Navigating the Maize: Bringing Authentic Mexican Tortillas to Tokyo

Geovanni and his wife Reiko are co-founders of Molino Campo Noble, an authentic Mexican tortilleria located in the greater Tokyo area.

There are times when our senses bring back childhood memories through long-lost smells, flavors, or visions. In a place like Tokyo, where people from so many backgrounds converge to mix and create new cultures, these small snapshots of a life back home are deeply personal and treasured memories, but even in their diversity they are a universal experience.

For some, sharing these memories of home in the new context of modern Tokyo becomes a mission statement. This is certainly the case for Geovanni, who I had the opportunity to speak to about his work in promoting Mexican food and culture as co–founder of Molino Campo Noble, a Mexico-sourced, Japan-based tortilleria in the Tokyo area. I spoke to Geo about the origins and mission of Molino Campo Noble, building cross-cultural connections as a family business, and the future of Mexican food in Japan.

Interview

TA: To start, I'd like to ask about what led you to starting Molino Campo Noble. When did you start working in the food business?

G: Actually, before Molino Campo Noble began, my career experience was in finance for the auto parts industry. I came to Japan through an exchange at my company, and it led to me living here long-term. 

After moving to Japan, I decided to try tacos at restaurants all around Tokyo. Although it was nice to have Mexican food again, I realized that there was something lacking. It wasn’t the toppings, because the toppings are usually very delicious in Japan. The part that I missed was the authentic corn tortillas. It made me think that, “If there are no authentic tortillas, then I should be the one to start making them!” That idea hit me in 2018. My wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) and I looked around at the market and realized that there was a great opportunity to start an authentic tortilleria in Japan.

How did that initial process of making tortillas go? 

Molino Campo Noble's first tortillas were made with corn ground through this small hand grinder.

We started our first trials from scratch without much firsthand experience making tortillas on our own. So I started to research and get some basic materials. My mom sent a small hand-grinder and some Mexican corn. We started from there and made our first nixtamalization with the ground corn. 

To make tortillas and other Mexican dishes, corn goes through a steeping process known as nixtamalization which has been around since ancient times.

The aroma of the corn on that first day took me back to my great-grandmother’s kitchen where she would grind all the corn by hand on a metate. She always made simple bean tamales with a green sauce, steaming them in a big pot. I remember opening that lid as a kid and the steam rolling out, the smell was heavenly! 

To be honest, our first attempt at tortillas turned out really poor and crumbly, barely recognizable as a tortilla. But when we bit into it, it immediately tasted like home, and it transported me back to that time in my great-grandmother’s kitchen. So it was that first product, with the smell and the flavor of the corn itself, that let us know that this business was a great decision and we wanted to keep doing it.

Corn is really the star of the show in your products and your marketing. Why is corn so important to your story and the story of Molino Campo Noble?

Corn is the staple of Mexican food. I mean, we call ourselves “hijos del maiz,” meaning “children of corn.” We use corn in all of our main foods: tortillas, tamales, in more ways than you can imagine. For Mexicans, corn is everyday, it’s everywhere, just like rice in Japan.

For both rice in Japan and corn in Mexico, these grains are so tied into our cultures and lives, even religion. For us, corn has been passed down from the times of the Aztecs and Maya peoples thousands of years ago. In these cultures, the legends of how humans came to be started with corn.

In a similar way, Japanese people are so proud about the ways that they produce rice with so many varieties in different regions. They know it so well that they can tell you about the distinct qualities and flavors that each type of rice has. Same for Mexicans with corn, we inherently understand the subtle differences between varieties of corn. Some corns are more earthy, some more sweet, some more buttery. 

And you use those varieties in your tortillas and masa. Could you tell me about those different types of corn and how you bring them over from Mexico?

Mexico has at least 64 recognized varieties of corn and thousands of minor offshoots. At Molino Campo Noble, we work with six of those varieties – white, red, yellow, blue, black, and pink. In addition to the color and flavor, there are differences in the type and shape of the kernel, as you can see with chalqueño and conico from Central Mexico. 

As for acquiring the corn, there’s a foundation called Fundacion Tortilla Mexicana which promotes the cultivation of endangered corn species and promotes Mexican tortillas. They introduced me around to some farmers, so we were able to visit the farms directly.

Did you grow up around corn farming? How does your relationship with the farmers who supply the corn play into your mission for Molino Campo Noble?

