Place
Akita
秋田県
36 items
● 32 born here(Akazushi (Akazuke), Asazuke, Edokei Ramen, and more) / ● 1 raised here(Hinai-jidori) / ● 3 prepared here(Akita no Sake, Iburigakko, Shottsuru) / ○ 1 known for it here
Born here32
- Akazushi (Akazuke)赤ずし（赤漬け）red shiso mochi-rice sushi that carries a household through midsummerCooked glutinous rice cured briefly in red shiso and vinegar — an Akita sushi with no fish in it at all, a plant-based cousin of narezushi also offered at Obon altars.
- AsazukeあさづけAkita asazuke — sweet-and-sour rice dessert with fruit and vegetablesBroken rice grains are pureed, simmered, and seasoned sweet-and-sour with sugar and vinegar, then mixed with cucumber, turnip, and seasonal fruit — a summer dessert unrelated to the pickle of the same name, said to refresh women after a day planting rice.
- Edokei Ramen江戸系ラーメンShoyu — soy saucesoy ramen crowned with a dissolving chili misoA soy ramen topped with a knob of bright red chili miso built on garlic and garlic chives. Stirred in gradually as you eat, it turns a mild bowl steadily richer and spicier — a specialty of Akita City.
- Akita Hoshimochi干し餅freeze-dried mochi crackersSliced mochi is strung up, soaked in water, then left to freeze and thaw through the winter cold in a process called 'kanjime' — the result crisp and filling, said to have fueled breaks during rice-planting season.
- Imonoko Jiruいものこ汁taro and chicken autumn soupBaby taro corms called 'imonoko' simmer with chicken, mushrooms, and wild greens in miso or soy — an autumn soup said to use taro grown in Yokote's Sannai district, prized for its soft bite, and set alongside kiritanpo nabe as the region's autumn counterpart.
- Akita Oyakiおやきglutinous rice cake filled with sweet red beanGlutinous rice dough wraps sweet red bean paste and is pan-grilled until lightly browned — unrelated to the wheat-and-buckwheat oyaki of Nagano stuffed with nozawana and eggplant, said to be offered to the mountain god and sold as a signature item at Gojome's morning market.
- Akita Tempura Chuka秋田天ぷら中華Shoyu — soy saucesoy ramen floated with a disc of tempura batterA round disc of fried tempura batter floated whole on a soy ramen. As it soaks, the broth gains richness from the oil — a local way of eating that survives around Gojōme and Daisen near Akita City.
- Damako Nabeだまこ鍋Soy-based & yosenabepounded rice dumpling hot potFreshly cooked rice, lightly pounded with a pestle and rolled into balls called 'damako', simmers in hinai-jidori chicken broth with burdock and Japanese parsley — said to have taken shape once fish from Lake Hachirogata grew scarce and chicken took their place.
- Hatahata-zushiハタハタ寿しfermented sandfish sushi for a New Year that can't start without itSandfish landed only in the waters off Akita, packed in rice and rice koji to ferment about three weeks. The fish arrives in huge schools only during its short spawning run inshore, and the whole catch gets preserved this way.
- Inaniwa Udon稲庭うどんThin, hand-stretched dried noodles from AkitaA hand-stretched dried noodle from Inaniwa, in Akita's Yuzawa city. Once presented to the Akita domain's lord, its production method was long kept within a single family line.
- Inaniwa Chuka Soba稲庭中華そばShoyu — soy saucedried noodles made with the Inaniwa udon techniqueA dried-noodle ramen made with the same hand-stretched, air-dried technique as Inaniwa udon. Slick, silky noodles carry a soy broth built on Hinai chicken and seafood dashi — a bowl from Inaniwa in Yuzawa City, Akita.
- Jumonji Chuka Soba十文字中華そばShoyu — soy saucekansui-free noodles in a delicate brothThin wavy noodles made without kansui, in a delicate Japanese-stock soy broth.
- Junsai Nabeじゅんさい鍋Soy-based & yosenabewater shield hot potThe jelly-coated young shoots of junsai, a water shield that grows in ponds, simmer with chicken, burdock, and Japanese parsley — prized for a smooth, slippery bite, and said to be hand-picked from small boats each summer in Mitane, one of Japan's leading junsai-growing towns.
