Itaba

Itaba (板場) designates the kitchen area of a Japanese restaurant – the workspace where the brigade operates under the direction of the itamae or hanaita. The word combines ita (板, board – for manaita, the cutting board) and ba (場, place). In the Kansai region, itaba can also refer to the head chef personally – a metonymic shift from place to person that parallels itamae (板前, “in front of the board”).¹

→ Main article: itamae – station hierarchy of the itaba, from oimawashi to oyakata.