Nikkei Cuisine: Japanese Food the South American Way

At its simplest, Nikkei cuisine is the cooking of the Japanese diaspora. Japanese immigrants have found themselves in a variety of cultures and contexts, but have often maintained a loyalty to their native cuisine. This has required local adaptation over the last 100 years: the so-called Nikkei community has embraced a new country's ingredients and assimilated these into their cooking using Japanese techniques. Nikkei cooking is found wherever in the world Japanese immigrants and their descendants are. But, for historical reasons, two countries have had substantially more Japanese immigrants than the rest of the world - Brazil and Peru.

Nikkei cooking has gained popularity in Europe and the USA due to the influence of chefs Nobu Matsuhisa and Toshiro Konishi; the last two decades have seen the emergence of a number of outstanding, creative Nikkei chefs and restaurants all over the world - including Pakta in Barcelona by Albert Adria. This stunningly photographed cookbook includes 100 Nikkei recipes, including 10 contributed recipes from top Nikkei chefs from around the world such as celebrated chefs Toshiro Konishi and Mitsuharu Tsumura ('Micha') from Peru, Tsuyoshi Murakami from Brazil, Jorge Munoz & Kioko Li of Pakta in Barcelona and Jordan Sclare & Michael Paul of Chotto Matte in London.

Nikkei Cuisine is a ground-breaking cookery book and a must-have for anyone with an interest in Japanese or South American cooking, as well as for those keen to discover cutting-edge cookery and flavours. The recipes range from the simpler Nikkei family favourites (the dishes eaten at home) to the more elaborate and elegant Nikkei dishes served in restaurants around the world.

Born of Japanese and Italian parentage, LUIZ HARAÂ was raised by his Japanese grandmother in São Paulo, Brazil, until the age of 19, when he moved to the UK. After working in the City for many years, he gave up a successful career in finance to go down a completely different path and indulge his passion for food.

After spending almost a year in Tokyo researching local cuisine and writing recipes, Luiz returned to London to train at Le Cordon Bleu, where he graduated with the Grande Diplome. He started The London Foodie blog in 2009 (regularly listed as one of the top 10 UK food blogs), and in 2012 launched the hugely popular London Foodie’s Supper Club, serving Japanese, Nikkei and French food - every event has sold out since it started. He also teaches Japanese cookery and from January 2016 will teach Nikkei cooking at Divertimenti Cookery School in London.

Luiz enjoys a high profile in the UK and beyond. He has written for Time Out London, BBC Good Food Channel and many other online publications. The London Foodie Supper Club and Cooking Club have both been featured in a number of UK and international media, including NBC News. His supper club was filmed as part of a 45-minute Brazilian TV programme Diario do Olivier on GNT Channel. He works closely with Visit Sweden and the Norwegian Seafood Council and was recently invited to become one of the latter’s spokespersons on the suitability of using sustainable and sushi-graded Norwegian fish for Nikkei cooking in the UK.

www.thelondonfoodie.co.uk