J-Gov't to certify real Japanese food

[Greji]

Hey boothe, I also loved the Johnny Rockets at Roppongi Crossing. It was definitely one of the best post-drunken grease fests in the city. I still remember my feeling of disappointment when I found out they had closed up shop.

You got that right Bird! They used to advertise another outlet, but I don't remember where it was at. It's probably closed as well.

[Mulboyne]

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka said Saturday during his visit to the United States that the ministry's certification system to support qualified Japanese restaurants overseas, which is to start in April, was "not an attempt to exclude certain restaurants [run by non-Japanese owners]."

The PDF file on the site linked above seems to take an age to load. Out of the 50 restaurants listed, 3 appear to have foreign owners: Eric Moog at Meiji; Laurent Peugeot at Sushikai and Emmanuel Meuret & Ludovic Chassagne at Moshi Moshi. Only one of the chefs appears to be non-Japanese: David Khong at Moshi Moshi who is named as working alongside a Japanese head chef. It will be interesting to see if the Ministry can find a certifiable restaurant elsewhere in the world that doesn't employ a Japanese head chef.

I liked one of the restaurant names in the Paris list - "Comme des Poissons"

[Mulboyne]

A sushi police nightmare:

Thai the knot: Cuisine, sushi make a perfect match

The battle is over, and I have lost. For the past several years, I have tilted against an insurgent trend by non-Japanese restaurants to include sushi on their menus. Most of the time we see this in other Asian restaurants, such as Chinese, Thai or Vietnamese, but the fad is not confined to those cuisines (think California Grill). I had two reasons for railing against this craze. First, I wanted to preserve the sanctity of each cuisine by stressing the unique qualities of each country's food heritage. I had a concern that Americans' tendency to lump all Asian cuisines in one basket would be further muddied by a tacit approval of putting them all on one menu.

And second, I didn't think it was likely that a non-Japanese restaurant could do justice to the art of sushi and treat it with the esteem expert practitioners give it through training and pedigree. And if they did give sushi the attention it deserved, then certainly the Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese dishes would suffer in quality. As to the first point, I've come to realize that ethnic cleansing is neither my intent nor a worthy pursuit. As to the second point, places such as Kata Thai Kitchen Sushi Bar keep proving me wrong by doing a very good job with both...more...

[Captain Japan]

Global 'sushi police' a dubious endeavor
Asahi

Isao Kadota (1902-1984), an antiestablishment journalist famed for his refined literary style, loved to write about food.

One day, a food connoisseur told him that the flesh of a bonito caught by rod and reel retained a firm texture that made it a true gourmet delight.

Impressed as Kadota was by the man's tongue that can discern such subtle differences in the quality of the fish, it also got him thinking along the following lines: Since the finest ingredients are not always available, wouldn't someone with a highly discriminating palate be more often disappointed than delighted by the food they eat?

"Happiness comes from a reasonably dulled palate," wrote Kadota in an article for Shukan Asahi magazine 45 years ago.

Farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka obviously is someone whose palate would not be dulled. During a recent overseas trip, he became concerned that too many self-proclaimed Japanese restaurants abroad were serving dishes that would hardly qualify as Japanese....more...

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

Reuters: Japan to check overseas food, but no "sushi police"

...Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka said on Friday he would go ahead with a modified proposal to check overseas Japanese restaurants for their authenticity, but only at the request of the restaurant...

[TFG]

Perhaps an organization to check the authenticity & quality of the English language schools should be started outside Japan with the backing of a decent University. Charge them a million Yen for the authenticity and quality stickers they can proudly display on their school doors.

I wonder if the Rat curry served the other day gets the authenticity approval?

[Charles]

I wonder if the Rat curry served the other day gets the authenticity approval?

Well of course it does. It was a Japanese rat.

[Bucky]

How Japanese is a Japanese restaurant? Toronto diners are about to find out.

The Japanese government, seeking both to promote its foodstuffs and protect its culture, is recommending certain Japanese restaurants overseas on the basis of their authenticity. At its pilot site in Paris, 45 restaurants now display window stickers of a hand wielding chopsticks and the word "authentique."

The recommendations are set to expand to Toronto and Los Angeles next year, thanks to their high concentration of Japanese restaurants. There are about 450 in the GTA.

