How I became a sushi chef: From apprentice to teacher

Kaz Matsune teaches us a lot about sushi and life in his memoir How I Became a Sushi Chef! Matsune brings us along his crazy life, from Hollywood to building a business. His writing flows like a novel, but also helps teach some tricks of the trade along the way! I actually knew nothing about sushi or the cooking business before reading this, but Matsune’s life was highly fascinating! Check this one out if you love food, business, or just want to spend a day in someone’s adventurous life! – Amazon Review

How I became a sushi chef: From apprentice to teacher

From his humble beginnings as an apprentice Sushi Chef at the Hollywood Rock ‘n’ Roll Sushi restaurant on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, Kaz Matsune worked his way to becoming a successful educator and business owner of Breakthrough Sushi in San Francisco, the first and only sustainable Team-Building Sushi Class Company in the U.S.Told with wit and humor, Kaz’s memoir, How I Became a Sushi Chef: From Apprentice to Teacher, recalls his raucously funny adventures along the way of sex, drugs, romance, celebrities, strippers, and Hollywood Rock ‘n Roll Sushi training, as he set out, with no previous culinary experience, to achieve his life-long dream of becoming a sushi chef, while entertaining and educating his readers in the art of making sushi learned from the Sushi Masters who mentored him.

About the Author

Kaz Matsune discovered his passion for cooking at a young age. Though he was born and raised in Western Japan, Kaz’s inspiration came from watching Graham Kerr cook on the famous TV show “Galloping Gourmet.” Kerr’s enthusiasm, lightheartedness and genuine appreciation for good food made a lasting impression on young Kaz.

In college Kaz studied graphic design and excelled in his field, even designing posters for major Hollywood movies but the kitchen still beckoned him. He continued to cook avidly and learn all he could about the world of food in his own kitchen. A friend over for dinner one night commented that Kaz applied the same artistry and attention to detail to his cooking as he did to his designs, and that’s when Kaz knew he would pursue his passion and become a chef.

Ever eager for a challenge, Kaz decided to tackle one of the most challenging and artful paths a chef can take: sushi. He spent years behind sushi bars, at first simply watching (“learning with his eyes”), then practicing tirelessly until he had mastered the skills and nuances. As a sushi chef, Kaz developed dishes for San Francisco’s first organic Japanese restaurant, Minako, before moving on to Ozumo and then the famed Fort Mason restaurant Greens. In 2008 Kaz started teaching sushi classes for professional chefs, as well as private clients, and in 2012 Breakthrough Sushi was born – the first and only sustainable team building sushi company in the US.

Since then, Kaz has taught over 15,000 sushi lovers, held lessons at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia and led team building classes for some of the Bay Area’s top companies, including Google, Facebook, Oracle, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Verizon Wireless, and Citibank. He’s appeared in videos for Grammarly and SurveyMonkey, as well as ad campaigns for Adobe and Eventbrite. Kaz’s writing is featured on Quora, The Huffington Post, Slate and Apple News and he has published three books on sushi. The most recent, How I Became a Sushi Chef, is a memoir of his culinary journey.