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Sushi chef training is in high demand

 

Cultural News, March 2008

 

 

Andy Matsuda (center), founder and chef instructor of Sushi Chef Institute, Nick Kang (third from right), instructor and their students: (from left) Victor Humay of Alhambra, Ivan Bacic of Croatia in Europe, Il Kyung Og of San Diego, James Hodges of Palm Spring, and Charlie Lee of Arcadia. (Cultural News Photo) 

 

By Gavin Kelley

 

   For the past two years, Cultural News has presented a monthly column by Chef Andy Matsuda, founder and Chief Instructor of Sushi Chef Institute in Los Angeles.  This month we are presenting an in-depth look at the Japanese restaurant industry and thoughts of Chef Matsuda.

 

   Born in Nishiwaki city in Hyogo prefecture, Japan, to a family that owned a small restaurant, Chef Andy Matsuda began his career with a five-year apprenticeship at one of the most prestigious restaurants in Osaka.  Applying his acquired skills, he helped to expand his family-owned restaurant before heading to Los Angeles in the mid-1980’s.

 

   Matsuda’s life in the United States began in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles as an assistant chef, lasting only a week before being promoted to chief sushi chef.  He has worked in some fine sushi bars in Santa Monica and Aspen in Colorado, and Sheraton Hotels at the Los Angeles Airport and in Long Beach.

 

    In 1996, Matsuda was diagnosed with colon cancer, forcing him into a four-year battle for his life.

 

    “I experienced a loss of energy and was no longer able to keep the pace I had set for myself,” Matsuda explained.  “I was no longer able to own and run a restaurant, but I realized that I could train someone.”

 

    Out of this train of thought emerged Matsuda’s involvement with the launch of California Sushi Academy in Venice in 1998.  Serving as vice president and chief instructor for three years did not satisfy his desire to meet the demand for the growing number of well-trained sushi chefs for sushi restaurants.

 

    Thus in 2002, Matsuda founded Sushi Chef Institute by sharing a kitchen at Maryknoll Japanese Community Center in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district, where he offered a two-month training course for beginners and professionals. He has trained over 700 students so far.

 

    “In Japan it can take three to five years to become a chef,” Matsuda explained.  “The Japanese style sees no unity, gives no experience or hands-on experience to the apprentices, and the first two to three years of the experience is just to see if the apprentice will stick around.”

 

    When Matsuda began Sushi Chef Institute, there was backlash from the Japanese community in Los Angeles, and he was faced with questions of “How can you train sushi chef for only two months?” and so Matsuda initially gained little support. 

 

   “The truth is, it’s hard to become a top chef anywhere, so you can try to teach everyone who comes through your doors or choose not to teach anyone,” Matsuda explained.  “I want to focus on the purity of education.”

 

    To make up for the lack of support, Matsuda began an on-going campaign of promotion, including doing live events that have grown from Cinco de Mayo and the Lotus Festival to holding workshops during Nisei Week and the local Cherry Blossom Festival and being featured with a 50-foot sushi roll at the Japan Expo.  He continues to release DVD’s on sushi making on a regular basis, and trains the instructors at top culinary institutes in California.

 

   “Nobody knew I was here,” said Matsuda.  “So I started promoting myself in order to help the school.”

 

    The Sushi Chef Institute gained a big boost from many in the Asian communities.  Restaurant owners come themselves or they would send their employees to the Sushi Chef Institute to gain more refined training.

 

   Matsuda explained that there is a high level of competition amongst restaurant owners, and established restaurants are repeatedly undersold by a growing number of competitors.

 

    “They can’t raise the prices on the items they already have when the new restaurant next door serves the same thing for less,” Matsuda said.  “So they have to include new items on the menu, such as a sushi bar.”

 

    As documented in many of his monthly columns in Cultural News, Matsuda’s school reaches out internationally, having trained professional chefs on every continent of the world.

 

    But despite the demand for professional grade sushi chefs around the world, training is hard to be found, and there are negatives to be fought, including media scares about the mercury contamination issue of tuna and the “Sushi Police” that the Japanese government is considering sending throughout the world to grade all sushi-serving restaurants.

 

    Matsuda is adamant about combating both of these.

   “Sushi is popular, it is fashionable, but it can be crushed at anytime because of bad news coverage that is biased and harmful to the sushi industry,” Matsuda said.

 

  When mercury is found in tuna, Matsuda explained, the news always shows images of sushi, rather than considering all tuna, such as tuna in a can.

 

   Currently the French cuisine circle issues grades for restaurants across the world, much like the “Sushi Police” would do.  Matsuda contends that the significant difference, though, is that there are accredited French cuisine educational facilities throughout the world, giving owners and chefs at least the opportunity to learn.  The Japanese restaurant industry currently does not have any such program outside of Japan.

 

   Matsuda feels that once restaurants and chefs are given the opportunity to learn the proper handling and making of sushi, then the grading system can be considered, but until then, it would only cause harm to the Japanese food industry that is still in high demand and growing.

 

    For more information about Sushi Chef Institute, visit www.sushischool.net.

 

   Gavin Kelley is a Los Angeles-based writer.