Raw
Amagi no Kawatake
Kawatake — a rare freshwater algae found only in one small river, dressed in sweet vinegar
A rare wild freshwater algae, found only in the Kogane River in Asakura, is dressed with sweet or three-flavor vinegar — said to have once been presented to the shogun, and now conservation efforts continue as it's listed as endangered.
- Origin: Fukuoka Asakura
- About 870 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Kawatake is a rare natural freshwater algae said to be harvested only from the Kogane River in Asakura, Fukuoka, long eaten as a natural food valued for its good carbohydrates, protein, and minerals. It grows in a small river only about two kilometers long, which adds to its rarity, and the river is also said to be treasured as a play spot for local children, its scientific name translating roughly to a shrine-associated algae.
How it's made
Kawatake is typically dressed with a three-part vinegar sauce or sweet vinegar, or folded into a vinegared side dish. Its smooth, springy texture and mild, unassuming flavor are said to lend it to Japanese, Western, and Chinese cooking alike, and in recent years it has also found its way into French cuisine as a premium ingredient. The river itself is shallow, only knee-deep even for an adult, and the algae is said to be gathered with care between January and August, then sold processed throughout the year.
Why it took this shape
It was once treated as a luxury delicacy, reportedly precious enough to be presented as a formal gift in the past. But changes in the river's water quality and flow have reduced the harvest, and it's now a species people worry may disappear, with local authorities and residents said to be working to protect the river, since keeping the algae alive is described as inseparable from keeping the river itself healthy.
Dishes in the same style
- Akagarei no KomaburiRoe-bearing red flounder is sliced into sashimi and tossed with its own boiled, crumbled eggs, a dish from around the Amijiro area of Iwami Town. Said to have descended from a similar dish made with crucian carp roe, it pairs rich eggs with mild, fatty winter flounder for festivals and New Year's.
- Anpogaki no NamasuAnpogaki, persimmon peeled and dried in the sun, is shredded together with daikon and carrot and dressed in vinegar and sugar — a New Year dish. Cultivation is said to trace to a man named Shichiemon, who planted persimmon trees in Yanagawa, now part of Date, in the Edo period.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Fukuoka
- Abutte KamoSmall damselfish are salted overnight, then grilled whole, scales and innards left on — a bony fish often passed over elsewhere, but said to have caught on in Hakata Bay after a Meiji-era glut led someone to salt and grill the excess.
- Achara ZukeWhite melon, eggplant, and lotus root are pickled in a sweet vinegar spiked with red chili — the name is said to trace to the Portuguese 'achar', carried in through Hakata Bay's old trade, and an odd number of vegetables is used for Obon hospitality.
- Beta MochiWheat dough is flattened, steamed, and topped with soybean flour or sweet red bean paste — named, it's said, for its resemblance to a flat local sole called 'beta', and tied to the feast marking the end of rice planting.
- Kabocha no Dango JiruA giant local pumpkin from Buzen's Mikkado district is simmered soft, then torn wheat dumplings are dropped in — the pumpkin, said to trace some 450 years back to Portuguese traders, was once a lifeline in leaner years.
- ChanraaA noodle dish said to have started at a diner in Moji, Kitakyushu. Chanpon-style noodles go into a Japanese dried-sardine broth closer to udon than to the original pork-and-seafood soup, devised, it's said, for a student who wanted Nagasaki champon but couldn't afford it.
- Ebi ZakkoSeveral kinds of small shrimp are quickly simmered in sweetened soy, and the leftover broth then cooks somen noodles — a fisherman's way of using up the mixed catch of small shrimp hauled from the Buzen Sea while it's still fresh.