Japanese food group promotes seafood and sake pairing to global diners

Sake is best paired with seafood said JFOODO.

The Japan Food Product Overseas Promotion Centre (JFOODO) is honouring sake — Japan’s iconic alcoholic beverage by hosting a seafood pairing event this month in the US. Produced in collaboration with New York-based seafood restaurant Limani, the"Restaurant Paired" pop-up event celebrates Japanese sake as the best alcohol pairing for seafood. As a drink, JFOODO said sake evolved alongside Washoku (Japanese cuisine), which aims to bring out the best in the raw ingredients used to make various dishes. Also, the Japanese have always paired sake with seafood rather than wine. 

Dr Hitoshi Utsunomiya, director of the Sake and Food Lab and sake expert at Japan's National Research Institute of Brewing, explained that sake has two-to-five times more amino acids than wine, and as amino acids translate to savoury, umami flavours, it makes sake a natural pairing with any type of seafood because all seafood is rich in umami.

The centre added that as exports of sake hit ¥22.2 billion (approximately US$205 million) in 2018, it is clear that global diners are increasingly discovering why Japan's national drink complements fish and other seafood so well.