Miya's
Encyclopedia
Miya's Sushi is a sushi
restaurant located in the Chapel West neighborhood of downtown New Haven, Connecticut
in the United States.
restaurant in the world. Bun Lai began "removing seafood from the menu at Miya's that was farmed or caught in a way that was not good for the environment in 2004. "I started with the least popular items that I knew would create the least protest from our guest such as Maine sea urchin and octopus. When I removed freshwater eel the following year, guests often walked out, fuming." Miya's also has the largest vegetarian sushi menu in the world. In 1995 Bun Lai created the ubiquitous sweet potato roll that is served in every sushi restaurant in America and beyond. Central to the seafood portion of the Miya's menu are culturally and commercially unpopular types of seafood that are abundantly locally available such as silver sides (which are considered bait fish), sea robins (which are considered "junk fish"), wild seaweeds (invasive dead man's fingers/codium fragile
) and fouling organisms such as tunicate
s. Miya's also offers the world's only invasive species
menu, featuring dishes made of foraged ingredients that are threatening to the region's indigenous species. Miya's serves a number of unique sake infusions, which feature ingredients such as hand-picked pine cones, wild sumac
, dandelion blooms and chili peppers. The recipes at Miya's draw from a wide range of influences, including: history, literature and genetics.
He is the host of prestigious Miya's Idea Dinners where his goal is to connect an interdisciplinary group of people whose passion it is to make a positive change in the world.
He was born in Hong Kong, the son of Yoshiko Lai, a Japanese nutritionist and restaurateur, and Dr. Yin Lok Lai, a Chinese surgeon and Cambridge University educated professor.
In New Haven, he attended the Foote School
and Hamden Hall Country Day School
.
He majored in International Relations at Ursinus College
, where he wrestled. In 2008, he cornered Sally Roberts to the finals of the National tournament and the Olympic
trials. He has coached numerous state and New England Champions as the head coach of Hamden Hall Wrestling.
In 2010 he was a keynote speaker at the Foote School
graduation ceremony along with Google
's Nathan Tyler. In 2011 he became one of the first five people to ever receive the Hamden Hall Country Day School
Alumni Excellence Award.
In 2001, he was featured in a commercial for Carlsberg Beer. Bun has delivered food for Meals on Wheels
and has, also, cooked and served in soup kitchen
s. He has, also, worked for the Leap and numerous nonprofit children and family programs.
Bun Lai is the 2010 recipient of the Elm Ivy Award, the key to the city of New Haven, bestowed by the city and Yale University
to individuals and organizations that have enhanced the many partnerships and collaborative endeavors between the university and its host city.
Bun Lai is the recipient of the prestigious 2011 Seafood Ambassador Award from Monterey Bay Aquarium
for his leadership in the Sustainable Seafood movement.
On October 25, 2010 Bun Lai was honored as "Greatest Person of the Day” by the Huffington Post for being an "exceptional individual who is confronting the country's economic and political crises with creativity, generosity, and passion".
On November 4, 2010 Ecosalon named Bun Lai as one of their "11 Eco-Chefs Who Are Changing The Way We Think About Food".
On June of 2011 Brendan Smith of Thimble Island Oyster Company and Bun Lai launched Connecticut's first Community Supported Fishery. NPR
’s Nancy Cohen reports on the state’s first community supported fishing venture.
Bun Lai is a sought after speaker. He has spoken at Google
, Department of Agriculture, Monterey Bay Aquarium
, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
, Yale University
, Wesleyan University
, New York University
, Peabody Museum
and The Museum of the City of New York.
In 2011 Bun Lai has also been featured on Food Network
; Food and Wine Magazine; Saveur Magazine; Prevention Magazine and The New York Times
.
In September of 2011 he was the keynote speaker at the largest fisheries event in the world, The 141st Annual American Fisheries Meeting, where he spoke about food as it relates to climate change and social justice.
, one of Time magazine's "Heroes of the Environment (2009)
," has repeatedly praised Miya's for having the East Coast's only sustainable sushi menu.
Miya's was ranked by Fish2Fork, the sustainability rating site founded by Charles Clover, author of The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat
, as one of the 3 most sustainable restaurants in the U.S.
Anthropologist and activist David Graeber
acknowledges Miya's in his newest book Direct Action: an Ethnography, the first detailed ethnographic study of the Global Justice Movement
.
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
restaurant located in the Chapel West neighborhood of downtown New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
in the United States.
