http://www.sushischool.net
By Bryan Hays and Chef Brent
This is not an easy school for the faint of heart. It is a demanding school that is the only fully/properly accredited Japanese culinary education in the USA. Outside the truly respected and formal apprenticeships that must be endured in Japan to become a respected chef, this is the only respected alternative next to our sister school, Tokyo Sushi Academy. There are many imitators.
In modern day Japan, few endure the hardships of those classic apprenticeships anymore. The numbers are fewer than in decades past….and dwindling… In the decades to come, who will lead the vaunted restaurants in Japan and carry on important food traditions? Without some type of formalized and intensive training program, the whole world might be relegated to cheese and ketchup sushi. Such is rampant in Houston.
World respected chefs are bridging the gap between classic and modern with responsible vocational education. It is in turn up to each graduate student to bridge their own gaps with diligent practice, study, and experience. With the massive global demand for Japanese cuisine scores of poorly trained “chefs” have flooded the market. I have met a number of them. They don’t know how to maintain their tools, prepare rice, cut vegetables and fish, present proper coordinated ingredients in dishes, cook within season, respect the balance of nature, prepare healthy dishes, converse with and earn customers, and truly carry the priceless cultural gems that are Nihon shoku.
Sushi Chef Institute (SCI) seeks to introduce would be chefs into these principles. Four out of the 8 students I graduated with came to the US to attend SCI from Japan. The others were Korean or Korean American. One student did not graduate with us.
I always encourage those who’d wish to carry this torch, and don’t live in Japan, to consider this school. Classes are small. Hard work and a good heart pays off. Some, like me, have been fortunate enough to get a small internship in Japan. It was an experience with people that I will never forget. I am in their debt.
