東北ヒーローズを探せ！
日本料理レストラン「梢」では、2013年に東北復興への願いを込めたスペシャルプログラム、「東北ヒーローズ」を開催し、岩手県、宮城県、福島県で育まれた品々や日本酒を提供して好評を博しました。
本プログラムを開催するために、折を見て料理長の大江自身が一県一県に足を運び、東北地方の山海の恵みと食文化を支える生産者、匠の技を伝承する職人、厳しい環境で美酒を造り続ける醸造者の方々と訪ね歩いて食材を厳選してまいりました。
今年第二弾を開催するにあたり、このほど料理長の大江とレストランマネジャーがまだ訪れていなかった秋田県を訪れました。秋田県ということで夏でもいくらかは涼しいことを期待していましたが、照りつける太陽と思いのほか高い湿度に驚きました。比内鶏、珍しい野菜、低農薬果実の生産者、日本海の特産海鮮業者、試行錯誤を繰り返しながら評価の高い日本酒を送り出している造り酒屋などの皆様に、高い品質を保ちながら美味しく安全な製品を作り続けることの大変さや工夫、努力などをお聞きしてまわりました。いかに地元の特産物を全国に流通させるか、県や農協、若い生産者の新しい取り組みなどをお聞きすると、どれも魅力的な製品ばかりで非常に学びの多い旅となりました。
9月より秋田、10月は山形、11月に青森県の順でそれぞれの特別なメニューが登場いたします。また、11月29日（日）には、3県の生産者を“ヒーロー”として迎え、一夜限りのスペシャルディナーを開催する予定です。
生産者の思いがぎっしりと詰め込まれ、しっかりとした味の濃さや味わい深い品々を前に、大江はその時期で一番美味しい食材でどんな献立にするか、生産者の皆さまに喜んでいただけるものをどう提供しようかと思案しております。どうぞお楽しみに！
詳しくはこちらをご覧ください。
The pursuit of Tohoku Heroes!
In 2013, the Japanese restaurant, Kozue of Park Hyatt Tokyo created a special culinary journey called “Tohoku Heroes” to showcase the quality local produce, rice and sake of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefecture in an attempt to help revive the struggling farms in the Tohoku region that were affected by the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11th, 2011.
Due to its’ success in 2013, “Tohoku Heroes” will return again this year with Chef Ooe presenting delicious local cuisines from the remaining prefectures of Akita in September, Yamagata in October, and Aomori in November.
In order to successfully host this program, Chef de Cuisine Kenichiro Ooe of Kozue, a Tohoku native from Yamagata Prefecture, was given the opportunity to visit each of the six prefectures of Tohoku to meet with the local producers who are upholding the food culture there and witnessed the beautiful mountains and ocean to carefully select the items for his specialty menus that are themed by each prefecture.
Chef Ooe and the Kozue restaurant manager recently visited Akita Prefecture in order to prepare for the upcoming Akita program in September. While they were expecting it to be relatively cool up north in the summertime, they were surprised at how humid and sunny it was there. They met with producers of hinaidori chicken and rare local vegetables and fruits that use very low levels of pesticide, seafood vendors of local specialties from the Sea of Japan, and reputable Japanese sake makers. They were able to ask them many questions about the trial and errors they faced in delivering high quality produce and were able to taste each of their specialty products.
From after being told in what way their specialty products are being distributed around Japan in each prefecture and by the agricultural cooperatives and understanding the mindset of the younger generation of producers, this journey to Akita was a great learning experience for them both.
Please anticipate a thoughtfully laid-out menu by Chef Ooe as he will surely present the “la crème de la crème” of these local products and deliver dishes to the producers he encountered during his Akita journey that are guaranteed to make them proud.
Please see the 2015 “Tohoku Heroes” program dates below:
-Akita Prefecture: 5 September (Sat) ~ 30 September (Wed) 2015
-Yamagata Prefecture: 6 October (Tue) ~ 3 November (Tue) 2015
-Aomori Prefecture: 5 November (Thur) ~ 30 November (Mon) 2015
Bringing the last leg of this long-awaited journey of delicious feasts across Tohoku, the “heroes” from Akita, Yamagata, and Aomori will gather for a special finale dinner on Sunday 29 November.
Please click here for further information.
