Del Cook has been a prominent figure on the global food scene since becoming a chef in 1993. He has extensive experience working in both urban and rural cooking environments across the world from Montreal to HongKong and Tokyo. In 2002 he embarked on an eleven year project in rural Japan near Kyoto where his reputation for championing local farmers and artisans grew. The Nosé Project was based around a French restaurant perched on a mountainside full of chestnut, persimmon and fig trees. The glorious view from the dining room window was like a seasonally changing landscape painting with its focal point anchored by the rice field filled valley below. Together with the restaurant was a pottery studio in which porcelain ceramics were crafted exclusively for the restaurant by Chieko Ueno. Gourmands from all across Japan were drawn to the terroir focused food served in one of a kind pottery. Del was regularly featured in magazines and television shows across the country in recognition for both the unique qualities of his food and leadership in promoting local farmers and craftsman. The restaurant’s use of produce from village farmers and artisans like the Tajima beef farmer, old-growth chestnut & shitake grower and stone-clay potter contributed positively to the growth of the local farmer’s market by drawing national attention to the quality of their work.
Since arriving in Japan Del has spent time in the very best kitchens working alongside Japanese chefs just as he worked together with French chefs in Montreal & Toronto. Through this process he has developed an extensive understanding of both the technical skills and kitchen tools needed to craft high quality food from both a Western and Japanese perspective. By the late 2000’s, Del began writing about his food experiences in detail. Seeking a broader understanding of the ways to cook food that is both highly flavorful and healthy he embarked on a lengthy study of the history of cooking across the globe. The cumulation of this research along with extensive conversations with Japanese and French chefs and craftsmen lead Del to sketch out a series of kitchen knives and tools that would combine the artisan craftsmanship of the past with newly emerging technologies for the future.
In 2014 Del began creating a new brand to represent this vision which he called Kikusumi. Kikusumi represents both the past and future of cooking with a series of exclusive knives and kitchen tools designed for cooks with passion. The knives will include a series for the home cook along with a limited edition range for the professional or connoisseur of high quality knives. Each product is a result of a lengthy design process that is then carried out by a select group of top tier manufacturers with the tradition and technology required to deliver high quality to consumers.
Kikusumi brand was launched in 2016 and will continue to grow its family of kitchen products and educational lifestyle books to inspire cooks across the globe.
Books Past and Future