History
The restaurant was opened in 1982 by Yoshiko Lai, a Japanese nutritionist and surgeon's wife. She currently operates the restaurant with her son, Bun Lai, who is the creator of the current cuisine. The restaurant's original location was at 1217 Chapel Street, and in 1990 was relocated to its current location around the corner on Howe Street.Cuisine
Miya's serves all original recipes from a sixty page menu. The restaurant is the first sustainable sushiSustainable sushi
Sustainable sushi is sushi from either fished or farmed sources that can maintain or increase production in the future without jeopardizing the ecosystems from which it was acquired...
restaurant in the world. Bun Lai began "removing seafood from the menu at Miya's that was farmed or caught in a way that was not good for the environment in 2004. "I started with the least popular items that I knew would create the least protest from our guest such as Maine sea urchin and octopus. When I removed freshwater eel the following year, guests often walked out, fuming." Miya's also has the largest vegetarian sushi menu in the world. In 1995 Bun Lai created the ubiquitous sweet potato roll that is served in every sushi restaurant in America and beyond. Central to the seafood portion of the Miya's menu are culturally and commercially unpopular types of seafood that are abundantly locally available such as silver sides (which are considered bait fish), sea robins (which are considered "junk fish"), wild seaweeds (invasive dead man's fingers/codium fragile
Codium fragile
Codium fragile, also known as Green sea fingers, Dead man's fingers, felty fingers, felt-alga, Green sponge and Green fleece is an invasive species of seaweed in the family Codiaceae....
) and fouling organisms such as tunicate
Tunicate
Tunicates, also known as urochordates, are members of the subphylum Tunicata, previously known as Urochordata, a group of underwater saclike filter feeders with incurrent and excurrent siphons that is classified within the phylum Chordata. While most tunicates live on the ocean floor, others such...
s. Miya's also offers the world's only invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
menu, featuring dishes made of foraged ingredients that are threatening to the region's indigenous species. Miya's serves a number of unique sake infusions, which feature ingredients such as hand-picked pine cones, wild sumac
Sumac
Sumac is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in Africa and North America....
, dandelion blooms and chili peppers. The recipes at Miya's draw from a wide range of influences, including: history, literature and genetics.
Bun Lai
Bun Lai (born 1971) is an Asian American chef, environmentalist and social activist who is passionate about climate change and rethinking the way "life should be lived and business should be done." He is the owner and chef of Miya's. He is an avid diver and fisherman who supplies his own restaurant with hyper local sustainable seafood from his own hundred acres of shell-fishing grounds off of the Thimble Islands in Connecticut. He is the owner of two fishing boats which serve as laboratories for sustainable seafood production.He is the host of prestigious Miya's Idea Dinners where his goal is to connect an interdisciplinary group of people whose passion it is to make a positive change in the world.
He was born in Hong Kong, the son of Yoshiko Lai, a Japanese nutritionist and restaurateur, and Dr. Yin Lok Lai, a Chinese surgeon and Cambridge University educated professor.
In New Haven, he attended the Foote School
Foote School
The Foote School is a private K-9 co-ed day school founded in 1916, located in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, United States near Yale University.- History :...
and Hamden Hall Country Day School
Hamden Hall Country Day School
Hamden Hall Country Day School is a coeducational private day school in Hamden, Connecticut, offering classes from PreSchool through Grade 12. Hamden Hall was founded in 1912 as an elementary day school for boys by Dr. John P. Cushing, its first Headmaster. The school has been coeducational since...
.
He majored in International Relations at Ursinus College
Ursinus College
Ursinus College is a liberal arts college in Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.-History:1867Members of the German Reformed Church begin plans to establish a college where "young men could be liberally educated under the benign influence of Christianity." These founders were hoping to...
, where he wrestled. In 2008, he cornered Sally Roberts to the finals of the National tournament and the Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
trials. He has coached numerous state and New England Champions as the head coach of Hamden Hall Wrestling.
In 2010 he was a keynote speaker at the Foote School
Foote School
The Foote School is a private K-9 co-ed day school founded in 1916, located in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, United States near Yale University.- History :...
graduation ceremony along with Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
's Nathan Tyler. In 2011 he became one of the first five people to ever receive the Hamden Hall Country Day School
Hamden Hall Country Day School
Hamden Hall Country Day School is a coeducational private day school in Hamden, Connecticut, offering classes from PreSchool through Grade 12. Hamden Hall was founded in 1912 as an elementary day school for boys by Dr. John P. Cushing, its first Headmaster. The school has been coeducational since...
Alumni Excellence Award.
