Presenters

Hiroko Shimbo

Hiroko Shimbo is an authority on Japanese cuisine with world-wide recognition. She is a chef-consultant for restaurants and food companies, trained sushi chef, author, media performer and chef-instructor. Hiroko began her business, Hiroko’s Kitchen, in her native Japan in 1989. Since 1999 her base of operation has been in New York City. Hiroko also writes cookbooks and food articles for general circulation and professional magazines including Saveur, National Culinary Review, Art of Eating and others. She offers professional cooking classes at vocational and avocational cooking schools throughout the United States and Europe.

Hiroko has worked as a culinary consultant to the P. F. Chang’s China Bistro group providing menu development, recipes and staff training for their initial entry into the Japanese restaurant business. Hiroko developed a new line of product imports for one of the largest Japanese food and restaurant equipment importers and distributors, Mutual Trading Company.  This work has resulted in the establishment of a unique premium food product line for the company.  The line includes products researched and found by Hiroko and now available in the US through Mutual Trading Company.   Hiroko frequently appears on radio and television throughout the United States in her role as a proponent and authority on Japanese cuisine. She has been featured on the Food Network, Roker on the Road series, several episodes of PBS television programs, PBS national radio and local radio and television stations across the country. Hiroko is now working with a producer to develop her own cooking show. In the future look for Hiroko’s new Japanese cooking series on PBS, cable TV or internet.

Hiroko’s award-winning, best selling first cookbook, The Japanese Kitchen was published by Harvard Common Press in 2000. This comprehensive book, already the standard English language work on Japanese cuisine, is designed to demystify Japanese cooking for Western cooks working in a typical home or professional kitchen using locally available ingredients. The Japanese Kitchen has been translated into Spanish and published in Spain as La Cocina Japonesa (RBA Libros, April 2006). The book is being sold throughout the Spanish speaking world.

Hiroko’s second book, The Sushi Experience, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in October 2006 and became a James Beard Foundation Award nominee for 2006. The lavishly illustrated book is the most comprehensive treatment of sushi ever published in English. It presents the history and cultural associations of sushi, sushi restaurant dining tips and etiquette, and complete instruction on the ingredients, techniques and recipes of this world cuisine. The book is aimed at professional and home cooks, sushi restaurant diners and readers with an interest in food history and culture.

Hiroko is an active member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Women’s Chef and Restaurateurs. Hiroko is a Sushi Adviser for the Blue Ocean Institute, offering her expertise on sustainable sushi fish to that organization.