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Mexican Lifestyles Food & Dining Sushi Police To Expose Bogus Japanese Fare
Mexican Lifestyles Food & Dining Sushi Police To Expose Bogus Japanese Fare | Sushi Police To Expose Bogus Japanese Fare |
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| Written by Alex Gesheva | |
| Saturday, 16 December 2006 | |
 ' ' - Photo By J. Cortaza After years of watching Japanese cuisine suffer indignities like the California roll, fake sake and Tempura onion rings, the Japanese have had enough. At the end of November, Japanese authorities announced a plan to offer official seals of approval to overseas restaurants deemed to be "pure Japanese" Japan's minister of agriculture, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, became the mastermind of the new "Japanese restaurant authentication plan" after eating sub-par Japanese food on a recent visit to the United States. "What people need to understand is that real Japanese food is a highly developed art. It involves all the senses; it should be beautifully presented, use genuine ingredients and be made by a trained chef," Matsuoka told the Washington Post. "What we are seeing now are restaurants that pretend to offer Japanese cooking but are really Korean, Chinese or Filipino. We must protect our food culture." In the United States alone, the number of restaurants claiming to serve Japanese food soared to 9,000 in 2005, double the number a decade ago, according to Japanese government statistics. The government projects that the number of Japanese restaurants worldwide will leap to 48,000 by 2009, more than double the current level. Some go all-out to ensure authenticity. Masa, in New York City, imports its fish from Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market while Umu, in London, regularly flies in the soft water of Kyoto, Japan's old capital, to make its bonito fish broths. But they are largely exceptions. In the United States, counterfeit Japanese foods now include seaweed rolls stuffed with smoked salmon and cream cheese. In Canada, Vera's Burger Shack in Vancouver is offering tempura-battered onion rings. And Guadalajara's infamous chili soy sauce and Philadelphia cream cheese rolls are unlikely to pass muster. But local restaurant owners are unconcerned. "If we served 100 percent Japanese food, people here wouldn't eat it," says Adriana Imai, who cooks at Hiroshi, a Japanese food restaurant in Guadalajara. "There is no way for us to get the kind of ingredients we need: where do we find a fresh fish to kill in front of customers for sashimi?" continues Imai, a self-taught sushi chef. "The customers are too delicate anyway." "Japanese food here is very different from the more traditional flavors served in the United States," says Bernardo Zavala, a customer. "It has adapted to the country. But it's not bad, just different. It's not like restaurants claim to make pure Japanese food." "Japanese food in Guadalajara is mostly atrocious and overpriced," says Tapatia Lina Sanchez. "But I don't think that's because of a lack of authenticity. It's just plain bad cooking." A trial run of the sushi police was launched this summer in France, where secret inspectors selected by a panel of food specialists were dispatched to 80 restaurants in Paris claiming to serve Japanese food, some of whom invited the scrutiny. About one-third fell short of standards – making them ineligible to display the official seal emblazoned with cherry blossoms in their windows or to be listed on a government-sponsored Web site of Japanese restaurants in Paris. The Japanese government has appointed an advisory board of food luminaries and intellectuals to develop a workable method for the project ahead of its full launch in April. Matsuoka said the most likely scenario would be the creation of government-sanctioned food commissions in major countries to evaluate a restaurant's "Japanese-ness" based on authentic ingredients, chef training, aesthetics and other criteria. Other nations like Italy and Thailand have already established incentives and reward standards for restaurants promoting their "true" national cuisine. "I think they're all being a bit humorless," says Imai with a smile and a shrug. "But this really doesn't affect restaurants in Guadalajara. Because of logistics, nobody can even come close to that standard. And our clients eat here because they enjoy it, not because we have a seal on the window." |
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