Arriving as an exchange student from California, Nancy Singleton Hachisu originally planned a short visit to Japan, but 26 years later – she’s still there. A relationship with a Japanese organic farmer is what upended her plans and saw her settling into an 80-something-old farmhouse that’s been passed down his family for multiple generations.

During this time, she’s met fascinating Japanese producers – such as a “salmon whisperer”, unique salt raker and a ninth-generation sake brewery owner – and published two cookbooks, Japanese Farm Food and Preserving the Japanese Way, resulting in a fan base that includes Joel Robuchon and the team at Cornersmith.

She describes what’s really in your soy sauce (you’ll be surprised), artisan producers creating the most next-level potato flour and sesame you’ve ever heard of, how to make ancient Japanese cheese and what it’s like to eat at Jiro’s sushi joint multiple (yes, multiple) times.

You can listen to this episode on iTunes or download it via RSS or directly. And thanks to everyone who has said nice things about this podcast or dropped an ultra-generous review in the iTunes store – it’s the biggest of deals! In particular, thanks to the My Open Kitchen podcast for the recent shout-out and also thanks to Giancarlo Rosso P, Army of Nerds, Annie M007 for leaving very kind iTunes reviews in the store.

Thanks also to Shelby Chalmers at Fino Foods for teeing up this interview.