Molino Campo Noble
Japan’s First Tortillería
by Dawn Emery Ballantine
In today’s fragmented world, I find it comforting to look for the things that unite us. We all breathe air and drink water, we all hope and strive for a better world for ourselves and our loved ones—and hopefully all on the planet— and we all must eat. Though many cultures’ cuisines are highlighted by their differences in flavor, texture, and heat, there are basic underpinnings which link them. Take, for example, the flatbread. Around the world, it has myriad manifestations—the Indian chapati, Southeast Asian roti, Turkish and Middle Eastern pita, Italian pizza and focaccia, Ethiopian injera, Venezuelan arepas, and the humble Mexican tortilla. They all serve as a scoop or a dipper or a base for great deliciousness heaped upon them. It’s hard to imagine any country’s cuisine that doesn’t have some form of “something simple, warm, and nourishing held in your hands,” as Geovanni Beristain says.
So imagine our surprise and delight when we learned of Geovanni Beristain and his Japanese tortillería—Molino Campo Noble—featuring heritage Mexican corn and located in Chiba, Japan. Mexican national Geovanni and Reiko Matsumoto, his Japanese partner, launched Japan’s first 100% corn tortillería in Japan in 2019.
After having immigrated to Japan and lived there for seven years, Geovanni realized that he deeply missed the textures and flavors that he grew up with in Mexico. “Food is such a powerful connector,” he says, “and I realized I wanted to stay close to my roots while living here, especially through the food I love most. That’s where the spark for Molino Campo Noble came from.” He also saw a clear opportunity to introduce corn as a third staple in Japan—staples one and two being rice and wheat—but he particularly wanted to showcase the nixtamalized corn, corn which has undergone a process of soaking in lime or ash, rinsing, cooking, and grinding. Nixtamalization has been in use for over 4,000 years in numerous Mesoamerican cultures, and it improves both the flavor, aroma, texture, and available nutrients in the corn.
“Molino Campo Noble is much more than just a tortilla business,” Geovanni explains. “Our mission is to unite two incredible culinary cultures, Mexican and Japanese, through one of the most humble yet powerful foods: the tortilla ... It’s a celebration of heritage, craftsmanship, and cultural exchange.” Molino Campo Noble is committed to working with Mexican farmers and using only non-GMO, native, heirloom corn for their products, supporting the farmers of Geovanni’s homeland while also promoting sustainable agriculture for a crop that has been tragically hijacked by the GMO seed racket. By doing everything from kernel to tortilla themselves, they are hoping to raise awareness about the experience of eating 100% real unprocessed corn, not powdered masa harina. Their hope is to both support their farmers while also introducing Japan to the “true essence of Mexican culture.”
Upon sampling their first attempts at creating their product, Geovanni recalls that “... the moment we took a bite, we were transported back to our beloved Mexico. The scorching Mexican sun, the laughter of family gatherings, the lively plazas in the early afternoon, and the captivating sound of mariachi songs—all of it came rushing back. Our Mexico had found its home in Japan.”
Curiosity and appreciation for their products is growing, and Geovanni notes that what catches peoples’ attention is the diversity of the corn itself, particularly the colors. Most people in Japan have not seen the brilliant red, pink, or black corn types, and they are fascinated to learn how they not only look different but also taste and behave differently.
Their primary focus has been wholesale business-to-business, working with restaurants, chefs, and small shops which value authenticity and quality. But their online sales have been growing steadily as the general public finds them on Instagram and their website (where you can see their popularity by how many of their products are currently “sold out”). They have also begun to collaborate with other food creatives during cultural events, helping them to introduce the tortilla experience to an expanded audience. I can only imagine the culinary experiments—and gustatory outcomes—marrying Japanese cuisine with the nixtamalized corn tortilla.
Geovanni explains, “We embarked on a remarkable journey to bring a slice of Mexico to the world, one tortilla at a time ... It’s a celebration of heritage, craftsmanship, and cultural exchange. Every tortilla we make carries a story, not just of where the corn came from, but also of the people, the process, and the connection between two parts of the world that you might not expect to meet in a tortilla.”
Molino Campo Noble’s future goals include addressing some of Japan’s own self-sufficiency challenges. Corn is already one of Japan’s primary agricultural products, and Geovanni is considering promoting the launch of homegrown Japanese corn for their products, with their ultimate goal being to support sustainable agriculture not only in Mexico, but also in Japan—a novel path, a bridge between cultures, by way of the humble tortilla.
Molino Campo Noble
molinocamponoble.com/en | Insta: @molinocamponoble
All photos courtesy of Molino Campo Noble