As a child growing up in Okinawa, Natsume Aoi, the executive pastry chef at Morimoto in New York, was a picky eater interested only in dessert. Her cooking lessons began at the age of four, watching her grandmother make red bean paste and mochi dough. She went on to become a classically trained pianist who taught and performed throughout New York City, but found herself at a professional crossroads and headed to Le Cordon Bleu in Tokyo to study pastry. Today, she’s creating beautiful desserts that utilize traditional Japanese ingredients, like matcha and black sesame, with some modern and seasonal twists. Tune in to hear Natsume and host Kerry Diamond discuss bento boxes, breaking the rules, and what it means to create the “perfect bite.”

Thank you to Le Cordon Bleu and Vital Farms Pasture Raised Eggs for supporting this episode of Radio Cherry Bombe!

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