edible Marin and Wine Country Summer 2011 : Page 7
for human consumption set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). To ensure safety for consumers, the Japanese government is currently checking all fish for radiation before it is shipped, and authorities in the United States, and in many other countries, are again checking the fish at points of entry. Still, business at Tokyo’s sushi bars has declined abruptly, five-star hotels in Hong Kong have dropped fresh food from Japan from their menus and Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin in New York City made recent headlines for buying a Geiger counter—a device that measures ionizing radiation—for his restaurant’s kitchen. But it is safe to eat fish from Japan, insists Yoshi Tome of the highly acclaimed Sushi Ran in Sausalito. “The Japanese have always wanted to know where their fish was coming from, even 30 years ago,” Tome explains. “It has always been tagged and stamped with where it was caught, when it was caught and how it was harvested, stored and transported. The Japanese are self-monitoring.” When it comes to beef, for example, Tome says, “In the United States, 1 of every 200 cows is inspected. In Europe, it’s 1 of every 20. In Japan, every cow over 3 years old is inspected. In Japan, we inspect everything. We have a system in place. Why does Japan have the longest longevity in the world and is one of the healthi-est nations?” Tome asks. “Because of what they eat, and the monitoring. They won’t eat it if they don’t know what it is.” Tome, who was born and raised in Japan but has lived in the United States since his college days, has been following devel-opments in his homeland closely. “There are four [prefectures] affected by radiation,” he continues, “and there’s a morato-rium on produce from those four. They’re checking fish before it goes out, and the FDA is checking everything at the airport [as it comes in]. A month ago, all [of] the fish [were] recalled for inspection. It’s inconvenient sometimes, but I’m happy with it because someone is checking it at the door.” Jeffrey Lunak, executive chef of Morimoto Napa, agrees. Morimoto Napa is famous for its sushi bar, whose offerings change daily. The restaurant’s business has not been hugely affected by the events in Japan, says Lunak. “We buy from dif-ferent markets, so when Tsukiji [the most famous fish market in Japan] was not running normally we firmed up our rela-tionship with the buyer from Kyushu, in southwestern Japan. [The various restaurants with which Masaharu Morimoto— the well-known Japanese chef, best known as the third Iron Chef on the Japanese television show by the same name, and the Iron Chef on its spin-off, Iron Chef America —is involved have their own buyers at Japan’s biggest fish markets.] One hundred percent of our produce is from the Napa area, and some of our products are grown in my backyard. We’ve been featuring striped bass from the east coast, local abalone and spot prawns from the Pacific. However, we’ve been trying to support Japanese fishermen as much as we can. We’ve had some inquiries from guests, but the Japanese government is checking the fish before it goes out, and the FDA is checking every shipment that’s coming in. It’s restored confidence, and there’s no huge fear that anyone is serving tainted fish.” Both Tome and Lunak stress the importance of educa-tion. Says Lunak, “I think this is a situation where the one positive is that it’s educating everyone: the wait staff, the customers, the chefs. Sourcing fish is a fulltime job.” “We tell our guests what’s going on, and where our fish is coming from,” says Tome. In fact, every dish on the menu is identified by the origin of its primary ingredient. But, he adds, most fish coming through the large fish markets in Japan is not actually caught in Japan. And even if caught in Japan, it would not have been harvested anywhere near the damaged nuclear reactors. “Japan,” Tome points out, “is a 4,000-mile-long island.” Tome has done more than simply support Japanese fisher-men and attempt to educate his guests—in March he helped organize an event at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco that raised $80,000 in one evening for the Red Cross’s relief effort in Japan. “When you think of what people went through, people not being able to find their families, people living with no water, no heat, in the dark, and the earth shaking, my heart goes out to them. How can we support them? We need to not just send money, but support restaurants and products. Some restauranteurs are saying don’t carry Japanese products, even frozen products. But we need to give them moral support right now,” says Tome. “Not buying Japanese products will hurt them even more.” Chase Reynolds Ewald is an author, foodie and mother of four living in Marin County. A Senior Editor of Western Art & Architecture magazine and the author of many books and cookbooks, her most recent book titles include The New Western Home and New West Cuisine (Gibbs Smith, 2009 and 2008, respectively). Photos: Suzie Buchholz. www.suziebuchholz.com Wholesale buyers at the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo EDIBLE MARIN & WINE COUNTRY SUMMER 2011 | 7
Publication List