- Kamabukuかまぶくsteamed potato and mochi flour log shaped like fish cakeBoiled, mashed potato is worked with glutinous rice flour and sugar, shaped into a fish-cake-like log, and steamed — said to have been devised in Akita's mountainous interior, where fish was scarce, as a stand-in for fish paste at celebrations.
- Kasube Niかすべ煮simmered dried skateDried skate, once carried down from Hokkaido by the old Kitamae shipping route, is rehydrated and simmered sweet-savory — said to keep well even in summer heat, making it a prized warm-season dish, and still served at every home during Akita's Tsuchizaki summer festival.
- Kiritanpo Nabeきりたんぽ鍋Soy-based & yosenabegrilled rice-paste stick hot potSlightly firm rice is pressed onto a stick and grilled into 'tanpo', then cut to size and simmered in hinai-jidori chicken broth with burdock and parsley — said to have begun as a way charcoal makers used up leftover rice while holed up in the mountains.
- Koi no Amani鯉の甘煮sweet soy-simmered carpCarp, bled and cut into rounds, is slow-simmered sweet-savory in sake, sugar, and soy sauce — a feast dish from Akita's inland areas, where carp raised in clear spring water is said to carry little of the usual muddiness, and served at weddings for a pun on 'koi', to come.
- Katsu RamenかつラーメンShoyu — soy saucea whole pork cutlet set on soy ramenA whole pork cutlet, often bound with egg, set right on top of a soy ramen. Said to have started from wanting katsudon and ramen at once — a hearty bowl from Kosaka, Akita.
- Kyanokko Jiruきゃのっこ汁finely diced root vegetable miso soup (also keno jiru)Daikon, carrot, sweet potato, and mountain yam, diced even finer than for kenchin soup, simmer in a miso broth — a dish for Koshogatsu, the 'little' New Year, also called 'keno jiru', said to be made in a big pot and eaten over several days for good health.
- Nasu no Hanazushiなすの花ずしpickled eggplant layered with rice and chrysanthemumRounds of eggplant are packed with layers of glutinous rice, chrysanthemum petals, and red chili — a New Year's pickle prized for the contrast of purple, yellow, and red, said to be kept alive around Yokote, where the eggplant variety it uses is grown.
- Natto Jiru納豆汁pureed fermented soybean miso soupFinely mashed fermented soybeans are stirred into a miso soup of taro, mushrooms, and wild greens — a dish tied to Yokote, one of the places said to claim natto's origin, traditionally reheated and eaten over the first three days of the New Year.
- Sanbai Miso三杯みそsteamed sweet rice-flour and red bean cakeGlutinous and non-glutinous rice flour and sweet red bean paste, each measured out a bowlful, are kneaded together and steamed — no miso in it, though the name is said to come from how the mixed batter once resembled miso, a tiered-box sweet from southern Akita.
- Sasamaki笹巻きsticky rice wrapped and steamed in bamboo grass leavesGlutinous rice is wrapped in bamboo grass leaves, tied with rush, and steamed — said to be made for the Boys' Festival and the post-rice-planting 'sanaburi' holiday, once carried home by married daughters visiting their parents.
- Shottsuru Nabeしょっつる鍋Soy-based & yosenabesailfin sandfish hot pot in fish sauce brothShottsuru, Akita's fermented fish sauce, is blended into a kelp broth to simmer sailfin sandfish with tofu and napa cabbage — a winter hot pot said to be kept simplest, just fish and broth, in Oga, where it's said to have begun, timed to the fish's thunder-season run inshore.
- Tamago Kanten卵寒天egg-set agar sweetAgar liquid is sweetened and set with beaten egg in a mold — said to be favored, especially in southern Akita, as a 'torimawashi' dish handed round at funerals and celebrations, since it slices easily to serve a crowd and travels well in a box.
