The Japan in Milan it is located in the Buenos Aires area, one of the first neighborhoods where "Milanese" has learned to live with and treasure other cultures. Among the streets sheltered from the chaos of the Corso is a succession of exotic aromas: Africa, India, Turkey. The presence of the East can be seen from some signs. And from a shop window that, at 25 Via San Gregorio, attracts by the warmth of light and refined furnishings. The shop is called Oriental, a small Asian market open for two years now. Once inside it is difficult not to get caught up in the desire to know everything, not only about cooking, but also about Japanese culture, habits and traditions. Those products are not only there to be sold: the plot of a story can be perceived in the exhibition. Reason for the visit, a selection of limited edition ingredients from the Hokkaido region: shitake mushrooms, indigenous rice, soy sauce, miso, hand-picked nori seaweed and a very special water.

What's so special about Hokkaido?

L'Hokkaido is thenorthernmost island of the Japanese archipelago. An incredibly intact ecosystem made up of volcanoes, lakes, mountains and thermal springs. Here time seems to flow at a different speed. People age more slowly and nature still retains much of its purity. It is considered by many Japanese a small earthly paradise. For gastronomes a sort of mecca, precisely because, being the uncontaminated environment, the raw materials are of an excellent quality.

Here's where to find the rice that Japanese star chefs use

Some of these are on Oriental shelves today. The rice it is placed in a box. Inside three packs of as many varieties: the Yumepirika, awarded as the best in Japan for three consecutive years. "There, prizes matter a lot and in every sector, not only in the food sector," explains Andrea Calvo, who now knows that country as his pockets. The other is the Oborodukithat comes "Cold cultivated". For this reason it contains less amylose and is indicated for those with high blood sugar problems. To complete the picture there is the Nanatsuboshi, ideal for making sushi, often used in starred restaurants in the Rising Sun.

Miso, seaweed, shitake mushrooms and pure water

Three types of miso: the Pirika, which contains more rice than normal and therefore triple the isoflavones, which have an antioxidant action. Then, there is Shiro, less fermented, therefore less savory. And the Dashi, perfect for fish soups. Another specialty is Eggplant moromas, a miso-based sauce to which fermentation has been blocked and barley added. The result is a taste between sweet and sour and pungent that goes perfectly with cucumber. If you want to taste real wild algae, there are the Nori snack which contain, in a few square centimeters, all the flavor of the crystalline waters where they are collected by hand. Last, but not least, the Gaivota, a water so pure that in Japan it is used only for making tea.

From Oriental a corner of Japan to Milan

If these products have reached Milan, the merit is of Andrea Calvo, the Oriental owner, who managed to sign an agreement with the prefecture of Hokkaido and Finnair, the Finnish carrier that took over the transport. Food technician and educator, Andrea is Italian, is married to a Chinese woman and has a daughter with a French sounding name. At home, if you open the cutlery drawer "you will find more chopsticks than forks". After having lived in China for a couple of years, returned to Italy for graduate in Gastronomic Sciences at the University of Pollenzo.

The quality of the raw material above all

There he met Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, and it can be said that, since then, his life has never been the same. From him he learned the importance of the quality of the raw material. But instead of focusing on the local supply chain, he was led by the call of the East is since 2011 it has started to import Asian excellences (80% Japanese, then Chinese, Thai and Korean), selected outside the conventional markets.

Japanese ingredients, Italian cuisine

He is the first person to choose them, while the shop is thedirect emanation of his many travels and his passion for the Orient. If you are lucky enough to meet him, be guided to discover the products that neatly crowd the shelves. But above all let the secrets be revealed for decline the various ingredients in everyday recipes. For example, to add a little miso to Greek yoghurt so as to create an accompanying emulsion for grilled chicken that is not only tasty, but also rich in nutritional properties.

Japan-Milan twinning: a long-term project

The one with Hokkaido is alone the first in a long series – "hopefully" – of twinning with other regions of Japan that Calvo would like to activate in the coming months and that they would get there in Milan rare, excellent and unique products. Small treasure chests with which to create a bridge, «a meeting and an exchange between two apparently distant cultures: East and West. This philosophy wants to become a manifesto, a new way of experimenting, overcoming limits and conventions. Making innovation in sectors in constant movement is the biggest challenge , Andrea has no doubts.