| Relationships
with Local Farmers Established through Hard Work |
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I first came
to Yufuin twenty years ago after training at restaurants throughout the country.
Yufuin’s fields ten years ago had only spinach, and when I asked farmers to grow
other vegetables they would just say, “What happens when we produce too much?”
and showed no cooperation. It was after a year and a half of asking everyday
that someone finally planted something new for me, the first being garland chrysanthemum.
I bought all of it, and bought other vegetables as well. By doing that I was
able to convince the farmers that I would buy a considerable amount of their
vegetables, and finally after two years was able to land contracts.
This was all at a time when customers
came to Yufuin in droves. Chefs disliked local farmers’ vegetables because the
cucumbers they brought were curved and difficult to use, or because farmers wouldn’t
replace rotten vegetables. So farmers in the beginning didn’t sell to chefs.
To solve this problem I went
around on my own two feet visiting farms, collecting vegetables, and distributing
them to ryokans. When I was asked by a ryokan to introduce a chef, I introduced
one based the two conditions—that they use Yufuin vegetables and that they make
food you can’t eat in places like Tokyo and Osaka—so at first I was a bit forceful
in getting them to buy local. In time, however, the phrases “Slow Food” and “local
production for local consumption” grew in popularity and all the ryokans eventually
started using vegetables taken from Yufuin’s fields.
Also, business owners and chefs
in Yufuin talk to each other a lot, and in these group discussions they can make
proposals about, for instance, what vegetables they want to use. Yufuin has a
history of cross-communication and group study, and I believe the kind of connection
with farmers that was established in this instance was a direct result of that
history. |
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| One strength of Yufuin cuisine is its chefs’ ability to prepare
food using ingredients that have never been stored in a refrigerator. |
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| Talking vegetables with the owner of Yufuin Floral House. |
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| Yufuin
Ryouri-kai’s Launch and Current Activities |
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Yufuin Ryouri
Kenkyukai helps to establish distribution routes between chefs and farmers and
also holds workshops to teach chefs more about preparation methods. We call farmers
to see if they have any surplus vegetables and then bring them to the workshop
to teach how they can be prepared and flavored. The next day, everyone goes to
buy the same vegetables so all them end up getting sold.
Besides
events for chefs, we also actively hold “Kaze no Shokutaku Undo” gatherings,
to which we invite vegetable producers. The purpose is to have farmers eat dishes
we prepare so they can understand in what way their vegetables evolve into cuisine.
Green tomatoes and small eggplants—vegetables that were substandard and thrown
away when given to the agricultural cooperative—can be used by changing the way
you chop them or by putting them in a blender. This kind of information we want
to be sure to communicate to farmers.
Also, recently we started to
produce a new ingredient in Yufuin, a Roman vegetable called “puntarelle.” In
Japan it’s a rare ingredient that you don’t have many opportunities to eat. Puntarelle
is said to be effective in reactivating your kidneys, so I proposed to use this
new ingredient with the hope we provide even healthier food. Why should tourists
come to Yufuin for refreshment if the food here is shoddily prepared? In the
atmosphere that Yufuin offers, I want them to enjoy cooking here that they can’t
anywhere else. |
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| Chefs meet periodically and exchange opinions. |
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| Puntarelle, a vegetable virtually found only around Rome. |
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| Mr. Shine, preparing some puntarelle. |
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| New Possibilities
for Yufuin |
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Recently, I
went to
Greece to attend meetings in preparation for the “Japanese Cooking Fair” that
will be held there starting next year and ending the year after.
We will bring Japanese ingredients and dishes with us to the event and there
we will serve Japanese food that also incorporates local Greek ingredients—in
this case five Japanese chefs will prepare food for about 400 customers a day.
What is most useful to Yufuin in this event is what waits for us on the other
side. I want to serve food that, when eaten, will get people to think, “I want
to go to Japan. I want to see Yufuin.” I’ll do all I can to achieve that. I think
it will require inventiveness and an ability to communicate well to get more
people to eat Japanese food.
Cooking will never go right with
already prepared food. I think the heart of hospitality comes from the spirit
of chance meeting, and having certain ingredients by chance, and saying, “Would
you like to try this?” That’s why I can’t cook in an environment where everything
you could ever want is already there. The menu I humbly serve to my guests arises
simply from the ingredients I have in front of me. In cases where a vegetable
is absolutely necessary based on how I imagine the final dish, I call a farmer,
and even if I have to make my guests wait, I run and get it. When that happens,
the most crucial thing is service. A dish’s beauty and the richness of its ingredients
are different when served after being told, “The head chef is out fetching an
ingredient right now. Please wait just a moment longer.” As time passes, this
philosophy is what I expect will be conveyed to each coming generation of the
Yufuin Ryouri Kenkyukai. |
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| Yufuin Ryouri Kenkyukai also holds cooking workshops for the
public. |
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