I mainly lived in the city growing up. But during my university years, I had the opportunity to live and study in the countryside for about six months. I was in a very small town in the middle of the jungle where traditional Mayan culture and language is still very strong, and thanks to that I was able to experience life alongside the farmers. The people there had very little in terms of financial resources, but they lived such full, rich lives and shared so freely with me. It really changed my life, and I promised myself that when I got older and began working in business on my own, I would do something to give back. 

So part of the mission is to make the business profitable enough to be able to share some of those profits with Mexican farmers and support them. Of course, supporting their farms economically is important, but I also dream of sponsoring education and training, helping them get machinery to improve their productivity, and things like this. It still seems very far away, but a big part of my dream is to be able to help people back in my country in this way.

This leans into the other side of the mission, which is to connect the cultures through food and to add value for every person in the chain, from the farmers in Mexico to our customers. We want the farmers to get a fair price for the corn and our customers to get authentic, healthy, and high quality products. So for us, it’s really important that we get things right in every part of the chain. 

So at the end of the chain you have customers in Japan. Is Mexican food well-known by the public here? 

To tell you the truth, it is much more well-known than it used to be. Especially before we started making tortillas in 2019, there was not much deep knowledge of Mexican food and relatively few restaurants. In general, people didn’t know much about Mexican food beyond burritos or American-style Taco Bell tacos. But that year was really a turning point where restaurants really started to pop up all over the place. 

Of course, that expansion was slowed by the pandemic. But actually, something really strange happened then. The restaurant industry was really struggling, but Mexican food specifically was actually holding its own. I think it’s due to the fact that Mexican food was ready-made to succeed as a delivery food. As customers wanted to spice up their meals, Mexican cuisine as a whole rode the delivery wave that redefined the industry, especially here in the city.

In about 2022, as the pandemic eased in Japan, more Mexican restaurants began popping up again, and Japanese consumers began to try a lot more authentic food. Now, the growth is really amazing, and it seems like a new restaurant is popping up around the city almost every month. It’s a boom now. 

Are you trying to harness that boom with Molino Campo Noble as well?

Exactly. There’s still a lack of knowledge about authentic Mexican food [in Japan], and we’re in the first revolution now. Of course, it will start with more popular foods like tacos and burritos, but as people get to know more about the food, we can develop interest in other authentic corn-based foods like tamales or pozole.

I can also see that a lot of Mexican restaurants, especially those run by Japanese owners, are using Mexican ingredients in new ways. Some of them who make their tortillas on their own mix in other ingredients  to make their own special tortillas. I think it’s a great thing, because the cultures are embracing each other through food and transforming it into something new and unique.

What do you see as the future of Molino Campo Noble?

We are expanding production with a new facility and new machines this year, so we are going to be able to make a lot more tortillas! I want to keep sharing about Mexican food with people who don’t know about it and also provide great authentic products for people who already love Mexican food. Both of these groups are really important for us. 

Further in the future, I want to continue to spread authentic Mexican foods throughout Japan, and then all of Asia! So that means expanding from just being a tortilleria and sourcing many types of food from Mexico for both restaurants and consumers. Beyond corn, this can be chiles, spices, and other vegetables which aren’t grown here. Right now, there are some places importing canned and preserved Mexican goods, but I want to get to the source with the farmers to find the real thing and bring it here.

Do you think there is any viability for growing Mexican corn and other vegetables here in Japan?

It’s already happening! I know a guy who grows a lot of Mexican vegetables in Chiba and sells them here in Japan. Like us, his production is limited by scale, but he is the only one growing a lot of authentic vegetables like chiles, spices, tomatillos, corn, and so on. I think that other people have started to realize that these crops are possible to grow here. And that’s great! For our business, if farmers could produce Mexican corn here, we would love to buy local. That would be a win-win for everyone.

This ties back into our mission of supporting farmers back in Mexico, because here in Japan, the country is losing farm labor and agricultural land in recent years. Through developing and supporting Mexican vegetables here, I think we can add value to that agricultural landscape. Just like we are doing with our farmers in Mexico, this would benefit everybody along the chain, from farm to table. If we could contribute to building that chain here in Japan it would be like a dream. So this is my ultimate goal on paper, and now, it’s just about putting it into action. 

This interview was conducted on April 3rd, 2024. It has been edited for length and clarity. 

Order authentic Mexican tortillas made in Tokyo, Japan

You can order authentic Mexican tortillas made in Tokyo and other products from Molino Campo Noble’s website. Also, the team also participates in Mexican cultural events around Tokyo, so make sure to check their Instagram (@molinocamponoble) for the updated event information.