Why does Japan take a decade to train a professional sushi chef?

Being a sushi chef in Japan is a great honor and to achieve that is not easy.

The integration process has turned sushi into a truly popular food all over the world. You can easily enjoy sushi anywhere, when Japanese restaurants appear abundantly in every major city.

However, only when entering a traditional sushi restaurant, do you feel what is the "national soul" of Japan. Sushi or any other dish in such restaurants is made from high quality, fresh ingredients with the highest quality. And more importantly, they are made by the Itamae - the most noble title for sushi chefs.

Sushi in traditional restaurants is always special.

And you know, to become an Itamae needs a small training process. Not one to two years is finished, but it lasts for a decade.

Itamae - sushi chef's most noble title

The title of Itamae is the top title with the chef, and certainly not arbitrarily given. In Japanese, Itamae means "cutting board" - the only person who can use the main cutting board, the only one responsible for making all kinds of sushi and fish.

Some stores in Japan, Itamae also has the task . to laugh, buy fun for customers and charge money.

The title of Itamae is the top title with a chef.

An Itamae has the skill of using knives to master the level of mastery.

An Itamae has the skill of using knives to master the level of mastery. They work as cooks but not as cooks, because it is passion and responsibility. From how to clean fish, cut fish must be adjusted with an appropriate attitude, not to mention the cooking, rice grasping perfectly. In addition, they must consider the combination of materials together, to create a distinct flavor.

And the process of hard training to become an Itamae

So how do you become a noble sushi chef? The answer is simple: practice, practice and practice, starting from the "ultimate" position of the kitchen.

Indeed! New soldiers will start with cleaning, and must do a clean job to understand the most important factor in all restaurants: "cleaning".

Well done, new soldiers will be "promoted" to become rice cooks. They will have to learn how to cook quality rice cookers, how to prepare a balance between ingredients in sushi rice.

Wanting to become a sushi chef needs to go through rigorous training.

A practitioner may spend years in this position, until called wakiita - translated as "the person standing near the cutting board".

This is an important title, because from now on they must keep practicing until they own a set of their own kitchen knives (Japanese called hochoin). Over the years, students will get the Itamae title - of course when and only if they do really well.

In the past, the training process to achieve Itamae needed more than a decade.

The reason for this extreme suffering is because, as stated, Itamae is a very noble title. One Itamae must prepare the material, take care of each kitchen knife, and most importantly, attract customers based on their skill of using knives. This title embodies a culture of honor and respect.

In the past, the training process to achieve Itamae needed more than a decade. But today, it is rare for people to have such patience, leading to the emergence of many fast-food sushi schools. Instead of losing ten years, they only need a short time to get a job certificate.

In terms of quality, we will not discuss. Such fast chefs can still open shops themselves, but cannot be called Itamae because this title has its own unique standards.

Saito - a "holy" sushi chef in Japan.

Perhaps that is also the reason that traditional Japanese sushi restaurants, despite the price is not pleasant, but always get the support of many Japanese and tourists around the world.