Have you ever eaten real wasabi?

It’s highly unlikely.

It turns out, the wasabi that most of us eat isn’t wasabi at all. It is estimated that 99% of the world wasabi market is actually just made up of horseradish, Chinese mustard, and yes, food coloring mixed and mashed together.

Fresh wasabi, on the other hand, is one of the most expensive vegetables in the world. It can cost as high as $250 per kilo.

This 400 year old industry is now on the brink of extinction because the culture has blindly accepted the substitute.

Shigeo Iida for the last 53 years has run one of the last remaining Wasabi farms. A family tradition—his family has grown real wasabi for eight generations. Watch this true artist working day in, day out in the shadows. Changing the world one bushel of wasabi at a time.

There is no substitute of the real thing. And just because something is labeled as wasabi doesn’t make it wasabi.

(You can substitute wasabi for whatever you want.)

The quality of the experience is affected by the amount of emotional labour one puts into their craft. The more love the more the recipient is moved.