It's a message she has carried halfway around the world, thanks to the support of an influential mentor named Mari Watanabe, a writer and food historian who Freitas refers to as her "Japanese mother". When Watanabe first visited A Tafona several years ago, the two women became fast friends. "I admired her strength of will, to be running her own restaurant at that age, and as a single mother," said Watanabe. "I also liked her minimalist style of cooking. It reminded me of Japan." She pointed out that the so-called Rias Coast of Japan's Iwate Prefecture was given that moniker due to its resemblance to Galicia's rías (inlets), like those of the latter's famed Rías Baixas wine region.
