“There was about 1,000 acres of scrappy land left,” Koda said. When their incarceration ended, the Kodas returned to find that their prime property and equipment had been sold. But the government mandated that it remain in operation to support the wartime economy, so Keisaburo Koda had to hand over the management to non-Asians, she said. Notified that they would be sent to a detention camp in Colorado, they planned to temporarily close their farm, according to Robin Koda. declared war against Japan in 1941, the government imprisoned Japanese Americans, including the Koda family. Robin Koda, Koda Farms co-owner and granddaughter of Keisaburo Koda, who founded the farm To rebuild like a mile down the road - to have this here as a daily reminder of what was wrongfully, illegally taken away from you - it’s sort of crazy.

She drove a short distance before parking in front of a property that had been Koda Farms’ original headquarters - and now serves as a reminder of a dark period during World War II. eateries, including M Cafe and Porridge + Puffs.Īfter touring the rice fields, Robin Koda climbed into her Ford van, a spartan vehicle that shuddered angrily over the farm’s rutted roads.

In 2020, Sunset magazine dubbed it the 'Holy Grail of California Rice.” It is served at L.A. In more recent years, Koda Farms’ rice has won acclaim from chefs and food publications. “He just literally kept moving south until he found someone who would sell land to him,” she said, adding that her grandfather started the farm by purchasing about 8,000 acres in South Dos Palos.Īs a rice farmer, Keisaburo Koda became known for his innovations, including sowing seeds via airplane. Above, Sho-Chiku-Bai rice is packaged in July 2022. These days, Koda Farms' two biggest products are its Sho-Chiku-Bai sweet rice and Blue Star Mochiko sweet rice flour. He wanted to buy property, but “no one would sell to Asians” there, Robin Koda said. He began farming rice in the late 1910s on leased land in Northern California. He immigrated to California in his mid-20s and pursued several ventures, including wildcatting for oil in the hills of Coalinga, a Fresno County town. The son of a samurai turned rice miller, Keisaburo Koda was born in Japan in 1882. The rice was a revelation: Until the invention of this medium-grain strain, what had been available to make sushi in California was “tasteless, couldn’t retain moisture, and would get brittle as it cooled down,” said Anthony Al-Jamie, editor in chief of the Japanese culture magazine Tokyo Journal. The variety, she said, “was not developed specifically to be a sushi rice - that’s just the application that saw was useful to them.” Koda said Kokuho Rose was envisioned by her grandfather, Keisaburo Koda, who founded the San Joaquin Valley farm in 1928, as a table rice. The heirloom variety, Koda said, crossed a California medium-grain rice with a Middle Eastern long-grain to create a new, higher-quality medium-grain offering. Launched in 1962, Kokuho Rose was developed by Koda Farms in conjunction with rice breeder Arthur Hughes Williams. Kanai, who persuaded the owner of Little Tokyo haunt Kawafuku to open a sushi bar around 1965, needed a local source. The food typically requires rice that is stickier than other varieties, helping nigiri retain its shape after being formed. What’s more, much of the rice found in America in the early 1960s was of the long-grain sort, which wasn’t suitable for sushi. executive, the prospect of his food-importing business bringing high-quality rice from Japan had been daunting - it would be too expensive. “Koda Farms … a more palatable rice that could be served in sushi.”įor Noritoshi Kanai, a Mutual Trading Co. 1 and most pivotal was the rice,” said Atsuko, whose father visited Koda Farms in 1963 and struck a distribution deal to wholesale the Kokuho Rose rice to L.A. “There were a few things that made sushi possible - No. Koda Farms' Kokuho Rose medium-grain rice was crucial to the growth in popularity of sushi.

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