Repost from @shu.ishizaka. The power to imagine doesn’t necessarily always lead to great things, but with the involvement of the right people at the right time, it can act as a proverbial foot through the wall that unconsciously binds the way we think in the culinary world. In my opinion, our biggest value @inuajp was the pursuit of the unknown with the knowledge of the past, studying the relationship between the land, the people and the produce of Japan and shifting it in a small but new direction. We sought like-minded people throughout the Japanese archipelago, and although we only scratched the surface, those that we did form a friendship with all had a profound effect on how we go about creativity at the restaurant. One such moment in time and space was over two years ago now, drawing inspiration from @nomacph @nomaprojects ‘s primordial soup of ideas. Hoping to utilise the skill and knowledge behind one of Japan’s most important culinary creations, and channeling it to uncover new flavours in the plant kingdom, we collaborated with Yusuke Sezaki-san of @kaneshichi_jp to develop a method to treat fruit and vegetables like katsuobushi to make what we agreed to dub “Vegetable-bushi”. It was an incredibly time-intensive effort on both sides. Hours of weekly, sometimes daily phone and video calls to discuss the latest developments on various ongoing projects. Sometimes we’d talk about the weather, or how his son is progressing in baseball. But most of the time it was all about - How long should we age it before we start smoking? Should we peel it or leave it whole? Should it be cut across or lengthways? Does it need more or less smoke? Does it need more or less heat? Undoubtedly one of the most rewarding projects I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in so far in my career, and though INUA may have been laid to rest, I can guarantee for as long as I’m still in Japan this collaboration is far from over. More exciting projects on their way very, very soon. In the meantime, I’ll be sharing a few projects from the past over the next few days. Some that made it onto the menu, and some that remain asleep in the vault!