In the spring of 1979, a group of macrobiotic supporters approached Michio and Aveline Kushi with the idea of forming a new company to produce miso in the United States using traditional methods and only the finest organic ingredients.

With the Kushis’ enthusiastic support, we moved ahead confidently with our plans to build a miso factory in the Piedmont Region of North Carolina. The Kushis entreated Ariyoshi Kazama, founder of Mitoku Trading Company, a major supplier then as now of high-quality Japanese natural food to the U.S. market, to find someone who still made miso the old-fashioned way, yet was open-minded enough to invite strangers into his home. After many false starts, Mr. Kazama finally located Takamichi Onozaki, a country miso maker of the old school. Mr. Onozaki agreed to house and train an American couple, John and Jan Belleme, for an entire miso-making season. From November, 1979, until June, 1980, Mr. Onozaki taught his students all the miso lore he had accumulated from a lifetime of miso making in his small, rural miso factory staffed entirely by local farmwives. This was intermediate technology with a vengeance! Upon the Bellemes’ return to America, we rapidly constructed our factory building near Rutherfordton, NC, and Mitoku arranged to ship us our new equipment from Japan. By late 1980 we had begun to make our first experimental batches of rice miso, and sold the first American

In the fall of 1981, Mr. Onozaki came to Rutherfordton on an inspection trip to see exactly how well his students had learned their lessons. He patiently reviewed our practices and refined our procedures until he pronounced himself fully satisfied. In the fall of 1982, Mr. Onozaki dispatched his daughter and son-in-law to America to work for several months in the miso factory just to make absolutely certain that everything remained on course. Although our miso was sold only in bulk for its first two seasons, our familiar tubs with the Miso Master® logo soon arrived on the scene and sales slowly but steadily grew. Starting with eight barrels, we now fill a total of 46 of these leviathans, each holding over four tons of two-year miso. In order to house our expanding activities, in 1992 we built a second factory building as big as the first , and we are already experiencing a shortage of space once again as demand continues to grow for all eight Miso Master® varieties. Four years ago we began to export our miso to Europe where it is distributed throughout the continent by the Lima Company of Belgium. Two years ago we introduced Miso Master® Organic Miso in glass jars. The American Miso Company story continues on into the future.