The finale of EARTH MART, the signature pavilion of the Osaka-Kansai Expo, was held on board the cruise ship Asuka II, which departed from Osaka Port.

200 people involved in food gathered

Under the leadership of general producer Kundo Koyama, 200 people including chefs, producers, researchers, business managers, investors, and journalists gathered together to discuss the future of food.

"The planning for the Osaka-Kansai Expo 'EARTH MART' began five years ago, when we set up shop on the proposed site, which was just reclaimed land."

Koyama says.

"As a finale, people from different fields related to food will spend two days and one night on the boat. This is where they will make new encounters and sow new seeds for the future. That is the greatest significance of the event."

It is certainly an unprecedented and groundbreaking attempt to bring together so many people from different food-related industries. Incidentally, the Asuka II was chartered exclusively by Nippon Yusen Cruises.

Selected "25 people who will brighten the future of food"

The event had three highlights. The first was the selection of "25 people from Japan and overseas who will brighten the future of food."

Some of them include Shota Iida of Iida Shoten (Yugawara Town, Kanagawa Prefecture), Tadanori Umekawa of Regional Fish Co., Ltd. (Kyoto City), Tsutomu Okutsu, owner of Taneto (Unzen City, Nagasaki Prefecture), Mineko Kato, chef pastry chef of FARO (Ginza, Tokyo), Hiroya Kawasaki of Ajinomoto Co. Food Research Institute (Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture), Keiko Kuwakino, head chef of Satoyama Jyujyo (Minamiuonuma City, Niigata Prefecture), Santiago Fernandez, head chef of MAZ (Kioicho, Tokyo), Yukinori Shimootsubo of Kitasanriku Factory (Hirono Town, Iwate Prefecture), Naoki Maeda of Sasue Maeda Fish Shop (Yaizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture), Ayana Misawa of Chuo Winery Co., Ltd. (Katsunuma Town, Yamanashi Prefecture), and Lionel Beca of ESqUISSE (Ginza, Tokyo).

The second was that the 25 people split into 12 groups and held a talk session at the "Future of Food Conference."

A feast by RED U-35 Grand Prix chefs

And finally, at RED U-35 (RYORININ's EMERGING DREAM U-35), Japan's largest culinary competition, which has been held since 2013 to discover the next generation of young talent, six of the ten past Grand Prix winners prepared a course dinner for 200 invited guests.

The chefs include Hiroki Yoshitake of Restaurant Sola in Fukuoka City, Kazutoyo Inoue of Sutuan Restaurant Chen in Tokyo, Shota Itoi of Auberge "eaufeu" in Komatsu City, Kohei Horiuchi of notori in Yamanashi Prefecture, Kenno Sakai of Kenno Japanese Cuisine in Kyoto City, and Yui Yamamoto of ESqUISSE in Tokyo.

The chefs, whose styles spanned French, Japanese, and Chinese cuisine, prepared a magnificent course of seven dishes, one for each person (Yamamoto also prepared dessert). The course was overseen by Tsutomu Ochiai of La Bettola da Ochiai. Everyone cheered with delight.

The lunch buffet that preceded it was a luxurious affair, featuring dishes such as "Watching Sea Oyster Water Agar Jelly" by Lionel Becca of ESqUISSE, a two-star Michelin restaurant, and "Rose and Almond Jelly Jelly," created by Asia's best pastry chef, Mineko Kato of FARO, in collaboration with Wataru Kanaya.

A heated talk session

I'd like to explain the "Food Future Conference" in more detail. The 25 people mentioned earlier will set a theme and hold a one-on-one talk session. Four subcommittees will be held simultaneously at the same time, making three sets, so while it would be different if you joined the other sessions, the system is such that you can only attend three sessions at a time.

All the sessions were fascinating and it was difficult to choose, but all the sessions I attended were excellent.

To introduce two of them, the first was a session between Daiki Koga of "Oishii Farm" and Yukinori Shimotsubo of "Kitasanriku Factory," on the theme of "Will a 'GAFAM of Food' emerge from Japan?" Koga produces Japanese strawberries in a factory near New York.

"We are using new technology to produce strawberries, tomatoes, and other crops that were previously thought to be impossible without bee pollination," says Koga.

I tried some of the air-shipped strawberries and they were incredibly sweet and rich. It predicts that in the future, it will be possible to cultivate any crop. Because delicious produce can be grown without pesticides under any conditions, plant factories could be considered a revolutionary solution to food shortages.

"Sea urchins are the gangsters of the sea, eating up all the seaweed and causing coastal denudation. There's also the '2048 problem' when it comes to seafood, and it's predicted that if we don't do anything about the oceans, by that time we won't be able to eat any seafood. We want to solve this by increasing the proportion of aquaculture, so we thought we'd start with regenerative sea urchin aquaculture." (Shimotsubo)

The time will surely come when we will no longer be able to eat sushi. This will be because the seaweed on which fish lay their eggs will disappear. One way to prevent this is through land-based regenerative aquaculture technology.

"People are interested in vegetables and meat, but the biggest problem is that they are completely indifferent to the crisis facing the ocean. Currently, 80% of Japan's seafood is wild caught and 20% is farmed caught, and we need to change this ratio."

Confronting Ferran Adrià

The other talk was between Kawasaki Hiroya of Ajinomoto Co. Food Research Institute and journalist Nakayama Kyoko, with the theme "Is food a 'disappearing art?' or 'reproducible design?' What is necessary to pass on the true flavor of food."

Ferran Adrià of Spain's El Bulli, which has changed the world of cuisine, is reportedly writing a book about Japanese cuisine. During the session, Nakayama, who is supporting Ferran's project to promote the essence of Japanese cuisine, shared the story of how he introduced Ferran to Kawasaki when he brought him to Ajinomoto's research laboratory.

"Ferran is a very influential person. He really needs to understand and spread the word about Japanese cuisine."

Kawasaki thought, and answered various questions politely,

"Fundamentally, Phelan's questions were about whether something fit into the rules of Western society. It didn't seem like he was trying to truly understand Japanese cuisine. He was quick to ask questions like, 'Who established Japanese cuisine?' and 'Are there any documents related to it?' Japanese cuisine is not something that is left behind in writing, and it was important to keep the techniques secret, so there are almost no clear descriptions of it. I wanted him to understand it from our perspective, not their own concepts."

Kawasaki said so.

Nakayama also stated his opinion, saying, "Culture that is not written down will disappear. We should preserve Japanese cuisine, including its aesthetic sense and culture, in writing," and the discussion developed into one that drew in the attendees at the venue.

In a sense, the heated debate between the two, which seemed to clash, was the highlight of this conversation. However, in their final words for the future, they both concluded that "we should focus on the parts of Japanese cuisine that cannot be put into words."

According to Kundo Koyama, "it is conflict that gives rise to new progress."

Ayaka Hirahara's performance

Also, on the top floor, Hidetoshi Nakata acted as organizer and served a variety of sake before dinner, including "Shinsei" from Akita Prefecture, "Jiko" from Mie Prefecture, "Senkin" from Tochigi Prefecture, "Usando" from Kumamoto Prefecture, and "Nichibi" from Kyoto Prefecture.

At the after-party, Hirahara Ayaka, full from a full-course dinner, sang powerfully into the silence of the night.

The breakfast before disembarking on the second day was also memorable. The rice was made with the new year's rice, "Seiten no Hekireki," and the highlights included dried sardines made in-house by Sasue Maeda Fish Shop and wild vegetable soup by Kuwakino of Satoyama Jyujyo. It was a delicious breakfast, more than enough to bring the finale to a close.

I sincerely hope that this event will be held at least once every few years.