A few days ago, I had the honor of attending the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, as a guest of the Consulate of Japan. It was a stunning event. The Fancy Food Show is the West Coast’s largest specialty food & beverage trade show, held every January. There were over 80,000 products & more than 1400 exhibitors. When I say this event was big, I mean it was HUGE! Before a new product makes it to your dinner table, chances are it was first discovered at the Fancy Food Show. I was in awe of the entire event & so grateful to the Consulate of Japan for the invitation to attend. 

As soon as I arrived, I made my way to the Japan Pavilion because I knew there were going to be a few cooking demos & I wanted to get a good seat up front. Today I’m going to share one of the demos with you – and next week I’ll share another! 

Chef Shotaro Kamio, of Iyasare in Berkeley, greeted everyone as they gathered around his demo booth. It was then that he introduced us to Kagoshima Wagyu Beef. You’ve heard of Kobe Beef, right? Well, Kagoshima Wagyu is a few cuts above Kobe & retails for $90-100 per pound. It is not yet available in the U.S. – so we were in for a real treat. Look at all the marbling in that Kagoshima Wagyu! 

Chef Kamio prepared a Seared Kagoshima Wagyu Beef Roll with Goma Sauce (sesame sauce) for us. Before he prepared it, he commented that we could actually eat the Kagoshima Wagyu raw…it’s that good! I watched as he prepared the rolls & was eager to taste this $90-100 per pound delicacy. 

I’d order this in a restaurant in a heartbeat! Inside the roll is enoki mushrooms, Shiso leaves, kaiware radish, shungiku leaves, Bonito flakes and sesame wasabi dressing. Tasted like heaven… OMG! Chef Kamio told us “Japanese cooking is simple.”  He sure made it look easy. Any time I go to a cooking demo, I like to see what brands the chefs are using. I took as many pics of the brands Chef Kamio was using as I could.

You can bet next time I head out to the Japanese Market, I will be putting these guys in my shopping cart. Now I just need to find some Kagoshima Wagyu Beef so I can make this dish at home for my family. 

Next week I’ll share the Maguro Poke with Gobo cooking demo, and I’ll show you some of the exciting new products I spotted in the Japan Pavilion! 

Big thank you (or should I say Domo arigatou gozaimasu) to the Japan Consulate for allowing me to experience a little taste of Japan, right here in San Francisco.