Concentrating on the winning dish
Aug 30, 2018
TOKYO, JAPAN -- Last week, USA Rice Vice President for International Sarah Moran attended the sixth annual chef competition here sponsored by USA Rice. The theme of this year’s competition, “new style sushi with U.S. medium grain rice,” required competitors to use Calrose when crafting their creative sushi dishes.
Of the nearly 600 contest applicants, 11 finalists were chosen to compete. Each contestant created a unique sushi style dish for either a restaurant or a deli store, keeping in mind criteria such as a reasonable price point and whether the dish could be replicated in an appropriate amount of time.
Five judges evaluated each entry, determining whether the dish enhanced Calrose’s features and if it was a tasty and desirable sushi dish. Judges included Mr. Makoto Fukue, CEO of the Tokyo Sushi Academy; CEO of Recipe & Market Mr. Daisuke Kaneko; well-known chef Mr. Kuniaki Aoshima; Mr. Takehiro Nagasaka from the Mizkan Company which makes rice vinegar; and Ms. Yuko Asai, the editor-in-chief of Shibata Publishing Company.
“These types of competitions encourage chefs and even the media to become more comfortable with Calrose and how it can be used in creative, modern applications,” said Moran. “All of the dishes were quite tasty, although my personal favorite was a sushi mosaic which combined numerous flavors and colors to create a beautiful dish.”