【Soma, Seishomaru】 Italian Course Lunch Tour with Kikuchi-san’s Fish

Born in a shipowning family in Soma’s bountiful fishing zone

The Kikuchi-family has been the owner of fishing trawlers for generations, and made a living by going out fishing themselves. Motofumi-san is the fourth in this line. Before the 3.11 disaster, the Soma-area was known as a very bountiful fishing grounds, boasting one of the highest yields in the country for coastal-and offshore fishery, a wealthy diversity of species and excellent quality. It was a vibrant fishing town filled with young fisherman, who were more than happy to take up the job, having grown up seeing their fathers make a good living.

Kikuchi-san Sr. used to be a fisherman as well, but was injured while on the ship, and had already quit by the time his son was born. This was one of the reasons Motofumi-san decided he would die before ever becoming a fisherman. Yet, as a third-year college student, when his father had fallen ill, he made a promise to cheer him up: “After I graduate, I’ll take up fishing.” Never did he himself believe he would actually do it.

A 40-member family meeting: no more escape

After a tough fight, his father soon passed away. Motofumi-san was the only boy out of five siblings. As the old customs state that only men can go on the ship, Motofumi-san was left as the only direct family member able to inherit the Seishomaru.  At a family meeting at which more than 40 relatives came together to discuss Motofumi-san’s future course, his uncles all pressured him: “So, Motofumi, what’s it gonna be? You’re taking up fishing, aren’t you?” Motofumi-san realized there was no more backing out, and accepted his fate of becoming a fisherman.

The ship Kikuchi-san operates is a bottom-trawler. Bottom-trawling is one of the toughest types of fishery, in which a trawler boat will set out to sea and drag a net for two hours before reeling it in. The huge amount of caught fish has to be sorted into different types in the short amount of time before the next net is raised. This process continues for the whole time on board. When during the hot season, this will go one for two days, one night. But during the cooler season, where there are more fish to be caught, this becomes a period of three days, two nights. All the while, there is no time to sleep. Kikuchi-san even caught himself sleeping on his feet sometimes. Whenever the work wasn’t progressing properly he would be yelled at by his seniors, making it an ordeal both physically and mentally. At times he thought about throwing himself into the sea just to get away from this hardship. Nevertheless, 22 years have passed since he became a fisherman. Whatever kept him going?

“No way this line is ending with me” and his comrades

No desire to become a fisherman from childhood, becoming one anyway out of necessity, and very tough working conditions. When asked why he did not quit: “Because I didn’t want the family business that goes back for such a long time to end with me.” But is that really the only reason?

After 3.11, the once-flourishing fishing port held its breath. But 11 years later, the port is recovering step-by-step to its former glory. The diversity of species is as rich as ever, from high-grade fish to lesser-known yet delicious local species. Properly showing the quality of these local species and bringing them to market is once of the ways to promote Soma. At Hama-no-eki Matsukawa Bay, the facility Kikuchi-san worked on as a producer, there is a food court where you can try these Soma-specific local species in the “Jizakana-don” (local fish-bowl) and the “Ryoshi-no-makanai-don” (fisherman’s meal-bowl).

Kikuchi-san’s new projects started when he was no longer able to go out fishing after 3.11. He joined forces with his fishing comrades and the people working in the local ryokan-inn business, who were all facing the same difficult circumstances, in an effort to restore the area.

While interviewing Kikuchi-san, suddenly the owner of Hotel Minatoya, Kanno-san, showed up. When Kikuchi-san asked what a good activity for the day would be,  Kanno-san proposes, “How about crab-fishing?,” the kind of idea one would expect to come out of a brainstorm between two men who both grew up playing on the beach. Kikuchi-san has many friends of roughly the same age who all grew up in Soma. These local comrades he can always turn to for advice, and people like Chef Kato wanting to use Kikuchi-san’s fish in his restaurant; undoubtedly these are the people who keep Kikuchi-san going.

※The area, including Hama-no-eki Matsukawa Bay, is currently undergoing restoration works from the damage of the March 16 2022-earthquake. This interview, as well as the photos, is of July 2021.

Everything started from his surrounding

Chef Kato is from the town of Yabuki in Fukushima Prefecture.

