Nick DiGiovanni - Cooking For The World's Largest Sumo Wrestler

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Ever had a 10,000 calorie lunch? Yama is the heaviest sumo wrestler in the world and heaviest Japanese person ever. He challenged me to see if I could cook enough wagyu, sushi, mochi, and other foods for his lunch.

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Today I'll be cooking for Yama, the heaviest Japanese sumo wrestler. He is a two-time sumo world champion, weighing in at 600 pounds. And he's also the heaviest Japanese human being in recorded history. Guinness, where's his plaque? To get a sense of his strength, check out this. Buzzfeed video of him fighting regular people. Yama eats a lot of food, and that's where I come in. But he doesn't speak much English, nor do I speak any Japanese.

So we've got Andrew to help us out. While I begin prepping for lunch, Yama's gonna finish up his training for the morning. Our first course for Yama is a huge plate of sashimi. We'll be feeding him a five-course lunch meal with more food than some of us eat in an entire week. This plate of sashimi has salmon, tuna, yellowtail and yellowtail belly, halibut, and to finish some macro. And we have something very special as well. This year is real wasabi. And when you feed someone like, oh no, oh God.

And when you feed someone like Yama, who's used to high quality Japanese cuisine, we've got to use all real ingredients and the best of the best. Most wasabi is just horseradish. Yama, before your first course begins, please choose any sake that you like. Which one do you want? Oh, please.

All of them. Perfect. Yama, your first course is the sashimi. Wow. You hungry? Hungry, so hungry. Okay. I'm gonna be Yama's waiter for the entire day.

So whatever he needs, I'll get it for him. What is your favorite type of fish? Magro tuna. So you got lots of tuna, you have some salmon. Yeah. Yellow tail. Yeah. Say when?

All the way up. Come point. Mm, so good. Big in. It's good. Mm. Mm. Mm.

Mm. So Yam, I don't want to interrupt you too much while you eat, but I would love to hear what a typical day would look like for you, for training, for just your general life. Well, so, so, so, so, about, six hours training, and, uh, So, uh, o'hills, the morning and the o'hirtle, and then, uh, and then,

then, then, then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, like, training, sleeping, and eating, just in a loop. The second course is sushi rolls. So I'll go make that, and you finish up.

And our first step here is to season the rice. I'm going to gently pour over this mixture of rice wine, vinegar, sugar, and sea salt, because we need this rice to be flavorful for yama. At this point, we need to spread the vinegar and also cool the rice. My eyes are burning from the vinegar. I'll use a wet towel to warm,

wipe off all this dead rice from the edges. Because once again, all of this has to be perfect for Yama. Once we've done the rice, we're gonna make Yama a few different types of rolls. And I'm actually looking to get a little bit of color and char on these. You gotta always keep it moving. Make sure you're not staying in one place for too long

while still getting that really nice crust on top of the salmon. To me, this is one of the most satisfying things in all of cooking. And just the smells that come off of this when you're doing it are incredible. On top of that, I'm gonna go on with just a little bit of this smoke salt here,

because we always gotta season as we go. And then something that pairs perfectly with salmon, nice squeeze of lemon all across the top of this salmon roll. I'll finish it off with some Benito fish flakes. And I have to say, I'm so jealous of Yama right now. I know this might look like a lot of food, but keep in mind, Yama means the mountain in Japanese. So we gotta go big with the quantities.

Yama, how is your first course? Yeah, so good. The sun's getting kind of hot, huh? You wanna go inside? Okay, yep. Yama? Yep. Your second course is quite large.

We've got sushi roll. Oh, so nice. Can you eat this? Yeah, of course. This is like 70-something sushi rolls, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's it. You need more sake? Oh, yeah.

You almost finished the whole box. bottle already. It's only the second course. Yeah. Many, you'd be on the floor by now if you drank this much sake. Yama, while you have your second course, what are your favorite food? What do you like the most? I like sushi. And I know you like sake.

