Kakimaze

Kakimaze simmers bamboo shoots, green beans, carrot, burdock, dried shiitake, fried tofu, dried shrimp, and fish cake — a mix of ingredients from both sea and mountain — in soy sauce and other seasonings, then mixes them into freshly cooked rice, a dish from Shodoshima also known as "omaze." The broth that each ingredient has absorbed clings lightly to the rice, making for a colorful, festive dish. Shodoshima is known for its soy sauce production, and the local sauce is often what seasons the dish.

Rice is cooked as usual, and dried shiitake and dried shrimp are rehydrated in water. Burdock is shaved into thin strips, green beans are salt-boiled and cut on the diagonal, and the rest of the ingredients are finely chopped. Everything except the carrot and green beans goes into a pot with seasoning and simmers until the flavor soaks in, then the carrot and green beans are added and simmered further. The cooked rice is mixed with the ingredients and their broth, seasoned to taste, and plated. In spring, butterbur or sweet potato stems are sometimes added, and in fishing communities conger eel, giving the dish a seasonal, regional character.

Kakimaze is said to have been served at festive gatherings — family and community events, or times when neighbors helped each other through the busy farming season. Because it comes together quickly and scales easily to feed a crowd, while still looking festive, it's said to have been especially valued by farming women. Shodoshima's mild, dry, sea-surrounded climate suited the production of salt, soybeans, and wheat, which is part of why soy sauce making took root there — and that local sauce, in turn, is part of what shapes the dish's flavor.