Irish Women in Business: Japanese Cookery Teacher and Food Blogger Fiona Uyema

For the latest in our series of editorials focusing on Irish Women in Business, we’re talking to Fiona Uyema, who runs Fiona’s Japanese Cooking blog and Japanese cookery classes in Ireland.  Winner of the Easy Food Home Cook Hero 2013, Fiona has had many successes to date, including opening the main stage at 7th Savour Kilkenny food festival, in the same line-up as Edward Hayden and Kevin Dundon. Here, Fiona, in her own words, chats about her inspiration for her work and how she got started with Japanese food: ______________________________________________ My passion for Japanese food and culture began in university where I studied Japanese and International Marketing. I spent 3 years in Japan where I continued to learn about Japanese food from local housewives and friends in a local village. Coincidentally my influence also comes from my husband, whose Japanese grandparents were involved in the food industry and my mother-in-law who keeps me in touch with years of family tradition. I started a blog called Fiona’s Japanese Cooking in 2012 after adding it to my New Year's Resolution List. I wanted to share my passion for Japanese food through my blog and help bring Japanese home cooked meals into households in Ireland. I love to experiment with food and create new recipes that fuse Japanese and Western flavours as well as making traditional Japanese meals. After starting my blog it wasn't long before I was completely hooked always thinking about my next post. Month by month my followers grew from my circle of family and friends to people in Ireland and all over the world. People started to contact me directly asking me about my recipes and for advice on different aspects of Japanese cooking at home. I’m glad to say that I am now ranked on page 1 on www.google.ie on Japanese cooking search.   My blog has opened so many doors for me in the food world and one of these was starting my own Japanese cooking classes. I started my classes in my own kitchen and recently moved them to the Miele Gallery in Citywest, Dublin as it’s more accessible, provides better facilities and also allows me to cater for larger groups. My classes introduce the very basics of Japanese cooking from the basic store cupboard ingredients to where you can find them in Ireland. I also provide classes on demand for corporate or personal groups and people who want to move to the next level of Japanese home cooking. I feel a great sense of satisfaction when I receive updates on social media of photos of home cooked Japanese dishes from people who attended my classes or follow my blog. I really believe that if you work hard at something you are passionate about you willlead a very fulfilled and happy life. Equally I think a work-life balance is important. I’m lucky to get great support from my family and my passion for food is something I’ve been able to share with them. My mother taught me to work hard and be independent by earning our own money and then to make sure to enjoy spending it! I’m a self- taught cook who is passionate about creating and sharing easy to follow home-cooked recipes that are both family and time friendly. I think people like the way I take a recipe and add my own twist to it but yet keep it simple. People are curious and intrigued by the Japanese diet and are eager to learn more about it so they enjoy trying my recipes and also hearing about my experiences in Japan. To find out more about Fiona, visit her website here or her Facebook Page here. To suggest other great Irish women to feature in this series, please drop us a line to [email protected] Lead Image courtesy of Paul Sherwood