"Toronto is a really good city for Japanese restaurant standards. It's promising," says Mari Izumi of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. She was here last week and spoke through a translator.

To qualify, Toronto restaurants must use short-grain rice, serve Japanese sake, prepare sushi to the highest standards and educate diners about Japanese food culture.

Other factors are still to be determined. It helps to have Japanese culinary training, but Izumi says her government is considering sponsoring local workshops like the one last week at George Brown College by Hiro Yoshida of Hiro Sushi.

The program is modelled after those run by the Thai and Italian governments. Of the tens of thousands of Thai restaurants abroad, only 572 are certified Thai Select. The Italian program has annointed only 42 restaurants in Belgium and Luxembourg.

While the numbers may be small, the issues are not.

Local restaurateurs are divided on who should run the program and what counts as "authentic."

The Japanese Restaurant Association of Canada, formed in 2004 to successfully fight the Ontario government's proposal to freeze sushi fish before serving, is the "best candidate" to assess restaurants, says Ted Iizuka, the association's director and secretary-general.

The association already has its own authentification process for its 35 members, based partly on questionnaires. All members are passionate promoters of Japanese food culture, eager to raise standards in cuisine, service, atmosphere and safety. They also happen to include most of the GTA's best Japanese chefs, which, to some, is the problem.

"I think it's unfair to those Chinese or Korean restaurant owners who aren't part of the organization that gets to decide," says Yumi Izutsu, co-owner of Kaiseki Sakura on Church St.

In Paris, where candidates must score at least 70 points out of 100 to be recommended, a 10-person team of journalists, industrialists and foodies run the program. Half are French, half are Japanese.

There is also the question of who will do the assessments.

"This person could be a professor, a food writer or a person who has been nominated," says Masaki Hashimoto of Kaiseki Yu-Zen Hashimoto in Mississauga.

Jyo Gao, chef/owner of Solo Sushi-ya in Newmarket, sees the need for at least three people: a chef, a critic and an artist, "because food isn't only for the stomach, it's for the eyes."

Every city will have "local variables," says Izumi of the MAFF. This may include well-balanced fusion dishes, special maki rolls and the fact that Toronto's sushi rice is sweeter than in Japan.

Another variable is language. The Italian certification program requires at least one staff member to speak Italian. Izumi says each city must determine if a Japanese-speaking standard is required, as in Paris.

"We always have somebody on staff who speaks Japanese. It's a necessity in a Japanese restaurant," says Kitty Lam, co-owner of Mochizuki on Bay St. "Many of our customers order menu items in Japanese – asking for toro instead of tuna – and it would be insulting or embarrassing if our staff didn't understand."

Already opinion is divided.

"Japanese-speaking ability doesn't affect how to cook or serve Japanese food. It may affect their understanding of Japanese culture, but it's not necessary," says Izutsu.

"As long as they are serving sound Japanese cuisine, any kind of language is okay," echoes Iizuka.

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo via Japan Today: Group founded to recommend good Japanese restaurants overseas

An industry body was inaugurated Wednesday in Tokyo to designate blue-ribbon restaurants that serve authentic Japanese cuisine abroad as restaurants of the "sushi star" grade. The founding members of the Japanese Restaurant Popularization and Promotion Organization elected Kikkoman Corp. Chairman Yuzaburo Mogi as the organization's representative and Jeanie Fuji, a proprietress of traditional Japanese guesthouse Fujiya Ryokan in Yamagata Prefecture, as one of its board members, it said.

[amdg]

Chairman Yuzaburo Mogi continued, saying that "all we have to do now is just kickback and wait for the real work to start. I'm sorry, did I say "kickback"? Because I meant to say "graft". Thank you. ..... Payola."

Brown Paper Envelopes.

[Mulboyne]

Business Week: Does Your Sushi Bar Make the Cut?

