Great W&M Asia Cook Off!

Chef Katsuya Fukushima, celebrity chef, and nationally acclaimed restaurateur Yama Jewayni from the award winning DC restaurants Daikaya-Izakaya, Bantam King and Haikan, were guest judges at the Great W&M Asia Cook Off. Their visit and this event was organized by and a part of Prof. Stephen Sheehi's courses "The Culture of Arab Food" (ARAB 150) and "The AMES East Asia Student Think Tank" (AMES 385). The students had to research and prepare one dish, using eggplant, to present to the judges, telling us stories of the food’s social history, cultural relevance, political economy and national political origins.

After, Chef Fukushima and two of his chefs from Daikaya-Izakaya and Bantam King did a cooking demonstration, presenting on an array of ways eggplant is prepared from Morocco to Japan. Chef Fukushima, in real time, allowed students to experience what hybridizing food looks like in a kitchen that is able to combine a series of techniques, ingredients and culinary histories.

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