Gone to foodie heaven.

Back in Makuhari Messe! I was here for the Tokyo Game Show in 2011, as well as a private tour.

A couple of weeks ago, I got to go to FOODEX JAPAN 2013, the biggest international food and beverage exhibition in Asia. Held annually since 1976, the exhibition is renowned amongst food industry professionals a fantastic opportunity for business expansion. Over 7,300 exhibitors from 70 different countries and 75,000 visitors participated came this year.

Unfortunately, this event isn't open to the general public...but I was allowed to go for work. :3

FOODEX was spread out over the entire 54,000 square meters of the International Exhibition Hall.

To say the event was HUGE is still an understatement. We spent a good two hours here, and still probably only saw - or rushed through - one fifth of everything this event had to offer.

Just a peek into the venue.

So much delicious food and drink to be had!

Since I couldn't really take photos inside, I collected pamphlets and flyers of all the food I'd seen (and perhaps also sampled?!). I didn't actually get to try that tomato makgeolli, but I did have a giant serving of Dippin' Dots (honey cotton candy flavor? I don't think we have that back home!), chocolate wafers, fresh beef and pork, picked veggies, dried fruit, fresh juice...the list goes on and on.

Makes me seriously want to consider a career in the food industry.

World Sushi Cup Japan 2013!

But there was still our other target for the day - the World Sushi Cup!

Organized by the prefecture and other related organizations, the World Sushi Cup Japan 2013 comprised of two events: the individual competition on March 6, and the restaurant competition on March 7-8.

Chefs competing in World Sushi Cup Japan 2013

We attended the Original Sushi Restaurant Competition. Top sushi restaurants from Belgium, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Singapore, the U.S., Sweden, and Uruguay selected by the All Japan Sushi Association (AJSA) competed on sushi cooking techniques, creativity, and flavor at this event. Each of the chefs from these restaurants have outstanding careers, such as possessing a Michelin-star rating or having won famous sushi competitions abroad.  

The restaurant competition was held over 2 days, with 2 rounds each day. Participants compete by creating 4 original sushi (one for each round) using fresh Japanese ingredients provided by the organizer. Contestants were also allowed to use their own ingredients.

Sushi from our session! The two photos in the middle were made by the winning chefs:
(center left) Sweden, (center right) Belgium

 The U.S. competitor smoked red sea bream fish from Chiba for a more traditional taste, while the representative from Uruguay went for a Western take on sushi by topping it with avocado and cream sauces. Many of the participants chose to combine Chiba’s ingredients with flavors from their home countries, such as the Ukrainian restaurant which accented their sushi with soba (buckwheat) seeds from Ukraine to symbolize the friendship between their country and Japan.

Boxes for tasters to put their votes in for the tastiest sushi

After tasting all of the sushi for that session, attendees were given 3 slips of paper – one for each of the following qualities: deliciousness, appearance/cooking technique, and originality. It was certainly difficult to decide which sushi was the “best.” The winner was chosen by a panel of judges and the votes of attendees.

And the winner is...SAIKO!

We chose the final session so that we would be able to attend the awards ceremony directly afterwards! The winner was the representative from Sweden, a restaurant called "SAIKO" (literally, "the best"). And their sushi was indeed saiko - they made a nigiri sushi toped with salmon - and on top of that a minced, fried fish ball rolled in gold flakes, almonds, and a homemade mayonnaise using fresh Chiba eggs. Nomnom! Apparently their theme was fusing traditional sushi with Scandinavian flavors, which I thought was really cool. They certainly had gotten my vote :)

Check out the special edition Kewpie doll - sushi chef style!

As my coworkers called it, this trip was "おいしい仕事” - which would literally translate as "tasty work," but would probably be better translated as "appealing work" and usually refers to fun and/or chill work. Tasty work or not, we are always very serious about our jobs...but this day, we got to go home with very (overly?) full tummies. Mission success!