A Chef of the Month story from Korin President Saori Kawano-
	Edward Higgins
	Executive Chef Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi
	Before embarking on a recent trip to Japan, several New York chefs urged me to look up an American working in Tokyo, Edward Higgins. Edward worked at Craft in New York City prior to moving to Japan and had visited the Korin showroom many times but our paths had not crossed in New York, so it was with delight that I met Edward for the first time in Tokyo.

At the Four Seasons Hotel at Marunouchi, Chef Higgins uses native Japanese ingredients and his remarkable talent in dishes such as Pasta with Uni Cream Sauce or Japanese Fava Beans in a delicate olive oil with shaved Parmesan cheese to create exquisite yet hearty dishes with a bit of Italian flair.

Edward was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Amherst College and received a degree in English from Boston College. I asked him how he became a chef and he explained how he had found that cooking and creating honest, authentic, lusty, earthy cuisine could be as creative and challenging as writing the great American novel!

"For me, the enjoyment is coming up with the idea and executing it and then watching the guests eating and enjoying it. It's wonderful to see people enjoying a brief moment in their lives."

Edward had been working at Craft and moved to Japan in December of 2001, having witnessed the terrorist attacks of September 11th in New York. He took intensive Japanese lessons in Osaka before landing a job in Tokyo. Edward came back to NYC to help at the opening of Hearth, then returned to Tokyo in 2005, to his current position.

His love of honest cuisine is apparent in the way he combines the flavors and textures of the ingredients.

"If you're not cooking from the heart, then you can't make an impact. It's always important to take yourself out of your own context and give yourself a challenge...that's why cooking in Japan has been so good for me. And of course, being in Japan lets me add to my collection of Japanese knives, the collection I began at Korin."