Our Story
Saori Kojima founded her brand of traditional Japanese sauces and seasonings in 2013 in her newly adopted home of Upwey, in Victoria’s leafy Dandenong Ranges.
When Saori first moved to Melbourne from Hokkaido in 2011, she was delighted to discover the incredible array of fresh produce and ingredients available, but found it difficult to find authentic Japanese sauces and condiments that were not overly processed and full of unnecessary additives and flavour enhancers. Having always been accustomed to preparing food from scratch in Japan, she began making traditionally prepared sauces for her own enjoyment.
At first her intention was to simply to recreate the flavours of home to share with her family and friends, but what began as a hobby soon flourished into an award winning business.
Between 2013 and 2019 Saori’s products have won a total of 10 medals at the Australian Food Awards, Melbourne Food Awards and Hobart Fine Food Awards.
Saori’s guiding philosophy is ‘ Quality food; Quality life’ . With a well founded belief that Japanese cuisine is one of the healthiest in the world, she has made it her mission to share the benefits of real Japanese cooking with Australian people. ‘I want to share my knowledge of easy, healthy and delicious ways of cooking at home. I want to contribute to a healthier Australia!’
Having studied health science at Fuji Women’s University in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Saori combines her knowledge of nutrition and traditional Japanese cooking, in particular fermentation, to produce sauces, condiments and seasonings of exceptional quality and flavour.
Her products use a combination of fresh ingredients from Australia and high quality Japanese ingredients such as fermented Japanese soya sauce, pure, unsweetened fermented rice mirin and first grade kelp from Hokkaido.
