Chef Naoko

Established in 1997. Chef Naoko is serving delicious Japanese Bentos at the Chef Naoko Bento Café in downtown Portland. All Bentos are prepared using mainly natural and organic ingredients from local farmers. Need something special for a business lunch or dinner? Chef Naoko can prepare and deliver both Bento and buffet style catering. Japanese clients coming to town? Impress them with our authentic Japanese Bentos. Use Chef Naoko for eat-in healthy lunches, bentos to go, corporate catering, catered meetings and events, and whenever you need healthy Japanese Bento style cuisine. Naoko Tamura was born in Tokyo in 1969. When Naoko began elementary school, she became frequently ill, and her mother discovered that Naoko was reacting badly to school lunches. She found out that the food served at school was full of preservatives and other additives, and she successfully campaigned for healthier school meals. This experience led Naokos mother to fully realize the benefits of natural foods for all of us, and she became a pioneer of organic food preparation in Japan, opening her first organic restaurant in Tokyo in 1976. Naoko became a key player in the family business and developed her own style of cooking with natural foods. She also studied western style cooking at restaurants in Italy and Spain. In 1996 Naoko co-authored the book Organic Cooking, published in Japan. In 2007, Naoko moved to Portland to open the Chef Naoko Bento Café. Naoko is continuing the tradition of serving healthy food using natural ingredients from local producers.