Vietnamese son-in-law grows herbs in Japan

Realizing the role of herbs on the meals of Vietnamese trainees, Utsumi and his Vietnamese wife found the secret to cultivating 15 types of herbs in Osaka.

Three years ago, every Saturday morning, from his father's sushi restaurant in the Tondabayashi area of ​​Osaka, chef Utsumi Shoki saw groups of Vietnamese trainees cycling dozens of kilometers to buy their hometown foods.

"They had to go to Vietnamese grocery stores in the city to buy spices and herbs grown spontaneously there," Utsumi said. Realizing the indispensable role of herbs on Vietnamese meals, he started importing spices and herbs from Southeast Asian countries to sell to trainees in Japan.

But after a while, worried that the imported products were not fresh and had pesticide residue, in 2020 Utsumi decided to borrow a piece of land from his grandfather and asked the local government for a farming license to grow herbs himself.

Utsumi's family strongly objected to his bold idea, "because too few people knew about herbs." But after a thorough explanation and a long-term strategy, the 24-year-old man was approved by his grandfather.

"There are many Vietnamese restaurants in Japan, so the demand for herbs nationwide is huge, while most vegetables at that time were grown on a small scale and spontaneously, without any farming standards," Utsumi told VnExpress .

Masaki Utsumi with herbs grown in Osaka. Photo: Mainichi

Utsumi's grandfather, who owned a farm, began to impart to him the experience he had accumulated over six decades of farming . However, he could not avoid stumbling when growing tropical vegetables in Japan.

"I struggled to control the right temperature for basil and the growth rate of coriander, with the biggest challenge being coriander. My coriander beds always flowered before they were big enough, so I couldn't produce a satisfactory product for the first year," Utsumi recalls.

Undaunted, he and his girlfriend Nguyen Trang Dung, then an international student, continued to travel everywhere to seek advice from Japanese agricultural experts.

"We were surprised to learn that the herb only grows well in conditions of 15-20 degrees Celsius, different from what many people imagine about a tropical herb," ​​the two recalled the experience they learned when they went to the local agricultural department for consultation.

After successfully growing coriander, Utsumi continued to "conquer" 14 different varieties of herbs using the "secrets" of cultivation that he learned from his own experience.

The next problem that Utsumi had to find an answer to was the harvesting, preservation, and packaging of his products. Identifying potential customers as Vietnamese restaurants in Osaka, where most of the owners are Japanese and have very strict requirements, Utsumi and Dung decided that this step "must be very meticulous".

"Vegetables sold in Japan must be very clean. Packaged bunches with just a little bit of soil on them are not up to standard. The growing process is very hard, so we have to appreciate our achievements," said Dung, 29 years old.

Perilla leaves and finished products sold by Masaki Utsumi and Nguyen Trang Dung in Osaka. Photo: Facebook/Sho-Kyu Fish Fin Shop

After carefully studying the needs and styles of Southeast Asian restaurants in Osaka, Dung and Utsumi brought the first bunches of herbs to these establishments in 2021 to promote and give away product samples.

"These restaurants previously purchased herbs from spontaneous growers and after picking and washing, they could only use about 70-80%. Realizing that our vegetables were clean and fresh for a long time, they were satisfied and started placing orders, with about 10-15 orders per week in the beginning," Dung said.

Their bundles of herbs quickly became popular in Southeast Asian restaurants in Osaka. They then decided to get married and set up a shop called Shark Fin Shop, specializing in growing and selling herbs.

Grasping the boom of online business models in Japan during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, Dung promoted online connections with Vietnamese restaurants across Japan.

Orders for the vegetables began pouring in from all over, including restaurants in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture, and Okinawa, in the south. Japan’s Mainichi newspaper wrote about the couple’s entrepreneurial story last month, calling Utsumi’s herbs “a breath of fresh air carrying the scent of Southeast Asia’s ‘herbs’.”

"There was a time when we couldn't keep up with market demand. The Vietnamese community of interns and international students warmly welcomed our herbs and called them 'authentic flavors,'" Utsumi proudly said. Shark Fin Shop's products have been distributed in about 17 provinces and cities in Japan, reaching a revenue of 30 million yen (about 5 billion VND) in 2022.

After the product was well received, he increased the scale of cultivation, built more greenhouses, and adjusted the temperature to ensure a supply of herbs all four seasons. The vegetables are usually harvested early in the morning and transported by car to restaurants in Osaka the same day.

Dung said 40% of vegetable buyers are from the Vietnamese community in Japan, 20% are foreigners, and the rest are locals. "Japanese people also have a great demand for herbs. We want them to know more about Vietnamese vegetables and Vietnamese dishes," she said.

The couple said they are pursuing the idea of ​​putting their herbs on supermarket shelves in Osaka to further popularize the product.

"The satisfied smiles of customers when receiving fresh, clean finished products are the motivation for me to pursue the dream of making Vietnamese herbs become a specialty of this land," said Utsumi.

Duc Trung

Source link: https://vnexpress.net/chang-re-viet-trong-rau-thom-tren-dat-nhat-4607332.html