Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Learn to Make Sushi and Japanese Treats From Pioneering Female Chef

By Katie Honan | February 2, 2015 10:21am | Updated on February 4, 2015 2:42pm
 Chef Yoko Ogawa is opening her home kitchen to budding culinary artists. 
Learn to Cook Japanese Cuisine From Pioneering Female Sushi Chef
View Full Caption

JACKSON HEIGHTS — One of the few female sushi chefs in the city is opening her home kitchen to teach the art of Japanese cooking to budding culinary artists. 

Yoko Ogawa will teach two classes in February to anyone looking to learn how to prepare their own rolls and make a basic stock popular in Japanese cooking. 

Ogawa, 44, has worked as a chef in restaurants around New York City and in Japan and is a pioneering female sushi chef.

She grew up in Utsunomiya, Japan in a family of cooks and studied culinary arts at her town's college.

Eventually, she apprenticed under other chefs and pleaded with them to learn how to prepare sushi, spending hours practicing.

She can prepare individual rolls in a few seconds, she said. 

After moving to the United States in 1999, she returned to Japan to study and train for the country's highest culinary license — which she was awarded, she said.

Ogawa currently works as a personal chef, caters for families and events and consults with restaurants around the city.

Working from home gives her the freedom to take care of her 9-year-old son while continuing to cook — and her dream is to open her own Japanese restaurant within a year.

The classes will be held Feb. 7 from 5 to 8 p.m. and Feb. 8 from 2 to 5 p.m, and cost $60 per person. Classes will be held at her home on 73rd Street.

The first two hours will be focused on cooking and technique, and the rest of the time will be spent enjoying food and conversation, she said. 

Cooking for her is not so much about the food itself, but the experience.

"I love to cook for my family and friends, and hear them say, 'This is delicious,'" she said.

"That is more important to me than the preparation."

For more information about the classes, email junmoto@earthlink.net.