Hot pot & soups
Gawa
Gawa — a chilled miso soup of raw bonito, cucumber, and pickled plum
Raw bonito is minced and mixed into a chilled miso broth with cucumber, pickled plum, and shiso. Its name is said to come from the "gawa-gawa" sound of stirring miso into ice water aboard a fishing boat — originally a summer meal made at sea.
- Origin: Shizuoka Omaezaki
- About 190 km southwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Gawa is a cold soup made by roughly mincing raw bonito together with cucumber, onion, ginger, shiso leaves, and pitted pickled plum, then loosening the mixture with miso. Ice water is stirred in to thin it further, and it can also be poured over rice or somen noodles. Bonito, cucumber, pickled plum, and miso, all cooling summer ingredients, are chopped together into a single dish said to be easy to eat even when the summer heat kills the appetite.
How it's made
Cucumber, onion, ginger, shiso, and scallion are minced, and the bonito is finely chopped together with pitted pickled plum. Miso is worked in, ice water is added to loosen it, and the chopped vegetables go in last before a final stir. It reportedly goes well poured over plain rice or somen noodles. Beyond home kitchens, a few restaurants near Omaezaki port also serve it.
Why it took this shape
Omaezaki port is said to be one of Shizuoka's leading bonito landing sites, and the 'first bonito' caught in May is especially prized. Gawa is said to have started as a soup fishermen made on board while out on a bonito run, stirring miso into ice water. The name reportedly comes from the 'gawa gawa' sound the ice made as they stirred, and the dish is said to have taken hold in Omaezaki's food culture as a quick meal between hauls.
Before you go
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
- Foods to look for in winterA guide to foods often seen in Japan around winter — nabe hot pot, fugu, oysters, crab, year-end soba, and osechi — with rough pointers for finding them.
- At yakiniku, shabu-shabu, and hot potGrilling your own meat at yakiniku, swishing thin slices at shabu-shabu, and sharing from the pot — the customs behind each.
Dishes in the same style
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.
- Aichi ZoniSquare mochi and mochina, a traditional Owari green, are served in a plain clear broth for New Year — a notably simple zoni. It's speculated that using miso so often in daily cooking is exactly why a clear broth is chosen for this festive occasion, deliberately leaving miso out.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Shizuoka
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- BokumeshiSteamed eel and shaved burdock are simmered together and folded into freshly cooked rice. Its name is said to trace to oversized eels unfit for sale, used in staff meals at eel farms along the Oi River — a mixed rice dish of the region.
- Fuji KinkaBred by Shizuoka Prefecture by crossing its own Duroc line, Fujirock, with Jinhua, a rare breed from China's Zhejiang province — found only in Shizuoka. Said to combine Jinhua's tenderness with Fujirock's marbling.
- Fujieda Asa RamenA town that eats ramen at breakfast — often a hot bowl followed by a cold one.
- Fujinomiya YakisobaIt grew up as a postwar snack at Fujinomiya's candy shops and okonomiyaki stalls. Its identity rests on three local staples: chewy steamed noodles, pork-lard cracklings called nikukasu, and a sardine-powder topping called dashiko.
- Gennari ZushiVinegared rice packed with sweet-simmered carrot is pressed in a mold and topped with pink and white flaked golden eye snapper. Made for weddings and coming-of-age celebrations, its name is said to come from how filling — gennari, or wearying — just eating it could be.