Throwing more light on Japanese food he says,”As a chef, I think it’s very important that I saw Japan as a specific cuisine. They have evolved with that cuisine and they’re very particular about their cuisine. In India we try to please everybody. There, I found that the hotel breakfast was Japanese centric and they were not interested in doing any other cuisine for that matter. Everything had a Japanese flavor and you could see that everywhere. Now, new age people, adapting to the pizza culture and the burger culture, but still the maximum population still lives in and thrives on Japanese food for that matter.”
Chef shares a unique perspective in Japan on knives. He adds,”The knife skills of Japanese chefs is outstanding. And that’s why the way they have knives, a variety of knives, and a complete market that only sells knives. It’s a tourism spot, every person from across the world visits this market and, buys knives and takes them back as memories. They are a souvenir that you would love to have in your kitchen. Japanese chefs are very skilled.Their skills of understanding the meat, the way it has to be cut, and the way it has to be consumed is very, very important. The specific chefs who are just trained for handling Fugu fish, and it’s a very poisonous fish and nobody can just go and handle Fugu fish. You need to be trained as a chef who handles Fugu fish for nearly three years before you can actually attempt.“
Chef’s trip was specifically to understand more about Ajinomoto, and it was a trip actually curated by the Ajinomoto company for a select few chefs and influencers from India so that they understand Ajinomoto as a healthy ingredient, not as a unhealthy ingredient which we all think about.
Chef Harpal also shares his experience of tasting Japanese cuisine.
