Chef’s cutting board

2008 resolution: I will strive to spread proper sushi skills

Cultural News, February 2008

By Andy Matsuda

    From the second Saturday of February, I will start an eight-week intensive Japanese food course for the instructors of the California School of Culinary Art in Pasadena. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, for a total of 40 hours, I will teach the difference between sushi quality and sashimi quality, Japanese kitchen history, ingredients of Japanese food, and so on to French cuisine-oriented chefs. While they’ve already acquired cooking skills, they need to know information about Japanese cooking.  

   Currently 80% of the Japanese restaurants in the U.S are owned and operated by non-Japanese, a large portion of whom are unaware of proper sushi serving standards.  It must be said that even in Japanese-owned restaurants, there are not enough properly trained kitchen staff.  I feel very strongly the need for an equal opportunity outside of Japan for proper sushi training before any sanctions are enforced.

    I’m pleased to say that 2008 offers a first step in this direction, as we are in talks to produce a new 10-minute DVD that will focus on the basics, including food safety, chef behavior and terminology needed in a Japanese restaurant or at a restaurant that has a sushi bar. 

  I would dub this DVD “Yokoso (welcome) Japanese Kitchen” after the Japanese government “Yokoso Japan” tourism campaign that seeks 10 million foreigners to visit Japan. I would like to hear feedback from the readers on this subject.

   Andy Matsuda is founder and Chief Instructor of the Sushi Chef Institute in Los Angeles. For more information about the school, visit

www.sushischool.net.

(This text was completed by Gavin Kelley.)