Satoru Shinsei : Chef
When Satoru Shinsei left his home on Awaji Island to attend college on the mainland, he vowed never to return. Few of his family and friends would have thought that twenty years later he would be back in Awaji as one of the leading lights spearheading the island’s culinary renaissance.
In 2014, Satoru opened a tiny restaurant in Sumoto City, called “Shoku no Wa”, which can be translated as “The Harmony of Food” or “Food’s Harmony.” The latter interpretation is the better of the two because, as Satoru explained, “I riff on the ingredients and the season. It’s a call-and-response between me and the food until I find a melody that creates something delicious.” This approach naturally means that no two culinary compositions ever come out the same.
Satoru’s style of cooking is best described as “island cuisine.” Dishes are composed of fresh seasonal foods that feature their natural flavors. Ingredients are diverse because islands are cross-roads, which is especially true for Awaji, having been the gateway for new foods into Japan for millennium. Satoru’s techniques are simple and straight-forward as life is best lived outside of the kitchen rather than in it. The result are creations that have unique flavor combinations yet are accessible because of their refreshing simplicity in taste and appearance.
(Click and scroll on the photos below for descriptions.)
A Chef’s Journey
Satoru’s journey to becoming one of the most exciting chefs in the Setouchi is as unorthodox as his cooking. Born and raised in Minami-Awaji City, he set his sights from an early age on the bright lights of Osaka and Kobe cities glittering across the bay. After graduating from high school, he grabbed the first chance to fly the nest, like many of his friends, and moved to Osaka, where he studied at the Osaka University of Economics.
After graduating, he made a conscious decision to avoid the nine-to-five, declining offers from several firms impressed by his degree in commercial science. Instead, he bounced from job to job, earning just enough to enjoy his urban lifestyle and satisfy his appetite for the latest music and fashion. “When I lived in Osaka, I was obsessed with material things. I was the ultimate consumer,” Satoru said. “I worked as my professor’s assistant. I had a job in a bar and also a radio station. Any extra money I had after rent went towards buying the latest records and clothes. Food was very low on my list of priorities. If it was a choice between a meal or the latest Oasis album, Oasis won every time.”
Back on Awaji at age twenty-five, as a stopgap Satoru stumbled into cooking when he worked at a friend’s bar and restaurant in Sumoto. He quickly became exposed to all aspects of the restaurant business, juggling multiple roles as chef, barman, and manager. After four years, he returned to the mainland to spearhead the restaurant’s new franchise in Kobe City. As time passed, he found himself questioning the norms of the trade. “When I was working at the restaurant, I had an order sheet for our ingredients that I sent to our supplier every week,” recalled Satoru. “I would request the same ingredients throughout the year, whatever the season. The ingredients would arrive looking and tasting the same. It baffled me. I remember thinking, ‘Don’t the seasons count for anything anymore?’”
This questioning led to Satoru’s culinary awakening. It signaled the beginning of his quest for knowledge of all things related to food and cooking. He joined a restaurant in Osaka that prided itself on its close collaboration with regional food makers and food artisans. During regular farm visits, farmers often gave him special heirloom seed varieties to take home. With space at a premium in his cramped high-rise apartment in central Osaka, Satoru guerilla gardened his local park. “I was surprised to see these seeds grow! Of course, the earth was not in the best condition and people just trampled them,” said Satoru. “But it was amazing to see the energy and the strength locked within these tiny seeds. It gave me the confidence to believe I could grow anything if I wanted to.”
Awaji Island
Seeds in themselves play an important role in Satoru’s dishes, often appearing as nutrient-rich pastes, such as in his Chicken & Cashew Nut Ae. The use of seeds in Satoru’s cooking reflects his education in Awaji’s ancient culinary traditions, which have become the foundation of his cooking.
Known as Japan’s “Food Island” because of the quality and diversity of its foods, Awaji is said to be Japan’s first island, breaking off from the East Asian continent eons ago. It is one of the largest islands in the Japanese Archipelago, covered in mountains and broad farming valleys and bordered by the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Seto Inland Sea on the other. It’s a microcosm of Japan in many ways, including of the country’s nature-oriented cuisine based on fresh foods from both land and sea.
During Satoru’s childhood years, he thought Awaji ’s unspoiled landscape, fishing villages, farms, and food culture were behind the times in a country where modernity, technology, and urbanization were celebrated. But with his newfound passion, he now sees Awaji as the perfect setting for his exploration of food and cooking. “Whenever I meet an elderly lady or gentlemen on the island, I always ask them about food, especially from when they were younger. Usually, the old ways tend to be healthier because they had balanced diets. They also made the most of what was available to them, extracting all the nutrients and flavors from the ingredients,” explained Satoru.
Satoru has also learned a lot from talking to his suppliers: young, small-hold organic farmers, many of whom relocated to Awaji after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. “Many came with profound ideas about organic and natural farming, F1 seeds, and permaculture,” said Satoru. “They opened my mind to a whole new level of thinking about food and the way I cook. I’m blessed to be cooking now, because the younger farmers on the islands are growing so many exciting new varieties of vegetables and fruit right here. I’m spoilt for choice,” said Satoru. “The energy and enthusiasm the growers have for their produce is infectious. When I cook, all I do is transform that energy into something tangible, I’m like an AC/DC converter,” Satoru laughingly said.
Today
Satoru closed his restaurant in December 2021, and plans to reopen at a new location soon. As we parted at the close of the interview, he mentioned he was off to help the carpenters with the construction.
In the meantime, Satoru continues to provide catering services. That includes setting up a portable kitchen and outdoor dining on Sumoto’s pine tree-covered Ohama Beach, upon request. It’s a perfect setting for Satoru’s way of orchestrating nature. “I look at the ingredients in front of me, what Awaji has given me in that season,” said Satoru. “Then I start cooking and let the ingredients guide me. An image of the finished dish appears to me halfway through the cooking process. My goal is to create dishes I personally want to eat.” His diners do too.
Satoru Shinsei, right, with his assistant Datchan.
For Satoru’s catering service, contact Shimatoworks:
Shimatoworks 社名株式会社シマトワークス
1-2-45 Uyama, Sumoto City, Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture 656-0012
Email: info@shimatoworks.jp
Web: https://shimatoworks.jp