Biography

Sonoko Sakai is a Japanese American cooking teacher and food writer. She has worked as a foreign-film buyer and producer. She was also a buyer for Kadokawa, Gaga and Nippon Herald before focusing on the food industry. She writes about Japanese cuisine at the Los Angeles Times and, in 2011, she created the organization called Common Grains. Common Grains promotes Japanese food and culture and has an emphasis on rice and grains.

Common Grains has organized food pop-ups, cooking classes, onigiri (rice ball) competitions and speaker panels. In 2013, she went to Google headquarters to oversee the Japanese dinner for 800 employees.