Sushi has a history dating back to ancient times, when rice cultivation was introduced to Japan 2,000 years ago. Initially, sushi was just a way for people in Nara city to preserve fish with fermented rice. During the Muromachi period, Japanese people began to eat rice with fish. During the Edo period, vinegar was used to replace fermented rice. Today, sushi has become a familiar form of food preparation, closely associated with Japanese culinary culture.
Over time, there have been many chefs and food lovers who have contributed to the process of preserving and passing on sushi. Whether they stayed in Japan or chose to bring sushi to other countries, they all had a mission, a passion for sushi. One such chef - Daisuke Nakazawa, was the first to bring omakase sushi to the city of Aspen, USA.
Daisuke Nakazawa was born in 1979 in Japan and is currently the head chef of the Sushi Nakazawa restaurant chain in New York City, Washington DC and Aspen - one of the most famous sushi restaurant brands in the United States. Nakazawa apprenticed at the famous Sukiyabashi Jiro restaurant in Tokyo and was also a disciple of legendary sushi chef Jiro Ono for a decade. He appeared in the movieSushi Artist(Jiro Dreams of Sushi) - a 2011 documentary directed by David Gelb, tells the story of master Jiro on a mission to continue the culture of sushi.
Nakazawa Sushi Restaurant
At 19, Daisuke Nakazawa was fired from his first job as a sushi chef for gambling and drinking. He then switched jobs, working late nights and early mornings at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market before arriving at Sukiyabashi Jiro as an apprentice.
He recalls that the training at this restaurant was really arduous and required the young chefs to put in their best effort. Initially, apprentices were not allowed to touch fish but only to do odd jobs in the restaurant for 4 months and it took 5 years before they were actually allowed to stand at the bar, serving sushi to customers. Nakazawa also had to make tamagoyaki omelet 200 times to meet the requirements of his teacher Jiro Ono. But it was from those arduous days of training that he found a burning passion for one of the most sophisticated and perfect dishes on the planet.
Chef Daisuke Nakazawa and a piece of tamago sushi
"Sushi is not an absolutely perfect dish. The fish may not be the best, but it is still delicious. But the most important thing is that you have to use all your efforts to "treat" it, to create a flawless dish" - Daisuke Nakazawa once said. For him, skill is what determines whether sushi has reached the "realm" of perfection or not. And sometimes, diners come to the restaurant not only to enjoy the food but also to admire the chef's performance.
Today, despite being the owner of a large sushi restaurant chain, Nakazawa still rides his bike to the fish market every day to look for ingredients. That's why the menu changes daily, depending on the quality of the dishes the chef finds and will refuse to serve some dishes if the ingredients are not as fresh as desired that day. The restaurant has received many compliments from diners and many major newspapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. Although Sushi Nakazawa was stripped of one Michelin star last year (it is now a 3-star restaurant), it is still considered the best sushi restaurant outside of Japan.
A corner of Sushi Nakazawa restaurant
BuzzFeed, an online news, media and entertainment site based in New York (USA), interviewed Daisuke Nakazawa and listened to him share his thoughts on the art of making sushi and the path of bringing sushi from Japan to the United States.
In the two-and-a-half minute video, Nakazawa said:
"Sushi in America and my sushi are two different dishes. When I started my apprenticeship at Sukiyabashi Jiro, the restaurant was already well-known, but not as famous as it is now. For the first three years, I had no idea that sushi would become my life. But as each day passed, I realized that this would be my profession. I began to love this job, and from then on, it truly became my life.
But during my apprenticeship, I wondered if staying in Tokyo was the best option. It's no exaggeration to say that everything changed. I found myself when I came to New York. I never thought I would have so many clients.
I want my sushi to create a moment when the customer exclaims “wow” when they put the sushi in their mouth. I look for that moment every day.”
Let's admire the art and beauty of sushi through the hands of Japanese chef Daisuke Nakazawa.
