Chef Tadataka Toeda is known as the chef who won the first prize in Japan, which qualifies him to compete in the Bocuse d'Or, the Olympics of gastronomy chefs. He sources most of his ingredients from his home base in Shinshu, Japan, and his unique cuisine attracts his fans.
He is not a native of Shinshu. He grew up in Shiga and other prefectures and went to France for training at the age of 22. He studied under such big-name chefs as Jean-Paul Jeunet, Georges Blanc, and Régis Marcon. In particular, what he learned from Régis Marcon had a great influence on Toeda's way of thinking about cooking.
After returning to Japan, he was given the opportunity to be the head chef of a famous chef's Karuizawa restaurant, which was his first major contact with Shinshu.
Four years later, in 2011, he went independent and opened TOEDA in the exclusive villa district.
Since then, his delicate and refined cuisine has become more and more refined, and the ingredients he uses are increasingly from Shinshu. Shinshu has a wonderful natural environment and water from melting snow. In addition, the individuality and diversity of the producers and the large number of such people is a characteristic of Shinshu, and they continue to challenge Chef Toeda.
Shinshu is a beautiful, nature-rich region that begins to be entered within a couple of hours drive from Tokyo. It consists of at least three distinctly different cultural areas within a single prefecture, and is also known for its high reading rate and long healthy life expectancy. There is no analysis that provides a clear answer, but it is a region that is highly motivated to create something interesting, different, and unique, and indeed continues to produce a wide variety of wonderful things.
In addition to the many producers of vegetables and fruits who devise various ways to cultivate them, Toeda Cuisine is also unique in its "exchange of refinement" with enthusiasts who never stop working to improve and innovate, such as Davos Ranch, which handles cattle and sheep, Mr. Fujiwara of the cured ham factory, and "Yachiho Fishery" known for its Shinshu salmon cultivation.
There is a concerted effort there that goes beyond simply "conveying the appeal of Shinshu producers. He has been refining and will continue to refine his conceptual ability to integrate the producers' intentions and results into each dish through collaboration with them. Such determination gives Toeda's daily dishes a taut calmness.