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▼ Mie Produce Gets a Global Audience
- Category:Other
The Yomiuri Shimbun
TSU — Many specialties from Mie Prefecture were featured in the dinner served Thursday to participants at the Ise-Shima Group of Seven summit, giving local producers hope that some of their area’s best elements will be promoted to the rest of the world.
The leaders kicked off their meal by giving a toast with fine sake from the Iga area of the prefecture, and then enjoyed abalone and Matsusaka beef, one of the nation’s most well-known brands.
“I’m sure that [the leaders] found the seafood superior, as it was grown in the abundant sea of Shima,” Yoichi Nakamura said the following day as he was shipping marine products at a wholesale company at Wagu Port in Shima. The hotel that hosted the summit is located in Shima.
“Ama divers and fishermen risk their lives when they catch abalone and Ise-ebi lobsters, so we’re proud of them,” Nakamura said. “I hope the summit is a chance to help more people around the world know about our specialties.”
The female ama divers had a break due to the world event. However, Nakamura’s company prepares abalone and turban shells — which are now in season — by putting them in water for four days before shipping so they’re delivered across the country as fresh as possible.
Matsusaka beef is produced mainly in Matsusaka city, which has been a major beef production area since the early Meiji era (1868-1912). The brand has been famous for decades and won the top prize at a national contest in 1935 in Tokyo.
It is particularly popular because of its marbling, with a moderate amount of fat.
“I’m very proud that the world’s top leaders enjoyed our beef,” said Hirotoshi Isoda, vice chairman of a local association for Matsusaka beef producers.
The beef was served with wasabi grown in the clear Miyagawa river, which runs through the southern part of the prefecture.
Yoji Nishi grows wasabi in the town of Odai, located near the top of the river. The water has been rich in minerals for decades.
“I’m honored, because I feel like the quality of our wasabi was recognized by world leaders who have tasted fine cuisine from around the globe,” said Nishi, whose business has been operating since his father’s days.
In September 2004, the area was hit by Typhoon No. 21, with Nishi suffering damage to his wasabi fields and house. He spent the following four years building up his livelihood.
“It’s rewarding to make wasabi,” the farmer said. “I find it encouraging, because the world is now showing interest in Japanese cuisine.”
Hanzo brand’s junmai daiginjo variety of sake started the dinner. The sake is made with highly polished rice at Ota Sake Brewery in Iga, Mie Prefecture.
“I feel like it’s like a dream that our sake was selected for the toast,” said Chihiro Ota, managing director at the brewery. The company has received a flood of phone calls since late Thursday night.
The brand is named after Hattori Hanzo, a 16th-century ninja from the Iga school, to promote the city. It has a clear, dry and rich flavor.
“It’ll be great if [the dinner] boosts the worldwide promotion of sake in general and sake from Mie and Iga in particular,” Ota said.
Chef at helm of dinner
The working dinner served Thursday at the Shima Kanko Hotel was overseen by Hiroe Higuchi, the hotel’s executive chef.
Higuchi joined the hotel’s operating company in 1991 and has worked as a chef at a French restaurant in the Hotel Shima Spain Mura.
She started working at the Shima Kanko Hotel in 2008, assuming her current post in 2014.
Higuchi is known for adding her own touches to traditional flavors of French cuisine and using local ingredients such as Ise-ebi lobster and abalone.
Students wow spouses
TSU — Three spouses of the participants in the Ise-Shima Group of Seven summit sat down for a luncheon as part of the partners’ program Thursday hosted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, Akie, and were in for a surprise: The meal they were enjoying was not prepared by professionals, but by local high school students.
Nine students in a cooking program at Oka High School in the town of Taki, Mie Prefecture, started work at 6 a.m. to prepare the luncheon using many local delicacies such as abalone and Ise-ebi lobster, along with sukiyaki made with Matsusaka beef.
The spouses applauded when they were informed of the students’ contributions, describing the meal as “delicious” and “great.”
“We managed to remain calm while cooking,” said Sota Hirano, one of the students. “I’m glad they seemed satisfied. I realized that ingredients from Mie can be world-class.”
Students in the prefectural government-run school’s cooking program are also running a restaurant, which was the basis for a TV drama that aired in 2011 on the NTV network.
To find out more about Japan’s attractions, visit http://the-japan-news.com/news/d&d
It is particularly popular because of its marbling, with a moderate amount of fat.
“I’m very proud that the world’s top leaders enjoyed our beef,” said Hirotoshi Isoda, vice chairman of a local association for Matsusaka beef producers.
The beef was served with wasabi grown in the clear Miyagawa river, which runs through the southern part of the prefecture.
Yoji Nishi grows wasabi in the town of Odai, located near the top of the river. The water has been rich in minerals for decades.
“I’m honored, because I feel like the quality of our wasabi was recognized by world leaders who have tasted fine cuisine from around the globe,” said Nishi, whose business has been operating since his father’s days.
In September 2004, the area was hit by Typhoon No. 21, with Nishi suffering damage to his wasabi fields and house. He spent the following four years building up his livelihood.
“It’s rewarding to make wasabi,” the farmer said. “I find it encouraging, because the world is now showing interest in Japanese cuisine.”
Hanzo brand’s junmai daiginjo variety of sake started the dinner. The sake is made with highly polished rice at Ota Sake Brewery in Iga, Mie Prefecture.
“I feel like it’s like a dream that our sake was selected for the toast,” said Chihiro Ota, managing director at the brewery. The company has received a flood of phone calls since late Thursday night.
The brand is named after Hattori Hanzo, a 16th-century ninja from the Iga school, to promote the city. It has a clear, dry and rich flavor.
“It’ll be great if [the dinner] boosts the worldwide promotion of sake in general and sake from Mie and Iga in particular,” Ota said.
Chef at helm of dinner
The working dinner served Thursday at the Shima Kanko Hotel was overseen by Hiroe Higuchi, the hotel’s executive chef.
Higuchi joined the hotel’s operating company in 1991 and has worked as a chef at a French restaurant in the Hotel Shima Spain Mura.
She started working at the Shima Kanko Hotel in 2008, assuming her current post in 2014.
Higuchi is known for adding her own touches to traditional flavors of French cuisine and using local ingredients such as Ise-ebi lobster and abalone.
Students wow spouses
TSU — Three spouses of the participants in the Ise-Shima Group of Seven summit sat down for a luncheon as part of the partners’ program Thursday hosted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, Akie, and were in for a surprise: The meal they were enjoying was not prepared by professionals, but by local high school students.
Nine students in a cooking program at Oka High School in the town of Taki, Mie Prefecture, started work at 6 a.m. to prepare the luncheon using many local delicacies such as abalone and Ise-ebi lobster, along with sukiyaki made with Matsusaka beef.
The spouses applauded when they were informed of the students’ contributions, describing the meal as “delicious” and “great.”
“We managed to remain calm while cooking,” said Sota Hirano, one of the students. “I’m glad they seemed satisfied. I realized that ingredients from Mie can be world-class.”
Students in the prefectural government-run school’s cooking program are also running a restaurant, which was the basis for a TV drama that aired in 2011 on the NTV network.
To find out more about Japan’s attractions, visit http://the-japan-news.com/news/d&d
- June 3, 2016
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