Salvatore Shigeta (born Salvatore Cuomo) is an Italian-born Japanese celebrity chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows and cookbooks, and his restaurants across Asia.

He is known in Japan as "The Pizza Man" and "The Grand Chef". He owns and operates Ystable Corporation, ownedtogether with Seizaburo Kanayama.

Early life

Salvatore Cuomo was born in Naples, Italy, in 1972, the son of an Italian father and Japanese mother.

Cuomo was first inspired by his father who also was an Italian Chef in Naples. He began at the young age of 11, where he trained himself in the kitchen and traveled frequently between Italy and Japan. He gradually learned how to blend the traditional Italian art of cooking with the Japanese art of perfection.

A few years later he travelled to Japan with his father who opened an Italian restaurant in Chiba in 1984. About those early years Salvatore told the press that it wasn't a good starting experience: "I didn’t like Japan at all, so after one year, I went back to Italy and spent 2–3 years studying at a culinary school. When I was 18, I returned to Japan after my father became terminally ill and I have been here ever since."^[3] Cuomo said that Italian Cuisine was just starting to get popular in those days. He and his two brothers decided that in order to succeed in the restaurant business in Japan they would have to understand the Japanese food mentality. They spent a couple of years researching the market before opening a new restaurant in Tokyo with what Cuomo calls "Original Neapolitan pizza."

Since that time, Cuomo has been credited with catapulting Neapolitan pizza to fame in Japan, and today in all Asia.^[4]

Career

His first job was as a pizzaiolo in Naples, where he first gained experience with preparing pizzas and Italian dishes, and developed a relationship with his mentor, his father.

Cuomo has been credited with catapulting Neapolitan pizza to fame in Japan, and today he operates and supervises more than 77 Pizza Salvatore restaurants, and five The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo restaurants (in Kyoto, Nagoya and Shanghai, Seoul Korea), as well as Salvatore Cuomo Bros (under the umbrella of XEX), BOTTEGA casual dining, Café al Grazie, and Italiaichiba Bar establishments.^[5][6][7]

Cuomo has made numerous guest appearances on TV programs such as Iron Chef and Buona Sera, an Italian cooking program on WOWOW.

He has written three books: Welcome to Neapolitan Dining Table (1995), Happy Pasta (1997), Sun’s Dining Table (1999), One Life (2010), #PIZZAUNESCO 2016 (2016), #PIZZAUNESCO 2017 (2017)

In 2010, the Yucasee Newspaper reported Salvatore Cuomo collaborating with 辻口博啓氏 Tsujikuchi Hiroshi Akira, Japanese chef patissier-chocolatier.^[8] In March 2014, ANA (All Nippon Airways) joins Salvatore Cuomo^{[9][10][11][12][13]} Chef Cuomo said numerous times to be very careful that all his outside activities do not take him out of the kitchen for too long. "It's very important to stay in my chef's uniform. I may be a CEO but the kitchen is my second home. You can only understand the feelings of your customers by being there, not just by asking staff."^[14]

In December 2013, Tsujikuchi Hiroshi chef at Le Chocolat de H (Japan), owned by Salvatore Cuomo, wins the highest award for a Pastry Chef at the Salon Du Chocolat, International Pastry Competition held in Paris.^[15]

In February 2014, Salvatore Cuomo opened his first restaurant in Taiwan. TVBS reported that the chef's move would help the country with an injection of $70 million in the economy.^[16][17]

Paul Huaug, pizzaiolo working for Chef Cuomo won the Caputo Cup (Taipei) in May 2014. Paul Huang is the first officially recognised Taiwanese pizzaiolo by the Italian Neapolitan Pizzaiolo Association^[18]). Always the same month Salvatore Cuomo appears on Vogue Taiwan^[19] and Taiwanese Television^[20] storm the restaurant for the weeks after the competition as first Taiwanese Pizza Maker wins an international competition for the first time in the history of the country.

In June 2014, Taiwanese magazine Bazar named Cuomo the best thing that landed in Taiwan in 2014.^[21]

TV and media

Salvatore started doing TV in Japan, hosting a TV cooking program on major television^[22] and smaller channels.^[23]

Every new opening is still today carefully followed by the Japanese Media^[24]

In June 2010, Chinese Magazine Sina Fashion calls Salvatore "a gift from Naples" after the success of the first VPN Accredited Neapolitan Restaurant in mainland China.^[25][26]

In February 2013 South Korean editor Ju Younguk describes the moment Pizza first arrived in the country in 1985 as if history repeated itself with the first Salvatore Cuomo Restaurant opening in Korea. The food critic talks about Salvatore visiting local artisans in order to reproduce the authentic wood oven to bake pizza in Korea too, titleing him "a treat Precious in taste"^[27]

In 2013 XEX Tokyo Restaurant owned by Salvatore Cuomo was described by Anthony Bourdain during his show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Tokyo,^[28] on the Travel Channel as the final destination for the Japanese elite. In 2019 Arirang TV Documentary about Chef Salvatore Cuomo In Busan Korea Travel Channel

Awards and honours

In June 2004 awarded by the ICF Worldwide Italian Cuisine Ambassador. A proponent of fresh italian cuisine, Cuomo was named the most influential Italian person in Japan.

In 2006, 2007 and 2008, Chef Cuomo placed in the first 3 positions at the International Pizza Festival held in Naples World Pizza Championship.

In 2009, he was honored Chevallier by the ORDRE DES COTEAUX DE CHAMPAGNE in recognition to his economic help to the wine industry and expansion of Italian and French products in Asia.

In 2010, he was named World Wide 1st. Ambassador of Mozzarella Bufala Campana.

In 2013 was awarded Parma Ham Specialist by the Parma Ham Prosciutto for his high quality restaurants where Parma Ham is used and his contribution to the industry.

In 2017 UNESCO Committee Member of the Neapolitan Pizza Association: Listing of the Art of Neapolitan Pizza Making on UNESCO'S Intangible Cultural

2020-2023 San Pellegrino-Acqua Panna Brand Ambassador in Japan

Books

• Welcome to Neapolitan Dining Table (1995) (in Japanese)
• Happy Pasta (1997) – Japanese Only (in Japanese)
• Sun’s Dining Table (1999) (in Japanese)
• One Life (2010) (in Japanese)
• #PizzaUnesco (2016-2017) (in Italian)

References

2019 feb. Arirang TV Korea Documentary aout Chef Salvatore Cuomo in Busan

Further reading

• Japan Today, The Pizza Man at Japan Today
• Spice with style on the side at Japan Times.
• Salvatore Cuomo arrives in Taiwan – Issue 203 – 2014/03/01 in Taipei Walker Magazine.
• Vouge. Restaurant of the month.
• Vogue talks about The Kitchen Restaurant of Salvatore Cuomo, The New Shanghai.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Salvatore Cuomo.

• Official website
• Biography at Tokyo Families, February 2011.