Meet the Man Behind the "World's Most Expensive Veggies," Asafumi Yamashita
Melons at $95.00 a pop? $34.00 for a kilo of spinach? Japanese gardener Asafumi Yamashita cultivates some of "the world's most expensive" vegetables, just west of Paris. On average his prices are 3-5 times higher than those in Ile-de-France. Yamashita grows radishes, turnips, melons, limited edition items... enticing the greatest Parisian chefs and their pocket books.
Each year, Yamashita sources his seeds from Japan, bringing Turnip Kabu, violet daikon (radish), komatsuna (spinach), red radish pungent, chrysanthemum, red Kyoto carrots... as well as a handful of melons to his customers, according to Ouest-France.
''My vegetables are my daughters. Each one grows a different personality. I want them to obtain an optimal maturity,” notes Yamashita, dubbed the 'haute-couture' vegetable grower. He’d rather have less, but have them beautiful and good.
Yamashita’s daughters are very exclusive as well. The vegetable grower only has seven clients. Seven great chefs, including Pierre Gagnaire (Hotel Balzac), Eric Briffard (George V) Laurent Delabre (Tour d'Argent) and Sylvain Sendra (Best). Yamashita delivers to them himself twice a week.
Yamashita originally set up shop in the Yvelines 25 years ago to grow bonzai plants, but lost the rarest species in a burglary and at 43 he turned to vegetables. The Tokyo native grows his 50 or so Japanese varieties on about 3000 m2 on which he has 12 greenhouses and other outdoor crops.
It took seven years for him to get his tomatoes and aubergines to a suitable quality and he finds that his carrots are not yet perfect. But, Yamashita does not produce huge quantities, as he states, "Bigger, it does not interest me…"
"I produce little. I have to sell more expensive for me to navigate," Yamashita notes.
How pricey is your palate?
