Place
Iwate
岩手県
41 items
● 36 born here(Azuki Batto, Hecchoko Dango, Hina Manju, and more) / ● 4 raised here(Iwachu Buta, Iwate Tankaku Wagyu, Maesawa Gyu, and more) / ● 1 prepared here(Iwate no Sake)
Born here36
- Azuki Batto小豆ばっとうwide wheat noodles served in a sweet red-bean brothRested wheat dough cut into wide noodle strips is served in a sugar-sweetened red-bean broth — made along the Sanriku coast for building-raising and harvest celebrations, with a custom of eating it seven times on the seventh day of Obon for good health.
- Hecchoko Dangoへっちょこだんごdimpled millet dumplings simmered in sweet red-bean soupDumplings of millet and sorghum flour, each dimpled in the center, are simmered in a sweet red-bean soup — also called "ukiuki dango," a harvest-close treat from rice-poor northern Iwate where they float to the surface as they cook.
- Hina Manjuひなまんじゅうrice-dough buns shaped like flowers and rabbits for the Girls' FestivalRice-flour dough tinted with food coloring is wrapped around red-bean paste and shaped into flowers, peaches or rabbits using wooden molds — tied to a doll-viewing custom in Hanamaki's Ohasama area, offered alongside kirisensho at the Girls' Festival.
- Hizu Namasu氷頭なますvinegared salmon head cartilage with daikon and carrotThin slices of cartilage from a salmon's head — "hizu" — are salted, cured in vinegar and tossed with daikon and carrot namasu — a rare delicacy from just one small part of the fish, a New Year dish where salmon run up Miyako Bay.
- Dento Mochi Ryori伝統餅料理Traditional mochi cuisine of Ichinoseki — dozens of toppings for a ceremonial rice-cake courseAn umbrella term for some 300 ways of dressing mochi — sweet red bean, edamame paste, walnut, natto, zoni and more. A domain-era custom of pounding mochi twice a month left Ichinoseki with a "mochi calendar" of 60-plus occasions a year and a formal ceremonial mochi course still observed today.
- Imo no Ko Jiruいもの子汁a taro, chicken and root vegetable soup shared outdoors in autumnAutumn taro is simmered with chicken, tofu, daikon and carrot in a soy broth — a fall favorite of the taro-growing Kitakami river valley, still enjoyed at riverside "imoni-kai" gatherings around Kitakami's Futako district.
- Ganzukiがんづきa steamed brown-sugar sponge cake studded with walnut and sesameWheat flour leavened with baking soda and vinegar is steamed into a rustic sponge studded with walnut and sesame — its round shape and sesame pattern likened to geese flying toward a full moon, a farm-break snack of southern Iwate.
- Hittsumiひっつみhand-torn wheat dough simmered with chicken and root vegetablesHand-torn pieces of rested wheat dough are simmered in a chicken-and-root-vegetable broth — also called hittsumi-jiru, the signature dish of the Kitakami river valley's flour-based food culture, made across Iwate.
- Kamamochiかまもちa half-moon dumpling filled with walnut, miso and brown sugarWheat dough kneaded with hot water is folded around a filling of miso, brown sugar and walnut into a half-moon and boiled — a simple treat made across Iwate under regional names like "hyuzu" or "kamadango."
- Kenchin Jiruけんちん汁Iwate-style kenchin jiru — root vegetables and crumbled tofu fried before simmeringCarrot, daikon and burdock are fried with crumbled firm tofu until it turns granular, then simmered in soy dashi — kenchin jiru is made in several regions, but Iwate's version skips meat and fries the tofu hard, once made in bulk to spare women's labor at the Little New Year.
- Mame Shitogi豆しとぎa soybean and rice-flour offering cake from northern IwateBoiled green soybeans are mashed and kneaded with rice flour and sugar into a log and sliced — thought to stretch scarce rice flour with beans in rice-poor northern Iwate, once offered to the harvest and mountain gods.
- Nishime煮しめa soy-simmered assembly of seared tofu, root vegetables and dried mountain greensSeared tofu, carrot, konjac, dried mountain greens and herring are simmered together in soy-seasoned dashi — a potluck dish made statewide for weddings, funerals, New Year and Obon, with dried goods varying between inland and coastal Iwate.
- Morioka Jajamen盛岡じゃじゃ麺Morioka's miso noodle, adapted from a dish first tasted in ManchuriaThe dish is credited to Takashina Kanshō, who started out selling from a street stall and drew on the fried-sauce noodles he had encountered in Manchuria to develop what became Hakuryu's signature bowl. Hot noodles are topped with stir-fried meat miso, cucumber, ginger, and scallion and mixed together; finishing the meal by cracking an egg into the bowl and adding broth, called 'chi-tan-tan,' is an established local custom.
- Kaho Dango果報だんごrice dumplings with a lucky twig hidden inside, made for a December riteRice-flour dumplings — a few with a hidden bush-clover twig — are dropped into sweet red-bean porridge; finding the twig is said to bring luck. Offered on December 24th for the Daishi-ko rite in southern Iwate, still made at children's gatherings.
