About Us
Our Journey
Wasabi found me. It was in the summer of 2019 and I was on a YouTube autoplay spiral. One of my favorite shows came on called "Begin Japanology" hosted by Peter Barrakan. The episode of the day was on wasabi.
I was folding clothes as the show, playing in the background, started to gain my attention. I discovered wasabi was an alpine mountain plant. That it requires very cold, mineral dense spring water to grow. That it's one of the hardest plants on Earth to cultivate. It does not like direct sunlight or heat. That it was one of the most important plants in Japanese cuisine.
I was absolutely fascinated. A fire was lit. I began researching extensively, and communicating with the few in the West that had actually grown the plant, and the even fewer willing to respond. It was a marvelous journey. Something I had never experienced before. I had the green fever.
Digging a Dream
After the research came the work, and lots of it. My day job as a university track and field coach got shut down with Covid, and I found myself with a lot of time. I began building my first "wasabida" in the spring of 2020. Shoveling tons of dirt, only to put back in tons of rocks is not easy. It's a bit mental. I thought so, and my parents did too, especially since it was on their property.
I bought 1000 wasabi plants with my stimulus checks and setup a few experimental beds to see what would click. I planted at the worst time of year and made a lot of mistakes, but 18 months later the wasabi were still alive. They looked healthy, but I had no idea what real wasabi tasted like. I had to get my stuff in the right hands.
Just Beginning...
In the summer of 2022 I reached out to the top 10 sushi restaurants in San Francisco for a tasting. The first 3 meetings were my top 3, and by the end of each, we had a hand shake deal to supply them.
The first harvest was a massive success. Chefs loved our wasabi, the plants were prospering, and for some reason, my efforts were resonating on social media. My newfound popularity landed me on a Japanese TV show called "Who Wants to Come to Japan?" in 2022.
The TV show was a 1-week whirlwind that took me from the coasts of Izu to the mountains of Nagano. I met some of the most famous and experienced wasabi farmers and oroshiki craftsman in the world, and picked their brains for hours on end. More importantly, I made genuine friends. These friends are who I feature on our website.
I decided to leave my day job at the end of 2022 and pursue my passions 100%. An opportunity like this is a gift. Wasabi is now my life. The blessings this plant have given me are beyond comprehension. I hope you enjoy our product and get a sense of the energy and love I put into this. Thank you for your support!
