Japanophiles: Rezaul Karim Chowdhury

The latest edition of our periodical Japanophiles series focuses on a Bangladeshi who was drawn to a career in Japan by a bond that goes beyond such cosmic coincidences: Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, a chef who has spent years striving to master the centuries-old tradition of making buckwheat soba noodles. An excursion with his Japanese-school classmates when he was 20 was to change his destiny forever. On that trip to a soba restaurant, Chowdhury was intrigued by what his teacher described as healthy Japanese food. And when he tried a simple morisoba set combining plain, cold soba noodles with a tsuyu dipping sauce, he was blown away by the taste. In this Japanophiles interview with Peter Barakan, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury talks about his struggle to master the making of soba noodles.