...But don't think Tokyo has given up. Next month a new non-profit outfit, the Organization to Promote Japanese Restaurants Abroad, or JRO, will use public funding to open offices in Tokyo and Kyoto. The task of the chefs, food company executives, and academics who are its members: Recommend "authentic" Japanese restaurants in an effort "to avoid spreading the wrong image of Japanese food," says Keio University's Aoi, who sits on the JRO's board. Aoi says the JRO won't discriminate against restaurants that aren't owned by Japanese, which account for over 90% of the Japanese restaurants overseas. By March, the JRO plans to set up affiliates in Shanghai, Taipei, and Bangkok. More offices in Paris, New York, and Los Angeles are expected to follow. It will compile a restaurant guide for each city, send highly trained chefs overseas to share their know-how, and offer training courses in Japan for aspiring chefs. Other top chefs are pitching in. Yoshihiro Murata, the chef-owner of renowned Kikunoi restaurant in Kyoto and head of the Japanese Culinary Academy, is in the early stages of planning a cook-off in New York next year for professional chefs who ply their trade at Japanese restaurants overseas. He's also got a cooking manual in the works, titled Kaiseki after Japan's haute cuisine.

But skeptics think Tokyo's real motives are more about promoting exports than culinary excellence. One example: Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had set a target of exporting $9 billion worth of agricultural and marine products by 2013, nearly three times the $3.3 billion logged last year. The more restaurants there are that use Japan-sourced "authentic" ingredients, the more potential business for Japan's exporters. Already Japan's exports of agricultural and marine products to the U.S. have increased 60% since the mid-1990s, thanks to restaurants and the healthy image of Japanese food. Some also see hypocrisy in the government's plans to judge what is authentic. That's because Japanese chefs are also masters at giving foreign foods, such as pasta and curry, a local twist. "Trying to define Japanese food is nonsense," says Hidetoshi Kato, former head of Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute and a former Gakushuin University professor. Kato blames the movement on "ignorance among politicians and bureaucrats"...more...

[amdg]

"Trying to define Japanese food is nonsense," says Hidetoshi Kato, former head of Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute and a former Gakushuin University professor. Kato blames the movement on "ignorance among politicians and bureaucrats"

My new hero.

[Mulboyne]

More on JRO:

Kyodo via Japan Today: NPO to recommend Japanese restaurants overseas

A Japanese nonprofit organization Tuesday announced a plan to issue recommendation marks to qualified Japanese restaurants overseas to promote the international spread of Japanese cuisine. The Organization to Promote Japanese Restaurants Abroad, or known as JRO, said overseas JRO offices will be authorized to make flexible decisions to issue such marks based on restaurants' voluntary applications. The JRO, founded by the Japanese food industry, said it has set some recommendation guidelines including three essential conditions such as using ingredients of Japanese origin, as well as selected conditions requiring any applicant to clear at least two of the five criteria contained as part of Japanese food culture. Considering that Japanese restaurants might have difficulties in procuring authentic Japanese food materials in some countries, the JRO said, it will allow its overseas offices to set their own criteria. The plan is not designed to eliminate unauthentic Japanese restaurants, it said.

The JRO has opened its offices in Taipei, Shanghai and Bangkok and plans to establish five more including in London, Los Angeles and Amsterdam by the end of March. The plan came after the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries gave up on introducing an official system to assess overseas Japanese restaurants and award official certificates to selected restaurants. Some overseas media had criticized the government plan as a "sushi police" scheme.

[amdg]

Hey, JRO.

Over here. I want to tell you something.

A little bit closer. It's a secret.

Closer.



[hide]nobody cares[/hide]

[Mulboyne]

Here's their website

[kurohinge1]

[amdg]

It will just end up being a guide for Japanese people who, for whatever reason, find themselves away from the motherland and in need of some traditional home cooking.

Reason: Those foreigners who care about ‘authenticity’ (as problematic as that concept is – remember that ebi mayo pizza is ‘authentic’ Japanese food) already know what Japanese food is, and patronize eateries accordingly. Those foreigners who don’t care, simply don’t care, and actually take delight in the variation, localization and even in the missapplication of ‘false Japaneseness’ (such as the waitress bowing with their hands in the ‘prayer’ position, nothing but warm sake, spam sushi, mini katakans instead of steak knives, etc, etc). For them it’s all good.


Edit - I really wanted to photoshop an ebi-mayo pizza into the large circle of that logo (Mulb's post above) but couldn't find a suitable image, i.e., perfectly round, with horrible mayo streaks over the top. Anyone got one?

