Processed staples ── Nerimono (fish-paste products)
Odawara Kamaboko
Odawara Kamaboko — steamed fish cake from a Tokaido post town
Odawara kamaboko developed from fresh white fish landed in Sagami Bay and this town's role as a Tokaido post stop. It's known for a crisp bite and a refined white color, with long-established makers still lining the street.
- Origin: Kanagawa Odawara
- About 70 km southwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Made from white fish such as croaker and lizardfish landed in Sagami Bay, kneaded into paste and steamed on a board. It's said to carry a crisper bite and a purer white than kamaboko from other regions, with little of the muddiness some fish paste can have. Long-established makers like Suzuhiro and Kagosei still line the streets of Odawara today.
How it's made
Fresh white fish is worked into paste, kneaded with little more than salt, then mounded on a board and steamed. Starch and other binders are said to be kept light, letting the fish's own body and bounce carry the texture. Choosing fish landed that same day is said to be part of what keeps the color and flavor this refined.
Why it took this shape
Facing Sagami Bay for a steady supply of fresh fish, and sitting on the Tokaido highway where people and goods constantly passed through, are together said to be why kamaboko-making took root here from the Edo period. Kamaboko-dori street still lines up direct-sale shops from local makers today, drawing visitors who stroll and snack their way down it.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
Dishes in the same style
- Ago ChikuwaChikuwa made from the surimi of flying fish, called "ago" in Tottori. A knife through the firm grilled skin sends up a fragrant crackle, and it turns out darker than ordinary chikuwa. It's a taste of early summer, in season through the fish's spawning run from spring into summer.
- Ago-yakiAgo-yaki is Izumo noyaki made from flying-fish paste, fire-baked without a skewer. Its crackling surface and refined sweetness make it a favorite travel souvenir from Shimane.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Kanagawa
- DoriaButter rice topped with shrimp in cream, covered in white sauce and cheese and baked. Said to have been improvised at a Yokohama hotel for a guest who wasn't feeling well.
- Ebi MayoBattered, fried shrimp are tossed in a sweet mayonnaise-based sauce — said to have begun when a Cantonese chef, unsatisfied with a mayonnaise-dressed shrimp dish he'd eaten in the United States, remade it his own way.
- Gyu NabeA Yokohama-born hot pot of beef, tofu and chrysanthemum greens simmered from the start in a soy or miso-based sauce. Born of the port city's encounter with Western meat-eating culture, it is said to trace to a tavern owner who opened one of the first beef-pot restaurants.
- Harihari-zukeDaikon cut thicker than ordinary kiriboshi strips, dried, then pickled in a soy-based sauce — a Miura Peninsula specialty. Its name is said to echo the crisp "hari-hari" bite, developed in Miura, a daikon-growing region since the Edo period.
- Herahera DangoA confection from Sajima in Yokosuka City, flattened dumplings of wheat or glutinous rice flour coated in sweet bean paste. Offered at the shrine during a summer boat festival to pray for a good catch and good health, it is still shared among family.
- Hiratsuka-kei TanmenA clear, salt-based broth carries a faint edge of acidity, topped with wakame seaweed and chopped onion — a thinner, less thickened bowl than the typical Kanagawa tanmen, said to have taken root among Chinese-style diners in Hiratsuka.