(Japanese) Of course, as a chef, I want to make even better things, be more extravagant. To that end, I’m always wondering if there aren’t even better ingredients out there somewhere. Back in ’82…1982…That’s what, 20 or 25 years ago now? I got together with 5 fishermen and went from Ecuador to the Chilean border, spending about 2 months catching fish all along the way. We saw wondrous things…We saw things we’d never seen before. And now these things are being distributed. In that way, this is an extremely interesting place.
And another thing...what I still don’t know about is jungle ingredients. I’ve never really used them. Now if someone over there knew about that stuff and brought them here, that would be great. But it’s a hot place. And it’s freshwater fish, so they go bad easily. So given that, there are some difficulties, but the next challenge is to see what’s in the jungle. Vegetables or whatever. If we use things from the jungle and once again put them together with Japanese cuisine and culture, what can we create? There are many chances for that. So going forward, I don’t think things will be boring.
Date: April 18, 2007
Location: Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Ann Kaneko
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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