Theme 03Can't use farmed fish at high-end restaurants?

It is widely known that marine catches have been declining year after year.
While various factors contribute to this, the major causes are climate change and overfishing—both stemming from human actions.

One reason for overfishing is the obsession with wild-caught fish.
I find the mindset that only wild-caught fish will do to be problematic.
What truly matters in cooking is maximizing flavor.

At SOA, we use underutilized fish (fish discarded because they don't reach the market) and fish farmed on land in Sakai.
Rather than relying solely on the inherent power of ingredients, SOA aims for a form of earth gastronomy where we use technique to give new value to challenging ingredients, adding our philosophy and vision to create culinary works.

It's said classical French cuisine developed precisely because poor preservation and distribution meant chefs had to focus on making inferior ingredients taste good.
Chefs of that era likely built the new French culinary system through trial and error.

Today, we live in an era of far greater abundance, with access to an overflow of ingredients.
Yet, as various food-related issues come to the forefront,
we believe a chef's true value lies not in using the most luxurious ingredients to create extravagant dishes,
but in developing culinary techniques to such a level that even common ingredients, through the chef's skill, can be transformed into dishes of the highest caliber.
Such endeavors will lead to a new gastronomic culture, enabling us to gradually share our finite marine resources and preserve them for future generations.

SOA's challenge continues until the day arrives when a gastronomic culture emerges, one where value is not judged solely by whether ingredients are wild-caught or farmed.