Aaron Israel

Aaron Israel is the co-author of "Love Japan." He is also co-chef and owner of Shalom Japan in Brooklyn, New York, along with his wife, Sawako Okochi. A native New Yorker, he attended art school at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, simultaneously pursuing his passion for fine art and food. After graduating, he moved back to New York and cooked with some of the city's most acclaimed chefs. He has been featured in the The New York Times, the New Yorker, and New York Magazine, and numerous other publications, as well as "The Jewish Cookbook." He is the father of two amazing kids and enjoys doing ceramics in whatever small amount of spare time he has.