Minaë Tani-LaFleur is a food entrepreneur based in Helsinki. As a certified saké sommelier — “kikizakeshi” — Minae consults and educates European food professionals on Japanese saké. She also leads a collective of international cooks at Zestii Kitchens, which she co-founded. Zestii Kitchens operates a collaboratively-run café with local partners OmaMaa, an agricultural cooperative, and the female-empowerment coffee roastery Dash Coffee, and works with fellow migrants to learn micro-entrepreneurship through their food knowledge.
Minaë was born and raised in Japan. She spent her childhood moving between different cities and absorbing the diversity of climate and food culture in the small island country. As a grownup, she was exposed to the deep world of international cuisine — through studying abroad, travelling, working with people from overseas, and living in the ultimate foodie city of Tokyo. She was an experimental and passionate “home cook”—not a professional “chef”—until she moved to Finland in 2017. Living overseas sharpened her awareness for her own cultural identity and roots, and the possibilities of expressing herself through cooking.