Yeah. When I was, you know, yaksoba and yakisoba. Yeah, yakuva, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so yeah. And then, carrakeh. Oh, karahe, like chicken. So much like, then, cheese, time, they're all right.

In this, salmon is very good. Yeah, but America to come salmon, I'm very much. Yeah, Laro, I've got more than in Japan. In the US, you had more salmon than in Japan. I think it's because they have so many varieties, much more than we have here.

Yama, one time, I went to All You Can Eat Sushi with my friends, but I think I ate 45 pieces of very small sushi like this. How much sushi can you eat? I'm, look, like, right-denshi, so like, three or four of these in each piece, and he ate... How did you 506? So this is nothing.

This is easy for you, Yamaha. Yeah, too heated. This is one more place. One more. I'll go make some. All right, Yamma, I'm gonna clear this for you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Our third course is called Chankonabe, which loosely translates to a Japanese sumo stew.

Now to our Chanko nape, I'll add down some of that fresh cut cabbage, a few more of these chopped up carrots, and then, before we serve, a big handful of Tokyo Negi or Japanese green onion. With that, our sumo stew is ready to serve. Andrew, I heard there's something about why there's chicken and there's chicken and there. in chanko nabe, could you explain? Chicken stands on two legs, doesn't work that down. If they put beef or pork, they're on four legs. If you fall down in sumo, all four limbs touch, you lose.

Wow. So the superstition is, chicken is what you eat before the competition. And because he has a match against Manny tomorrow, he's got to be prepped. Oh, actually, he's gonna fight Manny right now. Bottle of sake, done? Done. Yep. Get that out of here.

Are you ready for the next course? Yes, please. We made it the best we could, so you're gonna have to give us your rating, okay? Yep. Be right back. Niyama? Yep. The Chanko Nabe?

Oh, let's see. Oh, nice. So this is your favorite soup? Yeah. Is this about the size that you normally have? Yeah, no, more like this is a small version, okay? This is, that's, that's for, that's for a little russters to share. So normally they cook it in an enormous pot, but it's for all the sumo wrestlers to share.

Ah. So this is just for one sumo wrestler, but one regular sumo wrestler, he's bigger than a regular guy chef. Who cooks it? Do you have a private chef? Sumo rest. You cook the chanko nama yourself. Oh, so you're a... a sumo wrestler and a chef.

Chancou nabe, look, small wrestler that's called chancol nabe, that's why it's called sumo stew. And you know, the thing is, when you're in the lower ranks, you have to do the hardworking cooking. Once you get up to the higher ranks, like he, he just sits there,

they cook and serve him, and he gets the star treatment. Just like this. Do you have a secret ingredient for your chanko nabe? Yeah, I, uh, buta-nutniked mito-a-missau, uh, chanko-a-a-a-a-a-oh-a-a-a-so-cccri-nob. Yeah, so good.

That sounds good. I'm gonna have to try that next Enjoy. Thank you. Thank you. Tchanko nabe, so with the leftover broth that Yama has here, we're gonna add in the Udan noodles first, yeah?

Pour them right in? All of them. You want them all? Yep. Oh, now the egg? No, the negy. Oh, now the negy. Pile on top?

All of it. Boom, make it right in. See, I love learning from people that know so much more than I do. How do we know when they're done, in your expert opinion? Well, they're to toasty. You know how to do the one-handed egg crack? Yeah. this? Can you do that? Okay. Ah, he's a pro. And this is how you polish off your sumo stew.

So, then, then it's two meals instead of one. That's a macko like that one, so it's a chanco to take it's a little meal, so it's not. Yeah, it's very good thing. The udon is a tiny little snack. Same for me. Wagu time. Course number four, we'll be making Wagyu to Taki. And given they've sent me Wagyu all around the world at this point, I have to thank Tiffany and the whole Wagyu shop for always keeping me so well-stopped.

