monk: Light and Shadow on the Philosopher’s Path By Yoshihiro Imai Intro:                Welcome to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery By the Book with Suzy Chase. She's just a home cook in New York City, sitting at her dining room table, talking to cookbook authors. Emmy Reis:       My name is Emmy Reis. I am one of the translators along with Naomi Reis who translated Chef Yoshihiro Imai's monk: Light and Shadow on The Philosopher's Path. Suzy Chase:       Emmy, you live in Brooklyn, but you're originally from Kyoto. How do you know Chef Imai, and how were you involved with this book? Emmy Reis:       Sure. It's actually a funny story. Chef Imai and I met at a very random bar in the pub district in Kyoto. We were each meeting work clients and then they happened to be going to this very random hole-in-the-wall bar. We just happened to sit next to each other at this bar. We were both feeling very awkward, and then we got talking and he talked about his first book, Circle, which he was carrying in his bag. Right off the bat, I don't know, we connected. So yeah, we've been good friends. He's had this vision of this book for a really long time, and so yeah, I was really happy to be involved in the translation of it. Suzy Chase:       Monk is the story of your 14-seat, seasonally inspired restaurant. I want to kick things off talking about the word path. Emmy Reis:       I think the motif of a path is a really big theme for monk, and of course the book in many ways. It's also in the subtitle, Light and Shadow on the Philosopher's Path. The Philosopher's Path is the actual name of the small path where monk is located. It's such a perfect name because it's named after the various philosophers and writers that are said to have walked on this path to ruminate about life, et cetera. The vibe of the path hasn't changed much today. It's still a quiet, tranquil pass along a small canal. It's very calming and meditative to walk this path. Emmy Reis:       I think this image of philosopher walking on a path day after day connects to this idea in Chef Imai's work, where each day is this meditation, repetition and accumulation of a communion with nature and the ingredients that it provides. It sums up to the larger picture, which is a journey and an exploration, as you said, and one that is ongoing. Emmy Reis:       His daily ritual of traveling up north, out of Kyoto city to the countryside of Ohara, where he gathers his vegetables, herbs, and flowers of the day. It's definitely a practical ritual in the sense that he gets his ingredients, but it's definitely much more than that. It's about feeling the energy and the breath of the natural environment, and then bringing that back with the ingredients and keeping that intact in the dishes that he makes so that it can be shared and felt by the guests as well. Emmy Reis:       His approach is very much about being receptive to nature, and so going to the farms and fields where he can feel that is an essential part of his practice. That's basically what guides his path. Suzy Chase:       Chef Imai seems to epitomize the definition of creativity, although he's uncomfortable using the word, how come? Emmy Reis:       I think, well, he's expressed that he's always surprised and deeply moved by the beauty and wonder of nature, which is created by nature itself and the elements within that. We can't create anything without that ourselves, or even exist. I think that in the course of his life, he felt and understood this idea in very visceral ways, both in specific moments and over time. You can get a sense of that through the essays and stories he tells in the book. Emmy Reis:       After that, once he have that realization, he says he almost felt ashamed to use that word, not because the word creative or us