Globalisation in the food world isn’t a new concept. In many countries, it has shaped the way people eat so much that it quantifies as “local”.
Nikkei cuisine is a good example of this, having originated in Peru in the 1880s, when the first Japanese immigrants settled there. It is a mix of Japanese and Peruvian cuisines and bringing this to the global food stage is Latin America’s No.1 restaurant, Maido.
Under the helm of Japanese-Peruvian chef-patron Mitsuharu “Micha” Tsumura, Maido has become a crowd favourite and for the right reasons. The restaurant gets its name from a Japanese phrase used to greet people.
“My food philosophy is as simple as two things — making people happy and doing tasty food. Whatever I do has to be tasty. I want to see smiles on people’s faces. I use every Peruvian ingredient… I like everything. At Maido, we usually focus more on Peruvian cuisine with some Japanese influences. We work a lot with the Amazon, so I put value into Amazon ingredients,” says chef Micha, as he is lovingly known.
Chef Micha is also opening a resource centre in the Amazon forest. “Currently we are viewing the space and presented the project at Gastro Masa. So we are trying to figure out how are we going to do it and the area that we’re going to use for making it sustainable,” says the chef. With a strong belief in sustainability and innovation, the chef continuously explores Amazonian ingredients. The centre aims to highlight and elevate local product, supporting women-led initiatives. “It’s about making a positive impact with every plate we serve.”
Before all the accolades, chef Micha said he was going to focus on producing a fast casual concept that would feed millions and not just a few. Though Maido has a tasting menu, the buzzing restaurant has an extensive a la carte menu.
“We opened the restaurant with this concept in mind. We just wrote the ‘wood-fire rotisserie chicken restaurant’, which is the most popular food in Peru. People eat chicken three times a week. We are going to open more restaurants this year and next year is gonna be exponential. Right now it is in Peru and a few other countries, but we are gonna end up with 300 restaurants all over the world,” emphasises the chef.
Chef Micha has also developed a range of sauces so that people can cook Nikkei in their homes. The sauces are in supermarkets and at the airport so even visitors to Peru can take them home.
“You don’t have to have barriers now, especially once you have been doing this for 15 years. Since visiting Thailand [in January], I have guided ideas from Thailand. I get ideas from Japan, China, Europe, wherever I travel. I don’t have to be focused only on Japanese and Peruvian. Of course, my main purpose is to show Peruvian food because Nikkei cuisine is part of Peruvian cuisine. I wasn’t mentored in this cuisine, it is part of my heritage. But, Peruvian cuisine also has other kind of influences, like Spanish, African, Italian, Japanese and Chinese. So right now I am doing Nikkei cuisine, but at this moment of creativity in Maido, we will say ‘welcome to our world’. We can do whatever we want as long as it has a sense of existence,” says chef Micha.
Chef Mitsuharu ‘Micha’ Tsumura.
“Nikkei cuisine made ceviche famous. It was the cuisine that started showing and teaching local Lima people about seafood. The first seafood restaurant in Lima was created by a Japanese immigrant. Italians and Japanese were the ones who started to reintroduce seafood restaurants to Peru.
“Also, many people think that Nikkei cuisine started as sushi or Japanese food. But that isn’t true. When the Nikkei’s came to Peru, some 70 years ago, they couldn’t find Japanese ingredients. There were many Japanese chefs doing Criollo cuisine and Nikkei started as Criollo [traditional Peruvian cooking] cuisine. But in the 70s in Lima, chefs Nobu Matsuhisa and Toshiro Konishi started the culture of Peruvian food influenced by Japanese techniques. Then 20 years later, Japanese chefs who were not from Lima but other parts of Peru, brought the Japanese cuisine influenced by Peruvian ingredients culture. So there are two branches of Nikkei cuisine,” explains chef Micha.
Nikkei, which has a history of 80-100 years, is considered to be the youngest cuisine in the world. “Now there are so many Nikkei cuisine restaurants all over the Middle East and Europe that I cannot even count anymore,” he adds. His restaurant in Chile and Panama are now local favourites. “While we’re in Chile or Panama, we try to be unique all the time. We don’t do what restaurants already are doing. They are both casuals restaurants. The Chile one is inside the W Hotel, while the one in Panama is a rooftop,” the chef explains.
The exterior and interior of Maido in Lima, Peru.
Chef Micha is the face of Nikkei cuisine and intends to keep it that way. “I am Nikkei. Let’s not forget that the word Nikkei refers to the immigrants and not only the cuisine. My food is always going to be the food that I learned and like, which is Nikkei. That is not going to be lost. One day, I was in the kitchen with my team and we had made a beautiful dish. When we started analysing it, we realised that there was nothing Japanese about it, it was all Peruvian. It did not need anything Japanese. Then we started to make tasting menus that did not necessarily have Japanese ingredients and nobody said anything,” says the chef.
The most significant aspect of Nikkei cuisine according to chef Micha is balance. “Peruvian cuisine, much like Thai cuisine, isn’t for everyone. Peruvian food is like hard rock, while Japanese food is classical music. Some people like hard rock, others like classical, but the essence is that both genres are amazing. Japanese cuisine is subtle and does not have many condiments, while Peruvian is chillies, cumin, cilantro, fermented corn, citrus. Putting the two cuisines together is like getting a happy meal. They balance each other. Like I said when Maido won the No.1 spot at 50 Best, Nikkei cuisine is a sexy cuisine.”
The jewel in the crown for chef Micha is opening a Nikkei restaurant in Japan when he retires. “I want to show the Japanese what Nikkei and Peruvian cuisine is like. I want them to fall in love with Peruvian cuisine, because Nikkei is part of Peruvian.”
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Publish date : 2024-10-31 22:33:00
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