He is from a family of part-time farmers, and grew up eating their own vegetables and rice. “My grandpa used to be a hunter, and my dad ran a Chinese-cuisine restaurant, so ‘food’ was always around when I grew up.”

As a real grandpa’s kid, they would often go to the local cycle racing track together, where Kato-san would look up to the cyclists who made a killing. Wanting to become a cyclist himself, he entered a school with a cycling club. However, an injured sustained during training forced him to find a different path.

The next idea that came to mind, was the way of a chef. After graduating high school, he entered the Japan Culinary Institute (Nitcho) in Koriyama City, where he first met Chef Ayuta of restaurant ‘La Cometa’ who was a visiting lecturer. Having heard from his teachers that Chef Ayuta was brilliant, he did not hesitate to approach him. Amazingly, in May, after only one month since entering the institute, he already got Chef Ayuta to directly allow him a future place of employment.

Experiencing the seasonality of Fukushima in Soma’s bay

During holidays, Kato-san would fo to Tokyo to help Cheg Ayuta at his restaurant, and as promised, after graduation he started work at ‘La Cometa.’ After four years of training, he moved on to restaurant Trattoria Tartuca in Nakameguro (Tokyo), in order to learn Italian home-cooking. He spent five years there. After coming back to Fukushima, he studied under Chef Yaguchi at restaurant Papa’Caldo in Aizu-Wakamatsu. In 2013, 13 years after entering the culinary world, he opened up his own restaurant, TRATTORIA La Ghianda.

He gained popularity for his restaurant with his Italian cuisine using Fukushima’s products in the spirit of local production/local consumption. However, because the restaurant mainly served a la carte dishes, he had to make many sacrifices to cater to the customers’ needs and wishes. Kato-san wanted to convey the seasonal products of Fukushima, and what he considered Fukushima’s best, as much as possible. This is also why he insists on using fish from Soma.

He decided that he would be better able express Fukushima’s best products through course menus, in which the full coordination lies with the chef. Also, rather than choosing not to use certain products because it is Italian cuisine, he pro-actively opts to use products such as soy sauce from a local, traditional soy sauce brewery, of which he knows the brewers are skilled. In order to serve the type of seasonal products on his own terms, in 2020 he opened his new Italian restaurant ‘Catoe,’ which mainly serves course menus.

“This is what I want to do now, and it allows me to express Fukushima’s seasonality,” says Chef Kato.

If I do this, it’s gotta be with him.

This is actually the 2nd FoodCamp for Chef Kato. In 2015, before the Food Cart was painted in its current way, he served a meal on a farm field, in the pouring rain. As we did not have the necessary staff or appliances, it was a difficult task for Chef Kato. The fact that he was willing to give it another chance, is all thanks to Kikuchi-san.

“I don’t want to do the same thing with the same people” said Chef Kato, but accepted the request on the basis that he would be able to do FoodCamp in Soma, where it would be the first time, and with Kikuchi-san, whom he could trust. It reflects the level of trust these two have with each other. How did it come about?

As soon as the news of the test operations of the Soma Fishing Port came out, Chef Kato instantly reached out to someone to introduce him to a good fisherman in Soma. Fish caught off the coast of Fukushima is called ‘Joban-mono’ and there were already quite a few chefs who used fish from the Onahama area, but not many who used fish from Soma. Also, Soma offers many types of bottom fish, including many rare ones. It made Chef Kato all the more curious to learn about the opening of the Soma Port.

This is when he was introduced to Motofumi Kikuchi. When he requested local fish species, he was surprised to actually get fish he had never seen before. When he asked how best to prepare this type of fish, he got a nonchalant look from Kikuchi-san. “I don’t know either, but some of the older fisherman here say it’s good!” According to Kikuchi-san, “Making sure to use everything you find in your net is the most sustainable way of fishing.” That is surely true. Chef Kato: “If someone says something is good, natually more people start ordering. That way, things that were perceived not to have value, start getting valued. Take for instance goosefish. Nobody used to pay anything for goosefish. But now, it’s a winter delicacy!

“Even though there may still be many hurdles to overcome, if people come here, they will find out everything Soma has to offer for themselves,” Chef Kato says with a cool demeanor. But beyond those words lie the hopes and dreams of this extraordinary pair.

※Masks were only taken off for the purposes of the photos.