Journalist Ignacio Medina pointed out when introducing the presentation that Yoshiro Narisawa (Narisawa**, Tokyo) is the chef who changed the way of understanding cuisine in Japan because of its creative edge. The Japanese chef, accompanied by his son Leo, prefers to not be classified in any type of register in a presentation titled ‘In search of an epiphany. Shaping the imagination’ explaining how sustainability, the natural environment and the seasons condition his creations.

“Narisawa is in Tokyo and expresses Japanese culture through cuisine using the best products in Japan. We are obsessed with sustainability and that is why we visit producers to find top quality fruits and vegetables, but also from safe soils”, the chef explained. “For this reason, in 2001 we decided to eat soil and my first signature dish was soil soup”, he added.

Following this process, they later thought about the natural environment and visited the forest and observed the damage caused to the forest environment: “People had strayed away from the forest. What could I do to protect nature? Prepare dishes which represented the forests of Japan to raise people’s awareness of their importance”, he answered himself.

But Japan is also a country surrounded 70% by sea, which means a lifestyle in inevitable contact with nature and is spiritually rich is unavoidable. They have a term, ‘satoyama’ which is the area between mountain foothills and arable flat land and which Narisawa has made it his own when referring to a sustainable and beneficial gastronomy.

The importance of seasons

In Narisawa “we express the changes caused by the seasons through cuisine”. Thus, spring is characterised by cherry blossoms, reflected in the dishes with this fruit and its colours; in summer, humid and hot, with festivals such as the one Kyoto and several dishes are inspired in the decoration of these events. In autumn, harvest season, “is characterised by the generosity of the products”. Winter, is the most festive period, this is celebrated with special recipes and games, although the mountains are covered by a blanket of white snow, the recipes in Narisawa reflect all those nuances in its colours and textures.

The chef, who is visiting Gastronomika for the fourth time, presented a new dish called ‘Memories of summer’ and is based on the ayu, a summer fish which “can only be found in places where the natural environment has been preserved. This can only occur if the forest is in a good healthy condition because the ayu feed off the moss of the river”. He uses some Japanese ingredients in this recipe, such as rice, soya or buckwheat, among others. The attendees were able to taste a miniature version of a recipe inspired in the festivals of summer.

Narisawa concluded his presentation stating that “I will continue creating dishes which evolve and I hope to be able to present them again on this stage. I wish Gastronomika a great future and to all its participants and speakers”.