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This is Not a Croquette: How Japan Changed French Food
You say croquette, Japan says korokke. Our Japanese author looks at how staples of French cooking changed to suit her country’s palette.
By Himari Semans
His name was Louis Beguex.
It was 1887 in Kobe, Japan at the Oriental Hotel, a hotel built to accommodate foreigners.
As they say in hospitality, the guest is king. The kings at the Oriental were hungry — –not for Japanese cuisine, but fine French dining.
Not that they had to beg for French meal options. Since 1873, the Japanese government had made it an obligation to serve foreign dignitaries French cuisine because Naval officers Matthew C. Perry and Yevfimiy Putyatin gave Japanese food bad reviews during official visits.
Apparently, the way to a man’s heart was really through his stomach — –as long as it was French food going down his pipes.
The Oriental needed someone to serve its royally picky eaters. That someone was Chef Beguex.
He had already been head chef at Tsukiji Hotel — –Japan’s first Western-style hotel built in 1868. Five years later, he made head chef again at Yokohama Grand Hotel.
Beguex ran Le Restaurant française at the Oriental until he returned to France in 1890. His absence proved his excellence. Without Beguex, the Oriental’s food service turned mediocre.
Desperate, the hotel hired Beguex’s son to pick up where his father left off. The Oriental’s guests were happy kings again. And the Beguex family sped up a culinary movement in Japan that continues to this very day.