We have about 10 pounds of Wagyu for Yama, because as you all know by now, he eats a lot. We've got an A5 Japanese Hokkaido strip loin. We've got a few American Wagyu ribis. We've got a Japanese Takamori Wagyu tenderloin. We have a Miyazaki Giuri ribe. And if Yama still isn't full by then, we got even more to be safe. In case Yama doesn't believe this is the real stuff, I've got certificates for everything. Yama, I know this is a little bit smaller than you're used to it, and this is the third

course, but number four is gonna be Wagyu. I just want to show you before we go cooking. You like Waguay? Yeah, yeah. Where are they from? All Japan. Oh, nice. Hokkaido, Miyazaki.

Oh, nice. All Japan. Yama, in case you didn't believe me, here's all the certificates from showing that they're from Japan. Oh, ho. It's great. Yeah, it's great. Oh, it's great.

Oh, it's really? You never seen this like. Never. You keep these. Oh, yeah. And I'll send you home with some extra wagu. Okay. He's amazed.

Yeah? Yeah. Wow. They know the nose print. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. To begin with the Wagyu course, we're going to sear off this beautiful filet mignon,

which I will say Yama seems very excited about. We have to make sure to press it down to make sure we're getting all that surface area contact. We're looking for the perfect sear for Yama. Once it's ready, we'll give it a nice flip. Last but not least, I'll quickly roll it around on all its sides. Then we'll turn off the heat and pour over this soy marinade. Next step, we'll cook one of the most beautiful pieces of Wagyu on the market. Just listen to this sizzle.

This cooks incredibly fast. We have our beautifully plated wagyu. I know Yama is very excited for this, but just like the fish, we have to sear once again. I'll finish with the tiniest sprinkle of salt. We have three different wagyu dishes. To finish the second one, a little sear. A very light drizzle of this sauce, and then a few red onions to finish. We always like a little bit of color.

Yama, your fourth course. You have your wagu. Okay? One more coming. Hold on. This last one yama, we have to put right in front of you. You want to sear here. Okay. Give a nice big syrup on each piece. There you go. I mean, Mani, I figure if Yama is a chef already, why not let him help out a little bit? Beautiful Yama.

Okay, Yama, we finished this one. It's got a Yuzu Ponzu and some more green onion, okay? Go ahead. Thank you. Mmm. So Yama, I know you're retired now. What have you done since you finished Shumo? So, yeah, I don't know,

it's, you know, it's a lot of, yeah, I've done it's a lot of, Which movies? Zoolander 2. John Witt too, I think was his most fun. Many? He was John Wick. What happened in John Wick 2?

Atama, ma'am. He almost beat Kiana. They had a great cut. He's been in a football movie. In Doritos commercial. On Ellen, music videos. He's been in like 10 music videos. He's number one music video.

He's everywhere. But he says he loves us the best because it's no hard work and lots to get to eat. Oh yeah. You get to eat. Finish the Wagu. Thank you, Yama. Don't you know in Japanese culture? He's not supposed to pour his own sake.

He's a very important person. You're supposed to be pouring the whole time, man. I'm going to be Yama's waiter for the entire day, so whatever he needs, I'll get it for him. Yama, I'm so sorry. You should have told me. He's easygoing. I'm glad he didn't charge me like he charged Manny earlier. Yama, I know you're getting full, okay?

Yep. The final course, Dai Fuku Manju. Anju and Ocha. Oh. How is my pronunciation? Ocha. Ocha. Enjoy the dessert.

Thank you. Good meal? Yeah. And you're full? Good, okay. This is actually last month's issue of Sports Illustrated. They did a big feature article in an interview. Ah, Yama.

And Yama told me because your food, your cooking was really good, he's going to sign you a copy of your... There you go. We're hanging up in our studio in the kitchen. Thank you so much. Thank you. I'm going to let you finish your dessert and peat. Yep. Very nice to meet you.

Thank you so much. Oh, that's cool. That's good. And I like this very much too. Hey, don't do my moochee! We'll say, in the phone, all the all the world can be a guy of the finance. Not to have a gross mow

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