[Mulboyne]

[Jack]

I totally agree with this. It's about time. Like we discussed at length earlier, there are way too many Chinese owners passing garbage for Japanese food. Making sushi using Chinese rice is just one example. I hope this catches on in Canada.

[amdg]

I totally agree with this. It's about time. Like we discussed at length earlier, there are way too many Chinese owners passing garbage for Japanese food. Making sushi using Chinese rice is just one example. I hope this catches on in Canada.

Jack, since this body does not have a regulatory function, they won't be putting those 'garbage' places out of business. All they are looking at doing is giving the official thumbs up to the 'good' places. It will be business as usual for everyone else.

[Mulboyne]

From here:

Kikkoman Corp. chairman Yuzaburo Mogi...heads the private-sector Organisation to Promote Japanese Restaurants Abroad. The group, set up with the blessing of the agriculture ministry, has launched a campaign to certify "real" Japanese restaurants overseas. But Mogi said he was open-minded, noting that tempura, one of Japan's most famous dishes, originated in Portugal. "We try to define Japanese food in a broader sense. For instance in California, there is the famous California roll. I believe that that is one Japanese food," he said of the avocado and crab rolls foreign to most Japanese. "There is an argument on whether instant ramen (noodles) is Japanese food or not. I believe that instant ramen is Japanese food," he said. But Mogi spotted some technical problems overseas, including how to serve sushi and sashimi. "Some Japanese restaurants don't have chefs who know how to handle raw fish. In that case it's very dangerous," he said.

[Taro Toporific]

From here:
,,,"There is an argument on whether instant ramen (noodles) is Japanese food or not. I believe that instant ramen is Japanese food," he said....

That's a hard call. While instant ramen [color="Silver"]( 拉] is certainly Japanese, it's certainly not food.

[Jack]

[Greji]

[Catoneinutica]

[amdg]

"But Mogi spotted some technical problems overseas, including how to serve sushi and sashimi. "Some Japanese restaurants don't have chefs who know how to handle raw fish. In that case it's very dangerous," he said. "

Anisakiasis is caused by the accidental ingestion of larvae of the nematodes (roundworms) Anisakis simplex and Pseudoterranova decipiens. Eating raw or undercooked infected marine fish infects humans. After ingestion, the anisakid larvae penetrate the gastric and intestinal mucosa, causing the symptoms of anisakiasis.
Occurrence: Worldwide, with higher incidence in areas where raw fish is eaten (e.g., Japan, Pacific coast of South America, the Netherlands).
Manifestations: Within hours after ingestion of infected larvae symptoms may occur with: violent abdominal pain nausea vomiting occasionally the larvae are coughed up
Diagnosis and treatment: Diagnosis can be made by gastroscopic examination during which the 2 cm larvae are visualised and removed, or by histopathologic examination of tissue removed at biopsy or during surgery. The treatment of choice is surgical or endoscopic removal.
Vaccine: Not available
Prevent anisakiasis by: Don't eat raw fish.

[Greji]

".....Diagnosis and treatment: Diagnosis can be made by gastroscopic examination during which the 2 cm larvae are visualised and removed, or by histopathologic examination of tissue removed at biopsy or during surgery. The treatment of choice is surgical or endoscopic removal.
Vaccine: Not available ...."

It also leads to a very bad case of the green apple two step, but I have found that is very effective in removing the larvae.....

[GuyJean]

Looks like the Sushi Police won't be visiting Israel..

Eateries Go on Spring Roll Strike
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN1224162920080212

Israel's Asian restaurants went on a one-day spring roll strike Tuesday in protest over government plans to rid kitchens of foreign chefs, and said sushi and noodles would be the next items off the menu.

The restaurants are angry at government plans to purge Japanese, Chinese and Thai eateries of Asian cooks and replace them with Israelis as part of a broader program to cut the number of foreigners working in the Jewish state..

GJ

[ColinizeR]

Yeah, in Australia most sushi bars and Japanese food stores are run by Chinese or Vietnamese....

My wife won't touch their food...I occasionally eat it..but the Japanese food is of a far superior quality...

In Japan, even the convenience store sandwiches were delicious...