Yui
Hi! I am Yui and here is the story of starting FUKAMIDORI.
Yui Fukami
My plant-based and gluten free confectionery that brings me so much joy and that I hope you would love too.
Born and raised in Osaka, Japan and having lived in New Zealand for some time I found the city that I felt the most inspired by and so here I am, living and working in Berlin since 2017. After spending years working in the fashion industry in Japan, it’s now been 10 years since I started in the gastronomy field, where I feel I can fulfil my full potential.
Ever since I started my plant-based lifestyle in 2015 my weekends turned into magical moments of experimentation with different recipes and looking for ways of perfecting my baking skills. I realised that it was possible to keep the quality of my sweets without using any animal ingredients and from that moment I couldn’t stop thinking of new flavours I could create.
The start of the pandemic made me think more than ever before about what I could do for my health, and the health of those around me. I was inspired by German culture and its attitude towards health, the environment and animal rights, and I was looking for a way to bring my input as someone born in Japan. I found out that sweet beans are not as well known in Europe as in my home country. It is full of dietary fibre and minerals making it good for your skin and tummy. I wanted to make people more aware of this nutritious, tasty and healthy bean paste.
My connection with the sweet red beans is very personal too. In Japan, mochi sweets and wagashi are available all year round, and strawberry daifuku is easily found at local wagashi shops and supermarkets when it’s in season. Although I loved daifuku available in Japanese confectioneries, I still have vivid memories of when my mother, a nutritionist herself, cooked the red bean paste from azuki beans in our kitchen and made strawberry daifuku. This was such a special moment for me as a little girl that the taste of homemade bean sweets stayed in my memory forever as something I wished to recreate myself one day.
I was really happy to find one day ‘Azuki Bohnen’ in an organic supermarket in Berlin and now,
My goal is to share this experience with everyone, to share joy, experience and the precious moments, and to make people smile with sustainable choices that are respectful to the body, the planet and animals.
As ‘FUKAMIDORI’, I produce and create fully plant-based mochi and sweets for events and collaborative catering, publish recipes on the online cooking platform: CREME, and organise physical workshops for people who want to learn the art of making mochi.
I believe in infinite opportunities of experimenting with beans and mochi, so my journey continues. And everyone is invited to be a part of it ! x
2023 Yui Fukami
Collaboration / work inquiries: hello[at]fukamidori[dot]org
私は大阪出身、2017年にベルリンに移住しました。
日本では約８年間アパレル業界に身をおき、大阪、ニュージーランド、ここベルリンで約10年の飲食業界経験ののち“ふかみどり”としてプラントベースド、グルテンフリーのお菓子づくりを始めました。
きっかけは2020年のパンデミックで世界の流れが止まった中、再度、自身や周りの人たちの健康や環境問題、そしてアニマルライツに対し自分自身にはなにができるか、特にドイツやヨーロッパの文化を通して日本で生まれ育った私が伝えられるものは何かと永遠の課題を科してみたことにはじまります。
2015年に菜食の生活を始めてから動物性の材料を使わず、それでも味の劣らないお菓子づくりに挑戦する事が私の週末の楽しみでしたが、そもそも私たちに親しみのある和菓子はバターやクリームを使わず餡子をベースとして食べられる日本の伝統的な文化、愉しみ。わざわざ無理に動物性の代替え品を探す必要がない事に気づきました。
そしてそれに日本を離れてすんでとても驚いたのが、ヨーロッパや欧米の人々に甘い豆を食べる文化がとても珍しいという事、こんな栄養満点でお肌にもおなかにも良く、美味しい餡子をもっと知ってもらいたい。ある日ベルリンのオーガニックスーパーで“AZUKI Bohnen（豆）”を見つけたとき、この決意は固まりました。
今でも鮮明に残る想い出、母が台所であずきから餡子を炊き、新鮮な苺とともに蒸したての餅に包んだ苺大福を作ってくれました。和菓子屋さんで手に入る大福も大好きだったけれど、こんな出来立ての特別な味出会えた日は幼い頃の私にとって忘れられない記憶として残りました。
この体験さらに世界中の人々へ、愉しさ、美味しさ，特別な瞬間をシェアすること、身体にも地球にも動物にもやさしい持続可能的な選択でたくさんの笑顔をつくることが私の目標です。
2023 ふかみどり 深海 唯