Hanpen

White fish paste, often from blue shark, is whipped with grated yam and other thickeners into a foam full of tiny air bubbles. It puffs up white like a marshmallow and gives way to a light, airy crumble with each bite. How white and how light it comes out depends on the maker's touch, and the texture shifts shop to shop.

The paste is mixed with grated yam and whipped to trap air, shaped into a half-moon, then boiled until it floats. Packing in more air than other fish-paste products is said to be what gives hanpen its distinctly light, fluffy texture. Walleye pollock has become a more common base fish in recent years, shifting the flavor somewhat.

Its name carries more than one account -- one traces it to a cook named Hanpei from Suruga, another to being shaped into a half-moon using a bowl lid as a mold. Either way, the effort to make it lighter than other kamaboko is thought to be what led to its current form. Its kanji spelling itself varies -- written as "half-piece," "Hanpei," or even "half-portion" and "eel rice cake" in different records.