- Kamaishi Ramen釜石ラーメンShoyu — soy saucethin noodles built for a working port's short lunch breakA local ramen from Kamaishi, a steel and port town. Very thin, wavy noodles pair with a clear, amber, light soy broth — the noodles engineered to cook fast, giving the bowl the lightness of a Sanriku port town's everyday meal.
- Kirisenshoきりせんしょa steamed rice-flour cake with walnut, sesame and soy glazeSteamed rice flour is kneaded with walnut and sesame, sweetened with soy sauce and sugar, and shaped into ovals or leaf forms — a snack from central Iwate's rice country, offered at the Girls' Festival or eaten during farm-work breaks.
- Kurumi Tofuくるみ豆腐a walnut and kudzu jelly served as a meat-free sashimi substituteGround, strained walnut is thickened with sugar and kudzu starch, set firm and sliced in place of raw fish — a shojin dish from Oshu's Esashi area, served with a sweet miso-and-ginger sauce, made with local "oni-gurumi" walnuts.
- Kurumi Zoniくるみ雑煮New Year mochi soup served alongside a sweet walnut dipping sauceGrilled mochi sits in a soy-dashi zoni of daikon, carrot and grilled tofu, eaten both straight from the bowl and dipped in a separate sweet walnut sauce for a second flavor — a way of savoring scarce rice cake on the New Year table around Miyako.
- Mamebu Jiruまめぶ汁a soy broth with walnut-filled wheat dumplingsWheat dumplings stuffed with walnut are simmered in a soy-flavored dried sardine and kelp broth with root vegetables and grilled tofu — said to have begun as a noodle substitute in famine-prone Kuji, now a dish for weddings and funerals.
- Miyako Ramen宮古ラーメンShoyu — soy saucelight niboshi soy of the Sanriku coastA light niboshi soy broth with thin wavy noodles — everyday food of a Sanriku port town.
- Mizu Tataki (Tororo)みずたたき（とろろ）Mizu tataki — pounded wood nettle stem dressed with miso and soy sauceThe reddish base of the wood nettle "mizu" is pounded and chopped until it turns sticky, then dressed with miso, mirin and soy sauce — called "mizu tororo" when ground fine, an early-summer dish from the streamsides of Iwate's mountain ranges.
- Morioka Reimen盛岡冷麺A postwar Korean-Japanese fusion cold noodle, remade in IwateIn 1954, Aoki Teruhito, born in Hamhung in what is now North Korea, opened the restaurant Shokudoen in Morioka and combined the mild flavor of Pyongyang-style cold noodles with the spicier taste of his hometown's version. Early reception was rough, and the recipe was reworked over years of customer feedback until the noodle settled into its current potato-starch-and-wheat form.
- Ninohe Gokoku Ramen五穀ラーメンBesides shoyu, miso, shio and tonkotsuNinohe Five-Grain Ramen — millet country's noodle, not its brothA local ramen from Ninohe, an Iwate city known for growing minor grains. Its noodles are kneaded from five grains — foxtail millet, proso millet, sorghum, amaranth and wheat — putting the noodle itself, rather than the broth, at the center of the dish.
- Nuppei Jiruぬっぺい汁a thickened tofu and mushroom soup for Buddhist observancesTofu, dried shiitake and scallion are simmered in a soy broth thickened with grated mountain yam — a close relative of "hachihai-jiru," which uses potato starch instead, made statewide as a Buddhist meat-free dish for rites and ceremonies.
- Ocha Mochiお茶もちflattened rice dumplings on a skewer, brushed with sweet walnut sauceRice-flour dumplings are skewered, flattened, steamed and grilled with a walnut glaze — a Morioka-area treat once toasted over the hearth, its name said to come from a resemblance to a war-fan shape.
- Ofunato Sanma Ramen大船渡さんまらーめんShoyu — soy sauceramen drawing its stock from sauryStock drawn from the saury landed here in volume — raised into a town specialty during the recovery.
- Sanriku Iso Ramen三陸磯ラーメンShoyu — soy saucea coast road diner's seaweed ramenA seaweed-topped ramen born at a drive-in in Otsuchi, Iwate. A light soy-seasoned broth built on Japanese-style dashi is piled high with seaweeds like wakame and matsumo, plus scallop, shrimp and squid.
- Sanma no Surimi Jiruさんまのすり身汁Sanma surimi jiru — a soup of hand-ground Pacific saury fish ballsGround Pacific saury, worked in a mortar with miso and egg, is shaped into balls and simmered with daikon, scallion and tofu — a Sanriku coast staple that took hold about 60 years ago as saury catches grew, in a region that leads Honshu in landings.
- Shidami Dangoしだみだんごdumplings made from leached, dried acornsAcorns are boiled, dried, leached with wood-ash lye and mashed, then sweetened into dumplings — once a famine-proof staple in northern Iwate's mountain districts, its recipe still kept alive by a preservation group around Kuji.
