At Uzunokuni Minami-Awaji, you can enjoy a wide variety of dishes using Awaji Island onions, a specialty of the island, and other island ingredients. For this interview, we spoke with Mr. Sowa, a staff member in his second year with the company who works as a cooking staff member, about his job satisfaction at the company.
Challenges are fun!
Q: First of all, how did you get started in cooking?
Yes, first of all, my mother was a pastry chef.
Having watched my mother's back as she cooked and made sweets all my life, I naturally fell in love with cooking and obtained a cooking license. I also enjoy processing and cooking the fish I catch. That was one of the reasons for me to become a chef.
Q. Currently, you are working as a staff member of the food and beverage department that mainly handles "Awaji beef" called "Awaji Beef Maki Hamburger Today is Meat Day.
I feel that young and inexperienced staff like myself are comfortable working in this environment.
Senior employees are kind and teach me in detail.
Also, the atmosphere is easy to ask about things you don't understand, and if you ask, they will tell you right away.
Q: In such an environment where young people can work comfortably, is there anything you would like to challenge in the future?
I would like to take on the challenge of developing new products.
I really feel the joy of working at a place that supports me and lets me try new things on a daily basis.
Support from seniors and the environment are important.
It sounds like fun! But isn't it difficult to propose new dishes?
I think I am good at getting close to my ideal taste, but the "look" and "nickname" part is difficult.
It depends on the dish, but I feel it is very important to give it an impactful appearance and aroma that will please the customers. It is also difficult to choose ingredients and seasonings that look beautiful and go well together.
This time, we made "Oden" as a new product development.
It was an eye-opener to see how adding "yuzu" to oden enriches and fosters the aroma.
I also learn from all the support from senior employees, such as how to make dashi stock and the ratio of soy sauce and mirin (sweet sake) when cooking.
I like the phrase "there is learning in everything". By the way, what do you do to overcome the parts you find difficult?
Yes, I do. When I go out to eat in private, I try to input information on how the food is served, how the ingredients are cut, how it is arranged, and how the colors are combined, etc., to see if there is anything I can refer to. The other day, I had a hamburger steak at a newly opened café, and I found many aspects of the dish to be helpful.
That's wonderful! Finally, what are your goals at this point?
Right now, I work mostly with meat, but someday I would like to be able to cleanly cut sashimi.
In my mind, I have a flowery or cool image (laughs).
I have prepped fish by removing scales, guts, and heads, but I would like to try sashimi someday.
Thank you very much!
We all hit walls and become depressed when we take on new challenges.
Isn't it attractive to have a workplace where you can challenge yourself and have the support to overcome obstacles, no matter what mistakes you make?
