Supporting coastal communities in Japan
In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit Japan on New Year’s Day, World Central Kitchen has been working quickly to identify areas of need and form local partnerships to serve families who need help. Across the Noto Peninsula, our Relief Team, partners, and volunteers have served 6,500 meals in the bitterly cold weather, and are procuring food and equipment for shelters housing people who have lost their homes.
Wajima
Local Chef Toshiya Ikehata is hard at work in WCK’s Field Kitchen located in Wajima—a small coastal city surrounded by rice fields—that was heavily impacted by the quake. Chef Toshiya grew up in Wajima, then went to Osaka to attend the Tsuji Culinary Institute and work in a well-regarded restaurant. After that, he traveled to France and continued cooking and learning in Michelin-starred restaurants for a number of years.
Chef Toshiya (right) is helping cook and pack hot meals for families in Wajima.
Right now, Chef Toshiya’s is cooking alongside our teams in a public building, using his culinary skills and adaptability to create delicious meals like Japanese curry with beef served alongside rice—a classic Japanese comfort food.
It was in France that Chef Toshiya came to appreciate how restaurants in rural areas are better positioned to source fresh ingredients from nearby farms compared to their more metropolitan counterparts. The taste of fish pulled straight from the sea or vegetables just picked from the garden cannot be beat. So he set up his own restaurant—L’Atelier de Noto—back in Wajima, where he is able to share the local bounty with neighbors and visitors. The beautiful dining destination was destroyed in the earthquake.
Wearing a winter coat to stay warm while chopping carrots might not be an experience he had in a Michelin-starred kitchen, but Chef Toshiya’s determination and perseverance mean that he fits right in with the WCK team.
Suzu
Less than an hour drive from Wajima is the even smaller coastal city of Suzu, which was closest to the epicenter of the earthquake. There, WCK is working with the Japanese organization Peace Boat Disaster Relief. Their volunteers are using WCK-provided ingredients and equipment to prepare meals for local families. The meals we provided were the first warm plates of food many people had eaten since the earthquake isolated the town.
“The short term plan is to support community kitchens already at shelters by sending bulk food products and equipment,” explained Dan, WCK’s activation lead in Japan. “The long term plan is setting up our partner Peace Boat Disaster Relief to cook and distribute to shelters that do not have a community kitchen.” The team is prioritizing procuring food from a local co-op and other local producers, to ensure we are supporting the local economy.
Peace Boat Disaster Relief team members cooking and serving meals in Suzu.
Our teams are also supporting efforts to help people impacted in the cities of Nanao and Anamizu. We have sent food to a shelter with a community kitchen in Nanao, so they can use it in meals for people who are staying there. Meanwhile, we are providing financial support to a chef in Anamizu who is leading an association of other chefs in the town. They are cooking meals and distributing both door-to-door and to people staying at a shelter across the street from their kitchen.
Each day, we are better able to understand how we can best support the people of Japan as they move forward in the recovery and rebuilding process.
Learn more about our Japan response here. For real-time updates, follow WCK on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Help us provide meals to impacted families.
