Japanese Company to Produce Katsuobushi in France

Washoku or Japanese cuisine is booming worldwide and France, the home of foodies,  is now drying bonito at home to locally produce the essence of Japanese flavor "Katsuobushi".

President Katsuhiko Oishi of Makurazaki France Katsuobushi and Major of Makurazaki City Tadashi Kamisono bared in a joint press interview September 17 that a local plant will be operative earliest next June to produce Katsuobushi or dried bonito flakes for the first time in France.

Frenchman is fussy about flavor; French chefs wreck their nerves pleasing them. And now they all agree there's something in Katsuobushi they have been looking so long for to please their people with.

For those who are not familiar with Katsuobushi, a brief exposé might be due here. When you try any decent Japanese food, you are sure to notice a certain elegant touch on your taste buds. You may call it flavor, tastiness, savor or what you may. That something is common in any decent Japanese - decent in the sense of "no fast food" you are bound to com across in modern Japan. The very essence of "Japanese flavor" is in Katuobushi - simple as that.

Mayor Kamisono expects the construction to start as early as late this month.

Makurazaki France Kastuobushi is a joint venture of local dried bonito producers in Makurazaki and peripheral communities and has long been planning to  build a plant in the port town of Concarneau in the Brittany region. They now have acquired space, 3,530 square meters, within the industrial park in Concarneau.

The plant will have a floor space of 775 square meters and bring in bonitos from the Indian Ocean to produce 200 kilograms of dried bonito daily from a ton of raw material. The company estimates the first year shipment to be 100 million yen.

News Souce: Yomiuri Shimbun