“At one point I had a lot of restaurants. I had six or seven restaurants. When I sold everything I decided to go on a trip. When I came back two or three years later and decided to open another restaurant not much changes happened while I was away. It almost felt that the “Hawaiian Regional Cuisine”, the movement that we started 20 years ago stopped and really the progress that we made stopped and there was nothing else. So my first step was to meet with farmers and I met with some very young farmers. I did all the farmers market on Kauai. And every time I saw a new guy I approached him and invited him to the restaurant and I started to build a network of farmers that wanted to work with me to try new vegetables.”
What we covered in this episode
- Chef Jean-Marie Josselin has more than 30 year of cooking experience. Cooking is his life. His passion.
- Importance of coaching and teaching the new generation of chefs.
- The new generation of chefs sometimes doesn’t realize the time it takes to become a chef.
- Some are very creative but they lack in depth and believe that the profession is easy.
- Chef Jean Marie Josselin compare the systems in place to become a Chef between France, Japan, and the US.
- He mentions how much the country (USA) has changed in the almost 40 years that he lived here when it comes to cooking and restaurants.
- In this business trends change every five years or so. It is important to stay open-minded and try new cuisines.
- Establish a library of new flavors where you can build up new ideas new dishes and keep your your mind being creative.
- France is so rooted in tradition that sometimes it’s difficult for a young chef to get out of that.
- JO2 is focused on natural cuisine. Chef Josselin desire is to evolve the restaurant into a vegetarian restaurant.
- In Hawaii the prices for fish and meat are going to be very high in the future that it make sense to focus on vegetable dishes.
- The restaurant JO2 has 38 dishes on the menu and 50% is vegetarian. And in the other dishes with fish or meat, the vegetable component is very important.
- Chef explains how his quest for milk to make his own cheese led him to the Hindu monastery in Kapaa, Kauai.
- He believes that chefs are going to be almost like doctors in the future . They will have to provide food to people that is nutritiously interesting so people can go to a restaurant and experience vegetable like they experience meat today.
- He used to have 6 to 7 restaurants. One day he sold them and went on a trip to Asia (Japan, China, India) and South America (especially Peru).
- When he came back he started to establish his network with the local farmers in Kauai.
- They worked with the University of Hawaii and brought new seeds to create a vegetable garden he can buy from.
- The natural elements in Kauai are tough to grow vegetables in a consistent manner.
- He really want everything to be as natural as possible. His goal is to come up with a food and a cuisine that would be the matrix for new chefs to come in and replicate it.
- Chef talks about his experiences in Japan, China and Peru.
- Key ingredients for him are: Kaffir Lime, Lemongrass and Coconut Milk.
- He is currently exploring Indian spices.
- 5 rapid-fire questions!
Links to other episodes in Hawaii
Chef Roy Yamaguchi – Roy’s
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Chef Jean Marie Josselin new cooking’s philosophy.
“I believe that chefs are going to be almost like doctors in the future . They will have to provide food to people that is nutritiously interesting so people can go to a restaurant and experience vegetable like they experience meat or fish today.
How can I evolve into a vegetarian restaurant or a restaurant that is much more vegetable focused without killing my business because I still have to survive. People still don’t want 100% vegetarian dishes. How can I mix the two to start building clientele that one day I can become just a vegetarian restaurant”
Chef Jean Marie Josselin
JO2 Kauai Seafood Combo
JO2 Kauai Seafood Combo
JO2 Kauai Seafood Combo 3
JO2 Kauai
JO2 Kauai veggies
JO2 Kauai Braised Waygu Beef Cheeks
Kapaa Kauai
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JO2 website
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