The art of making sushi
Published:Thursday | March 20, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Shanica Blair, Gleaner Writer
World-renowned chefs, the father-and-son duo of Kazuhiro Sato and Motoshige, have been making strides in the culinary field, travelling the world and imparting their skills to others.
From Hungary to New Zealand with Austria, Germany, Portugal, and Australia in-between, they have been conducting workshops on vegetable and paper art. They made a stop on our beautiful shores last week Wednesday (March 12), which was the second leg of their three-country tour, which started in New York (United States) and ended in Belize.
The sushi-making, vegetable-art demonstrations, which took place at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, saw a plethora of chefs and trainees from all across the island coming out to what was an eventful and eye-opening session as to how lucrative the sushi-making business is.
Influenced by his father, 16-year-old Motoshige started to practise making sushi at the age of three. At nine, he began serving sushi at the sushi bar counter at his father's restaurant. He has travelled with him on tours and, in 2009, was welcomed in Spain as the youngest Japanese sushi chef.
Motoshige told Food that he is very passionate about sushi-making, which is why he stopped attending classes after middle school to join his father in the business full-time.
"My dream is to become a globally competitive chef; that is why, instead of going to high school or culinary school, I have opted to let my father teach me. Sometimes I stand for 16 hours per day and, during the summer, 20 hours. But I love what I do," he said.
Beaming with pride at the demonstration, Chef Kazuhiro Sato told Food that he is happy and really proud that his son is following in his footsteps and is honoured that he wants him to teach him personally instead of going to culinary school.
The older Sato has been in the business for more than 30 years, and is also a hotel and restaurant owner who specialises in Japanese cuisine. He started out at the prestigious New Ohtani Hotel, Sushi and Tea Ceremony Restaurants, where he worked for 10 years before opening his own hotel and restaurant in 1987, called the Yoboso, in northern Japan. Sadly, the hotel was destroyed by the earthquake that ravished Japan in 2011.
The Sato family had the first floor of their hotel completely destroyed. "The hotel was totally ruined and everything on the first floor, the restaurant, the kitchen, generators, spoilers, even the living quarters, was totally ruined," young Sato told Food.
"We had to change the guest rooms on the second floor into our living area and there was a lack of everything after the tsunami, not just food. The distribution system was totally damaged. We could't get anything. Everything was at a standstill," he said.
Motoshige told Food that after the tsunami, they had to go to the mountains to pick wild grass and sea kelps and seaweed at the beach for six months after the incident, because there was nothing.
When Motoshige is not in the restaurant or working with food, he likes to take long walks by himself or find something to do with his hands and get creative. "I like making things and creating things with my own hands. Most boys like to play sports or soccer, but I rather use my hands," he said.
Dennis McIntosh, president of the Culinary Federation of Jamaica, in his remarks, told guests that he is pleased that the Japanese Embassy has sought to bring their own to our shores, as sushi-making has gained a major foothold around the world and Jamaica is no different.
"With the chefs coming here, for us in Jamaica, it's a start. It's cultural exchange. It has shown our young local talent the discipline that is required if you are going to be a master of any component of the kitchen. We saw the dedication in the son who is only 16 years old - focused beyond belief," McIntosh stressed.