Tokyo [Japan], Mar 2 : Washoku, Japan's traditional cuisine is a combination of simple and complicated, as well as plain and sophisticated preparation of food. It is blended with salty, sweet, sour, and full of umami flavours, while an equally important emphasis is given to its beautiful presentation.
The Washoku World Challenge is a cooking contest for chefs of Japanese cuisine from all over the world who are passionate about Japanese food and are striving to deepen their knowledge and expertise.
The seventh contest, themed 'Texture and Mouth feel,' was orgsed by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries with the participation of foreign chefs.
Five chefs joined this final competition with the cooking skill of Washoku.
Washoku, which is registered on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, raises the Japanese government's hopes of enhancing its global recognition by attracting more foreign tourists and boosting agricultural exports of the country.
Kyouko Nishi, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said, "This year, more than 80 people from 17 countries applied. Five finalists participated. Local people in various countries understand the essence of Japanese food culture, and they express Japanese food culture in various regions using ingredients from their own countries and original ingredients imported from Japan."
In Bangkok city of Thailand, Japanese food is very popular and there are many Japanese restaurants.
Jaran Deephuk is the chief chef of "Nanohana -Japanese restraint". He is the winner of the Washoku World Challenge 2015.
"I hope all challengers can do the best and try to get the win. All judges are very strict but if challengers focus on competition, the decision to assess the success skill of Washoku World Challenge will guarantee successful business," Deephuk said.
Japanese cuisine he cooks is very popular with Thai and Japanese customer and "Nanohana" has become a famous Japanese restaurant in Bangkok.
There are 4,500 restaurants in the world that can use Japanese foodstuffs and other retail stores that are recognised as Japanese foodstuffs supporters. "I think that the chefs in that country are the most familiar with how to communicate to consumers in their own country, so it's because they can learn Japanese food techniques and convey the goodness of the ingredients that the chefs can handle, but the number of consumers who want to try supermarkets or buy them has increased, leading to a cycle in which they want to eat them again at that restaurant," Nishi stated.
Wang Weiping, a chef from China, won the Washoku World Challenge competition.
( With inputs from ANI )