Spanish Speaking Sushi
In 2015, I ate at Nobu in London. I knew that it was a hyped restaurant and a place where celebrities go, especially the idyllic Nobu location in Malibu.
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa started Nobu in 1997 with co-founder Robert de Niro and it quickly spread around the world. A few of the standout menu items are:
Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeƱo
Miso black cod
Ceviche
Nobu is globally prized for its quality, playfulness and consistency. Wether you go to Nobu London, NYC, Doha or in Kuala Lumpur. The quality around the world is the same. A bit like an expensive McDonalds, because expensive it is, the yellowtail sashimi will set you back ā¬32/$34 and the black cod ā¬55/$57.
Nikkei
I always thought of Nobu as traditional Japanese cuisine but it doesnāt make sense, tacoās, jalapeƱo and Peruvian steaks. Later I learned that this style of cuisine is called Nikkei, a mix between the Japanese and Peruvian cuisine, which happened to meet on accident. The Nikkei cuisine reached its peak in 2015 when Maido in Peruās capital Lima debuted as number 44 on the Worldās 50 Best.
The Nikkei cuisine quickly became a global favourite with restaurants such as Choto Matte and Sushisamba becoming a mainstream favourite. Lima became a global hot spot for Nikkei enthusiasts with Central and Maido being mainstays in the Michelin world.
The Peruvian government has been using Nikkei as a way of promoting Peru and leveraging Lima as one of the food capitals of the world.
āThereās a lot of gastro-politics going on in Peru, the Peruvian government and elite chefs are behind this, using the food as a tool of diplomacy.ā Ayumi Takenaka
I remember one night having dinner at Choto Matte in Soho, London and one person behind me with a bit of a chip on his shoulder: āA bit hipster to mix Mexican with Japaneseā (referring to his taco with ceviche)
One of the things that I remember when Nikkei restaurants rose to their popularity was that everybody saw it as Japanese food. Retrospectively it is interesting to see that that has in fact changed. Nikkei is a known gastronomic concept now with people knowing the differences between the Japanese and Peruvian cuisine.
Nikkeiās start
Japanese emigrants are known as Nikkei or Nikkeijin. The Japanese have been emigrating from Japan as early as the 15th century to the Philippines ultimately becoming a mass phenomenon during the Meji period in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
After Japanās WWII surrender many Japanese fled the country. According to the Association of Nikkei there are about 3.8 million Nikkei living abroad. With large populations in Brazil, the U.S., China, Canada and Peru. Brazil hosts it largest population of Japanese with about 1.5 million inhabitants. Peru has a small population of only 90.000 Japanese immigrants.
1889
The migration to Peru started back in 1889, when 790 Japanese workers were recruited by the company Miroka, to work in sugarcane fields owned by theĀ British Sugar CompanyĀ in the South of Lima, near CaƱete, where there was a workforce shortage. By 1924, over 18.000 Japanese immigrants had arrived in Peru looking for stability and a new life.
The working conditions in the sugarcane fields were bad. Many workers simply couldnāt cope and escaped the fieldwork to settle in cities such as Trujillo, Arequipa and Lima. Life was rough in the city and the Japanese immigrants took on low labour jobs to get by. As years or better a generation went by the Japanese found stability in the Peruvian society and started opening small businesses like stores, hair salons and restaurants. With their economic stability, they started importing products from Japan.
Between 1924 and 1936, restaurants and canteens of Chinese and Italian ownership located in the densely populated working-class neighborhoods of Lima were bought by Japanese families. These restaurants adopted their knowledge of the Japanese cuisine with the use of Peruvian products like chillies, potatoes, coconut milk and a staple of Japanese cuisine: fish.
A conversation between cultures started happening. The Japanese philosophy of minimalism, freshness and clean flavours mixed with Peruvian coastal preferences for strong and rich flavours as well as using citrus and different herbs.
Ceviche and Tiradito
In Peru, ceviche is a diet staple. Itās the process of marinating and cooking fish in citrus acid called tiger milk. The tiger milk cooks the fish as it acts on the proteins in the fish. Before the Japanese came, Peruvians marinated their ceviche for 3 hours. The Japanese preferred their fish raw but adopted the ceviche technique but instead of doing the full 3 hours they cut that time short by 3 hours and only marinated the fish for a couple of seconds.
The difference is not only in the marination time, what truly allowed this short process was the Japanese method of slicing sashimi. Modern ceviche is a sashimi-style fish with tiger milk, a dish called Tiradito. A global symbol of the Peruvian-Japanese cuisine.
Watch here the preparation of Tiradito at Maido.
What can I say.. pack your bags. We are off to Lima!