About Miya's

Mama

In 1982, Mama opened New Haven County's first sushi bar. The restaurant was named Miya, after her baby daughter. This restaurant was the culmination of her life's ambition.

My grandfather had owned a successful lumber company and my mother dreamed of doing business with him when she was old enough. In the 1950s, little girls from the countryside in Japan weren't encouraged to pursue careers in business. Grandpa would sigh and compliment her, "If only you were a boy, you would make a great businessman." She wished that things were different; it wasn't fair being a girl.

In New Haven, cooking in a tiny apartment kitchen on Prospect Street, she put her university degree in nutrition to use by starting a catering business which would eventually become Miya's. After almost thirty years in business, my mother is still as passionate about Miya's as when she first began.

Often when I return from my trips, I find myself stunned by all of the improvements that my mother continues to make with the restaurant. More than anyone, she continues to drive Miya's full speed ahead. "Maybe I will run a marathon," she thought aloud to me the other day. I didn't doubt she could, not even for a second.

Me

When I was little, living in Kyushu, Japan, my Grandmother would pickle green plums and cucumbers in ceramic pots as big as laundry hampers. We would eat these pickles at every meal with steamed rice, misoshiru, and fish so fresh that their eyes shimmered like a young John Travolta's.

I often miss my grandmother and Japan, but I'm also so grateful for the worldly journey that my parents have allowed my life to become in America.

This cuisine is indebted to my mother, who is Japanese, and to my father, who is Chinese. It is because of their differences that I adore and appreciate cultural diversity. Just as importantly, this cuisine has been molded by everybody who has ever touched me in my life. This menu is my love letter to humanity and to every miraculous, weird, and wonderful thing that lives under the sun.

Our Cuisine
In our cuisine, we use the technique of sushi as a medium to explore what it means to be human. We take inspiration from a story that appears in the Hebrew Bible, the Quran, and Ethiopian folklore about the Queen of Sheba traveling from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to seek the counsel of King Solomon. Upon arrival, she gave him spices from her home to honor him. This gift was incredibly meaningful; she was sharing with him the smells and the tastes of her homeland. King Solomon had never before experienced cumin, chili, fenugreek, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice, and the Queen of Sheba offered him the very essence of her faraway home for consumption. Food creates some of our most powerful memories; it can conjure up images and feelings of country, home, friends, and family. Food is culture. Food bonds people intimately. In each recipe of mine, ingredients from disparate cultures are combined, symbolizing what is possible when people of the world live in harmony with one another.

We are aware that the restaurant industry has a very harmful impact on the environment; in particular, the traditional cuisine of sushi is destroying our oceans. Therefore, we try to maintain our restaurant in an ecologically responsible manner. We do our best to not use ingredients that are overfished or that in their production have a destructive impact on the environment. As a result, the bulk of our menu is vegetable-centered; the rest utilizes seafood that is abundant but often overlooked. Much of our menu includes invasive species, trash fish, and bycatch, many of which we catch ourselves on our one hundred acres of certified shellfishing grounds, 12 miles from where you are now sitting.

In a country where most of us will eventually die of lifestyle-related diseases, chefs should aspire to cook in a way that marries good taste and art with sound nutritional wisdom. At Miya's, we use our own whole- grain recipe that is toothier, tastier, and healthier than conventional sushi rice. Historically, vinegar, salt, and sugar were added to fish and rice, as a method of preservation, in a time when there was no refrigeration. Though there is no longer the practical necessity to add these preservatives, they remain elements in the contemporary cuisine of sushi. Sushi rice today is highly processed and sweetened, much like the Wonder Bread many of us grew up eating. Inspired by whole-grain breads, our recipe for sushi rice is made from a brown rice-centered mixture containing quinoa, amaranth, oat grains, and flax seed. Quinoa and amaranth provide all the essential amino acids of a complete protein. Whole oats have more fiber than any other grain and help lower high blood pressure. Ground flax seed supplies nearly double the amount of omega-3 fatty acids per calorie than any food in the world. Since most of our sushi involves robust flavors, the hearty grain mixtures carry our recipes in a way that traditional sushi rice could not. Additionally, we use no sweeteners such as cane sugar in our whole-grain sushi rice.

I hope that our recipes please your mouth, tickle your brain, and nourish your body and soul.