- Soba Kakkeそばかっけbuckwheat dough triangles simmered and dipped in garlic misoThin buckwheat dough is cut into triangles, briefly simmered with daikon and tofu, and dipped in garlic miso — a dish said to date to when the Nanbu domain banned cut soba, its name possibly from "kakera," meaning scrap.
- Sukikonbu no Nimonoすき昆布の煮物shredded kelp simmered with mushroom and carrotYoung kelp, boiled, shredded and dried into "suki-konbu," is rehydrated and simmered with carrot and dried shiitake in soy sauce — a preserve that spread statewide after kelp farming began in Fudai village around 1969.
- Tofu Dengaku豆腐田楽firm tofu skewered and grilled over charcoal with garlic misoFirm cotton tofu is skewered and grilled over charcoal, then dipped in garlic miso — grown out of northern Iwate's homemade-tofu culture in a prefecture with high tofu consumption, its miso seasoned seasonally with butterbur sprout or sansho.
- Ukogi no Horohoroうこぎのほろほろa savory topping of hedge-shrub greens, pickled daikon and walnutBlanched, chopped young shoots of the hedge shrub ukogi are mixed with miso-pickled daikon and walnut into a savory topping — a spring dish from around Morioka that makes use of a plant once relied on in famine years, eaten spooned over rice.
- Usu-yakiうす焼きa thin, soy-brushed wheat crepe sold at Morioka's shrine festivals"Usu-yaki," sold from festival stalls around Morioka, Iwate's Hachiman Shrine, is a thin round of water-thinned wheat batter topped with scallion, pickled red ginger, and dried baby shrimp, brushed with soy sauce at the end.
- Wanko SobaわんこそばBite-sized noodles refilled bowl after bowl until you signal stopA style from Hanamaki, Iwate, where bite-sized portions of soba are refilled bowl after bowl. It is said to derive from a lord being served small portions of soba, one bowlful at a time.
- Yanagi Batto柳ばっとwillow-leaf-shaped buckwheat dumplings in a savory brothBuckwheat dough shaped like willow leaves is simmered in a soy- or miso-flavored broth with daikon, carrot and mushroom — said to be named for a loophole villagers used to keep eating soba after the Nanbu domain banned finely cut noodles.
Raised here4
- Iwachu Buta岩中豚the first pork ever certified as a named brand in JapanDesignated brand-pork No. 1 by the Tokyo Meat Market's branded-pork association — the first pork in Japan to receive such certification. Raised on an Iwate farm under SPF hygiene standards.
- Iwate Tankaku Wagyuいわて短角和牛a lean, pasture-grazed breed apart from marbled Japanese BlackA breed distinct from marbled Japanese Black — pastured across Iwate's hills from spring to autumn amid sharp temperature swings, said to build amino-acid umami in its lean, low-fat meat.
- Maesawa Gyu前沢牛Tohoku's flagship marbled beefRaised in Maesawa along the Kitakami river — Tohoku's flagship marbled beef.
- Nanbu Kashiwa南部かしわa multi-way cross bred for flavor and economySaid to be created by Iwate's agricultural research center by crossing lines carrying the blood of the natural-monument Iwate-jidori and shamo fowl with fast-growing Cornish stock; reportedly reared 120 days or more for hens.
Prepared here1
Known for it here5
- Ginga no Shizuku銀河のしずくKnown sourceIwate's cooled-and-still-good brand riceSaid to be Iwate's developed brand rice, with a light sweetness and stickiness that holds up even after cooling; its name nods to Miyazawa Kenji's fiction. Said to have been bred by Iwate prioritizing quality over yield.Said to be one of the prefecture's showcase brand rices.
- SanmaサンマBlue-backed fishKnown sourcePacific saury — the fish that announces autumn with smoke and saltA slender migratory fish at its peak in autumn, traditionally grilled whole with salt, innards included. Ports facing waters where the shoals come close to shore land the most, and the fat and bitter innards are said to reflect that year's catch.
- Murasaki UniムラサキウニOther stylesKnown sourcea spiny urchin whose pale gold roe belies its dark shellIts shell and spines run purplish-black, but the roe inside is pale gold. Milder and more refined than bafun uni, said to have a distinctly grainy texture, eaten raw or as sushi, in season through summer.The rocky Sanriku coast is rich in the seaweed this urchin feeds on.
- WakameワカメKnown sourcea seaweed whose texture toughens against a strong tidal currentA brown seaweed used widely in miso soup and salads. Its thickness and bite are said to vary with the strength of the local tidal current, turning bright green when briefly dipped in hot water; fresh spring wakame is said to be most aromatic.The Sanriku coast is a major farmed-wakame producing area.
- AwabiアワビShellfishKnown sourcea single-shelled sea snail prized for its firm, briny biteA large sea snail that grazes on seaweed, with a distinctive single-shell form. Its firm, briny bite has long made it a prized delicacy raw, while steaming is said to soften it and bring out more sweetness.The Sanriku coast, where cold and warm currents meet, grows the seaweed this shellfish feeds on.