- Tara Jiru鱈汁whole cod miso soupWhole Pacific cod — flesh, bones, liver, and milt — simmers with scallion in a miso broth, a winter staple said to be served at Nikaho's 300-year-old cod festival, 'kakeyo matsuri', at Konoura Yama Shrine.
- Tara no Ko Iri鱈の子炒りsimmered cod roe with konjac noodlesPacific cod roe — called 'tarako' locally, unlike the pollock roe the word usually means elsewhere — is simmered sweet-savory with shirataki noodles and scallion, a winter dish said to be a New Year's must for its wish of fertility, kept simplest in cod-rich Yuri.
- Tenko Azuki Sekihanてんこ小豆の赤飯red rice colored with black-eyed peasRed rice colored with 'tenko azuki' — black-eyed peas chosen for skins that resist splitting — is steamed with a touch of sugar, giving it a faint purple cast. Said to appear at Obon, New Year's, and every family occasion, it's also called 'kuromeshi' at a long life's funeral.
- Tofu Kasutera豆腐カステラcastella sponge made with tofuTofu, pressed of its moisture, is mixed with sugar and egg and baked into a castella-style sponge — said to have begun as a way to stretch prized tofu when eggs and sugar were too costly, giving southern Akita a sweet with a moist, tofu-tinged texture.
- Tonburi Nagaimo Aeとんぶりの長芋和えkochia seeds tossed with grated yamTonburi — the tiny, crunchy seeds of kochia, dried and hulled through a laborious process — are tossed with julienned mountain yam and a dash of soy sauce. Odate, the only place in Japan that produces it, is said to have kept the technique alive for generations.
- Tororo Manmaとろろまんまgrated mountain yam over rice in miso brothGrated 'yamanoimo', a stickier mountain yam than nagaimo, is thinned with a rich miso broth and poured over rice — a New Year's dish said to ward off misfortune, still eaten on New Year's morning, with Yurihonjo hosting an annual eating contest built around it.
- Yokote Yakisoba横手やきそばAkita stall food finished with a fried egg and pickled red gingerJust after the war, a Yokote stall owner worked with a local noodle maker to swap the usual steamed noodles for boiled ones. The recipe settled into its present form around 1953 and spread from street stalls into diners and izakaya across the city.
Raised here1
Prepared here3
- Akita no Sake秋田の酒Akita sake — snow-insulated, slow-fermented and softAkita sake, brewed with soft water in deliberate contrast to Nada's hard water, aiming for a mellow, delicate character. Breweries buried in snow are said to gain a natural insulating effect from it, a tradition of slow, low-temperature fermentation built around that climate.
- Iburigakkoいぶりがっこsmoke-dried daikon pickled in rice bran, from Akita's snow countryDaikon smoked over an irori hearth, then pickled in rice bran — Akita's smoked take on takuan. In the snowbound inland south, where plain sun-drying would freeze solid, the fire's heat and smoke are said to have stepped in instead.
- ShottsuruしょっつるAkita's fermented hatahata fish sauceA fish sauce made by fermenting local catch — chiefly hatahata (sailfin sandfish) — with salt for over a year. Home brewing is said to date back to the early Edo period, and it is counted among Japan's three great fish sauces, known above all as the seasoning behind the winter hot pot shottsuru-nabe.
Known for it here2
- AkitakomachiあきたこまちKnown sourcea Koshihikari cross bred for Akita's cold climateA Koshihikari cross bred for Akita's cool climate, said to carry a lighter sweetness and moderate stickiness, long favored as an everyday table rice. Named, it's said, after the legendary beauty Ono no Komachi, it ranks among Japan's most widely planted varieties.Akita's signature variety, grown across the prefecture.
- HatahataハタハタWhite fishsandfish — the winter fish that gives Akita its name-day thunderA fish that surges toward shore with the first winter thunder — Akita's official prefectural fish. Eaten in shottsuru hot pot, deep-fried, or as izushi, its shoreward spawning run gave rise to its 'fish-thunder' kanji and its status as Akita's winter icon.Named with characters combining 'fish' and 'thunder' for its habit of coming ashore to spawn amid winter thunder, it forms the core of the prefecture's food identity.