Tasting Hakata’s cuisine for the first time…
On September 2, a group of students from the CIA (The Culinary Institute of America), said to be the best culinary school in the world, came to Yakitori Hachibei Bekkan.
During ten days, they went to restaurants, sake brewers, markets, and other places representing Japan in Tokyo, Mie, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Osaka, etc.
Besides our restaurant, they also went to Ippudo, Cookchum plus C, Kayanoya, Nakasu Yatai, Meinohama’s morning market in Fukuoka.
On that day, they reserved the whole place for 30 people for dinner at Bekkan. The meal started with an introduction by Yashima, and a serving of Japanese sake.
During the meal, they listened with great attention to the explanations of Yashima and Principal Nakamura from Nakamura Gakuen University, who also came along.
The food seemed to have success. And among the dishes served, most of the students tasted and greatly enjoyed sesame mackerel, sukiyaki skewer, and mentaiko for the first time.
We were also very pleased seeing them taking pictures of our food.
CIA (The Culinary Institute of America)
CIA (The Culinary Institute of America) was established in 1946 as The New Haven Restaurant Institute, and has now multiple branch schools. Those are the New York main school, the Greystone branch campus, the San Antonio campus, and the Singapore campus.
The main school in New York is an educational institution specialized in cooking. It is the only one in the world with a 4 years university degree featuring a dormitory with around 3000 students.
The 30 students who came this time were from this New York main school.
https://www.ciachef.edu/
Hiroo Chikaraishi, the father of hospitality
Left: CIA’s Vice-President Greg Drescher | Center: Mr. Hiroo Chikaraishi | Right: Hachibei’s Yashima
It is Mr. Hiroo Chikaraishi of Thomas and Chikaraishi, Inc. who coordinated this study tour. He is also said to be the father of Japanese hospitality.
In 1997, he published the book “Hospitality Service no Genten” (The Origin of Hospitality Services) that became a best-seller, and is still used by many companies for training purposes.
Our first meeting with Mr. Chikaraishi was in October 2010 during the international conference “Worlds of Flavor” (WOF).
The CIA organizes with WOF an international conference with a different theme every year that targets pro chefs. During three days, tickets are sold at the high price of $1000~1200. Every year, the tickets are instantly sold out, as this conference is established as the place where people can learn about the world’s most leading cooking trends. This year, the theme was “Japan: Flavors of Culture”.
http://soulofjapan.net/about.html
For this conference, the leading pro chefs in this industry in Japan were chosen, and during three days, the “Team of Japan” demonstrated to the chefs of the world “what Japanese food is”.
Yakitori Hachibei’s Yashima was one of the chefs chosen for this “Team of Japan”.
http://www.chikaraishi.com/
From Hakata to the chefs reaching for the world
Principal Nakamura explaining Hakata’s cuisine
During this training in Kyushu, we were also assisted by Principal Nakamura of Nakamura Gakuen University.
The idea behind Nakamura Gakuen University is to “create professionals who will be active in the whole world”. Up until now, 8 people from this university became Michelin Chefs.
Last August 11, we introduced Hiroki Yoshitake from the Restaurant Sola, who participated in the “Paris Chef’s Summer Vacation 2017” event held at Hachibei Bekkan. Hiroki Yoshitake is a graduate student from that school.
https://hachibei.com/en/?p=12267
We at Hachibei share he same ideas as Nakamura Gakuen University. We want to cooperate and help those from Hakata who are reaching for the world stage.
We wish those people all the best.
http://www.nakamura-s.com/chori/
To Mr. Chikaraishi, Nakamura Gakuen University, and everyone from CIA, thank you very much.
To you, future chefs, we wish you all the best!
