Italian Cuisine Flourishes in Japan, Says Chef after Italian Tour

In Japan, the freshwater pike in Gardesana sauce is very popular, so much so that some restaurants have permanently added it to their menu.

Thanks to Flavio Tagliaferro, who recently completed a long tour across the Land of the Rising Sun, where he spent a month teaching about the cuisine of Garda and the Baldo.

Tagliaferro, who lives in Incaffi, is the chef at the “Zeno” restaurant in San Zeno di Montagna. He was invited to Japan, on the recommendation of Emilio Pedron, CEO of Gruppo Italiano Vini. The invitation came from Monte Bussan, the leading importer of Italian wines and food products.

“The itinerary,” recounts Tagliaferro, “covered six cities and as many restaurants serving Italian cuisine, all with exclusively Japanese staff. In each venue, Italian-themed celebrations were organized that could last a week or a month. My task was to teach Venetian, Garda, and my restaurant’s dishes. The kitchen brigades watched the preparation, took photos of everything, and then reproduced the dishes, offering them to customers or preparing them for banquets ranging from fifty to two hundred and fifty people.”

Popularity of Italian cuisine in Japan

Italian cuisine is quite popular in Japan. Having become a fashion trend about ten years ago, it is now well-established in many Japanese habits. Or rather, it is mainly Japanese women who love Italian style.

“During the evenings,” observes Tagliaferro, “I noticed, and the organizers confirmed this to me, that the clientele visiting Italian restaurants in Japan is eighty percent women.” And Japanese chefs, highly professional, are specializing in this field.

“While the generation of chefs aged around forty to fifty primarily focused on French cuisine,” confirms Tagliaferro, “young Eastern chefs are in love with Italian cuisine. I have visited several Italian restaurants run by Japanese chefs, and I must say I always ate magnificently.”

Tagliaferro’s triumphant tour in Japan

It is a fact that Flavio Tagliaferro‘s extensive tour across Japan was almost a triumph. In restaurants, they greeted him with posters featuring his photo. And the Garda-Baldo cuisine made a mark.

“Many Japanese chefs,” says the chef from San Zeno, “permanently include some of my dishes in their menus. Knowing that pike in sauce, bigoli with duck, or rice semifreddo with strawberry sauce will be served in some Japanese restaurants, paired with Veronese wines that accompanied my dishes during banquets, fills me with pride. It’s also because you bring a piece of your traditions, your culinary culture, and the brilliance of your cuisine.”

Regarding wines, Tagliaferro specifies, “Italian wines are imported in large quantities and high quality, and there wasn’t a restaurant that didn’t feature the most prestigious Veronese labels.”