TICAD dinner party Chef's appreciation to Africa for cooking August 30th 2:48
At this TICAD = African Development Conference, a dinner party hosted by Prime Minister Abe was held on the 29th night. The dish served there included a chef's appreciation for Africa.
Leaders from about 50 countries participated in the dinner party.
At the beginning, Prime Minister Abe stated, “Tonight, we prepared a dinner with Japanese essences, using special products from all over Japan.
It was a French-based creative dish that was made with plenty of ingredients from the stricken area so that people could feel the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Appetizer is terrine using abalone and seaweed from Miyagi Prefecture.
The main meat dish is a high-quality Japanese beef confit from Miyagi Prefecture.
The fish dish is a sea bass poiree from Fukushima Prefecture.
Kihachi Kumagai, the chef who supervised the dinner party.
He is one of the leading French chefs in Japan.
Mr. Kumagai says, “I think it's important to get to know the Tohoku region because there are many wonderful ingredients.”
Actually, Mr. Kumagai, when he was in his twenties, worked as a chef for four years at the Japanese Embassy in Senegal, Africa and Morocco.
He was fascinated by the French cuisine made by the local staff who met there, and says he has begun to follow the path of French cuisine.
For this creative dish, we used spices often used in Africa as a hidden taste, taking advantage of the experience of the time.
Mr. Kumagai said, “I wanted to get a feel of Japan and express something faintly felt in Africa.”
Mr. Kumagai talks about Africa as his starting point.
I hope this dish will be a cross between Japan and the local community.
Mr. Kumagai said, “I wanted to thank Africa. That's why I wanted to make it a memorable dish for the visitors.”