In 2001, he was featured in a commercial for Carlsberg Beer. Bun has delivered food for Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels are programs that deliver meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meals. The name is often used generically to refer to home-delivered meals programs, not all of which are actually named "Meals on Wheels"...
and has, also, cooked and served in soup kitchen
Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, a bread line, or a meal center is a place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups or community groups...
s. He has, also, worked for the Leap and numerous nonprofit children and family programs.
Bun Lai is the 2010 recipient of the Elm Ivy Award, the key to the city of New Haven, bestowed by the city and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
to individuals and organizations that have enhanced the many partnerships and collaborative endeavors between the university and its host city.
Bun Lai is the recipient of the prestigious 2011 Seafood Ambassador Award from Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is located on the former site of a sardine cannery on Cannery Row of the Pacific Ocean shoreline in Monterey, California. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million visitors. It holds thousands of plants and animals, representing 623 separate named species on display...
for his leadership in the Sustainable Seafood movement.
On October 25, 2010 Bun Lai was honored as "Greatest Person of the Day” by the Huffington Post for being an "exceptional individual who is confronting the country's economic and political crises with creativity, generosity, and passion".
On November 4, 2010 Ecosalon named Bun Lai as one of their "11 Eco-Chefs Who Are Changing The Way We Think About Food".
On June of 2011 Brendan Smith of Thimble Island Oyster Company and Bun Lai launched Connecticut's first Community Supported Fishery. NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
’s Nancy Cohen reports on the state’s first community supported fishing venture.
Bun Lai is a sought after speaker. He has spoken at Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Department of Agriculture, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is located on the former site of a sardine cannery on Cannery Row of the Pacific Ocean shoreline in Monterey, California. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million visitors. It holds thousands of plants and animals, representing 623 separate named species on display...
, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Peabody Museum
Peabody Museum
The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University is among the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It was founded by the philanthropist George Peabody in 1866 at the behest of his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh, the early paleontologist...
and The Museum of the City of New York.
In 2011 Bun Lai has also been featured on Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
; Food and Wine Magazine; Saveur Magazine; Prevention Magazine and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
In September of 2011 he was the keynote speaker at the largest fisheries event in the world, The 141st Annual American Fisheries Meeting, where he spoke about food as it relates to climate change and social justice.
Accolades
Casson TrenorCasson Trenor
Casson Trenor is an American environmentalist, social activist author, restaurateur, blogger and media personality.Trenor is the author of Sustainable Sushi and the co-owner of Tataki, San Francisco's first sustainable sushi restaurant. He was named one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment...
, one of Time magazine's "Heroes of the Environment (2009)
Heroes of the Environment (2009)
Heroes of the Environment is a list published in Time Magazine. The third list was published in September 2009. The list contains 30 entries, individuals or groups that have contributed substantially to the preservation of environment, and is divided into four categories: Leaders & Visionaries,...
," has repeatedly praised Miya's for having the East Coast's only sustainable sushi menu.
Miya's was ranked by Fish2Fork, the sustainability rating site founded by Charles Clover, author of The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat
The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat
The End of The Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World And What We Eat is a book by journalist Charles Clover about overfishing. Clover, an environment editor of the Daily Telegraph , describes how modern fishing is destroying ocean ecosystems. He concludes that current worldwide fish...
, as one of the 3 most sustainable restaurants in the U.S.
Anthropologist and activist David Graeber
David Graeber
David Rolfe Graeber is an American anthropologist and anarchist who currently holds the position of Reader in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was an associate professor of anthropology at Yale University, although Yale controversially declined to rehire him, and his...
acknowledges Miya's in his newest book Direct Action: an Ethnography, the first detailed ethnographic study of the Global Justice Movement
Global Justice Movement
The Global Justice Movement is a network or constellation of globalized social movements opposing what is often known as the “corporate globalization” and promoting equal distribution of economic resources.-Movement of movements:...
.
Awards
- Best Of New England - Editor's Selection - Yankee Magazine 2009
- Best Of New England - Tourist Guide - Boston MagazineBoston magazineBoston is a monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area and has been in publication for more than 40 years.-About the magazine:The magazine is self-described as:...
2009 - Best Sushi Statewide - Connecticut Magazine - 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
- Best Sake Statewide - Connecticut Magazine - 2010, 2011
- Huffington Post's Greatest Person Of The Day
- Key To The City Of New Haven 2010
- Monterey Bay AquariumMonterey Bay AquariumThe Monterey Bay Aquarium is located on the former site of a sardine cannery on Cannery Row of the Pacific Ocean shoreline in Monterey, California. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million visitors. It holds thousands of plants and animals, representing 623 separate named species on display...
Sustainable Seafood Award 2011