What makes a great poem or play? What differentiates a Pollock
from the finger painting of a child? Taste and sensibility are the subject of
David Gelb’s film Jiro Dreams of Sushi, currently playing at the IFC, about an 85 year old sushi chef, Jiro Ono, whose restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro, has earned him a three
star Michelin rating. And when you think about it, what better way to deal with
the subject of taste then in its most concrete olfactory form since smell is
the chief building block of taste when it comes to food? Dealing with sensibility
on the level of food and particularly sushi making, which is so much about
simplicity, at least according to Jiro, is like dealing with consciousness or
esthetics from the point of view of say genes and DNA. In the film you see
creativity working at its most basic levels and as a side note one wonders how
Jiro and his oldest son, Yoshikazu, who will inherit his restaurant by virtue
of the primogeniture that still prevails in Japan, eat all that fish?
Apparently, part of the process of great sushi making is not only cutting and
kneading and cooking certain fish, but constantly tasting it along the way.
Chekhov once said dissatisfaction lies at the heart of all great talents and
the Japanese food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto who is quoted throughout the movie
comments about Jiro, “I’ve never met a chef who is so hard on himself. He is
never satisfied with his work.” Jiro’s hero is the great French chef Joel Robuchon.
“If I had his tongue and taste I could probably make better food.” So despite
the seeming tedium of the job, there seems to be no end to a struggle for
perfection in which Jiro describes himself feeling “victorious” when he
discovers a great piece of fish. But though Jiro's talents comprise both those of
the editor or critic and creator, Gelb’s movie makes one wonder if the
concretization of the artistic process, as it manifests itself in eating or
dressing (fashion) can still result in the kind of transcendence we
still identify with high art. Can a piece of otoro (fatty tuna) produce the
emotion of Hamlet? Undoubtedly there
are sushi lovers who would say yes.
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