that summit, overseas participants were astounded to find authentic Japanese cuisine "completely different from what we see in Europe." They invited us to the San Sebastian convention, saying, "We will set aside a Japan Day, so please come." I participated with seven chefs from Japan and made presentations under such themes as "The secrets of sushi," "Japanese sake" and "Umami and dashi" (flavor and stock). Recently in Europe, there has been a negative campaign about Japanese cuisine, branding it "dangerous," although this is hardly known in Japan. There is a difference between Japan and the West in the concept of "raw." In the West, they serve fish no longer really fresh as "sashimi," which gives rise to the fear that "it may be poisonous." This is to say the essence of eating sashimi as raw food is not known there. In an effort to make them understand proper Japanese food culture, we introduced how to prepare sashimi and the use of vinegar, including lectures on parasites and hygiene control. In Japan, we eat even hearts raw as meat. This is unthinkable in the West. But they are delicious. For Westerners, this is a miracle. Our booth exhibiting various Japanese foods brought by mail order from across Japan was extremely popular during the Spanish fair. There was an uninterrupted flow of people at the booth. Asian Cuisine Embraces Nature What are the characteristics of Japanese cuisine? Which elements of it are attracting the attention of foreign chefs? Yuki: Japanese cuisine is a "culture... <<BACK

The whole story is only available to the subscribers.
Please login to access the site

	Log In:

ID/E-mail:
Password:


Forgot your Password?>>