Travelling chefs, and the regions that welcome them.
We care about the encounters and exchanges that happen between them.
CIRE (Japan Chef-in-Residence Empowerment Association) is, right now,
starting to build a loose circle with chefs who are curious about this work.
We call these chefs our Chef Friends.
We are not a staffing agency or a registered booking platform.
We act as a bridge so that regions and chefs can meet and build relationships over time.
Chef Friends are the chefs who join us in that relationship-building work.
CIRE has three main areas of activity. As a Chef Friend, you are invited to engage with whichever ones interest you, and only as much as you have time for. The idea is not "please join all of it," but rather "let's find together the part you actually want to join."
The relationship itself works the same way. Texting back and forth → talking on Zoom → sharing a meal → visiting a region → co-creating a project. We grow the relationship at your pace. You can start anywhere, and pause anywhere.
We support the launch and operation of chef-in-residence programs in regions across Japan, working with the host side (the kitchens). This is the core of what we do. We may reach out to Friends for site visits, programme design conversations, or local exchanges.
We are preparing ways for travelling chefs to connect with each other and share information and spaces. The exact form is something we want to shape together with our Chef Friends.
An awards programme that makes outstanding chef-in-residence work visible and shares what we can learn from it. We may invite Friends to nominate, take part in selection conversations, or join the ceremony.
…and more.
We don't care about your résumé, the size of your restaurant, or how well known you are. "Travelling chefs," "regions that welcome them," "the experiences born from those encounters" — if any of these speak to you, please get in touch.
Once you send in the form, we will invite you to a closed Facebook group run by CIRE. We will share updates for Chef Friends in that group from time to time. Direct outreach from CIRE only happens with people who opt in to "OK to reach out to me" on the form.
No. Chef Friends is a relationship in which CIRE reaches out to chefs as fellow travellers. There are no fees of any kind.
CIRE is a non-profit intermediary and does not earn fees for introducing chefs. We are not a staffing agency or registered booking platform. That said, when a request from a region (a kitchen) seems to align with a Friend's interests, we may reach out. Whether or not to move forward is always decided by both the kitchen and the Friend.
Most of the communication happens in the Facebook group, roughly a few times a month. Direct outreach from CIRE depends on what comes up, and is therefore irregular.
Of course. Chef Friends is meant to be a loose, no-pressure circle. You are free to pause or leave whenever you wish.
Yes, very welcome. CIRE thinks about "travelling chefs" broadly, and we'd love to hear from chefs who are not based in Japan as well.
Please fill in the form with a short profile.
We'll invite you to the CIRE Chef Friends Facebook group, and share updates from time to time.
There are no fees to join. We will get back to you in turn.
If you just have a question, feel free to reach us via CONTACT on the CIRE website.