Rice dishes
Mossomeshi
Mossomeshi — five-item rice pressed into a cylindrical mold
Dried sardine, fried tofu, and burdock simmered sweet and salty are mixed into freshly cooked rice, then pressed into a cylindrical mold. Said to trace back to a monk's ascetic meal, it has long been served in Mitoyo at the Momote archery festival held to pray for a good harvest.
- Origin: Kagawa Mitoyo
- About 580 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Mossomeshi refers to "busso-meshi," rice pressed into a round or fan-shaped wooden mold — a dish from Mitoyo city. Carrot, konjac, bamboo shoots, iriko, burdock, kanpyo, and dried shiitake, all simmered sweet and savory, are mixed into the rice before it's pressed and shaped in the mold. It's said to have originated as a simple vegetarian meal for monks living communally, meant to be eaten as a single bowl of rice containing everything needed. Despite its simplicity, the dish is packed with the flavor of its many ingredients. A beef version, "niku-mosso," has become common in recent years.
How it's made
The iriko are headed, gutted, and deboned. Carrot, konjac, bamboo shoots, and the other ingredients are cut and simmered sweet and savory in water and seasoning. Once the rice is cooked, the ingredients and their broth are mixed in, and the rice is packed into a cylindrical mold, pressed out, and plated. Pressing it into a mold is said to give the rice a shape that's easy to carry and easy to portion out for a crowd, and packing it firmly is said to be the key to keeping it from falling apart once unmolded.
Why it took this shape
Mitoyo is said to hold an annual archery festival called Momote, praying for a good harvest, safety at sea, and protection from misfortune, and mossomeshi is said to have become a local favorite after being served as the communal meal at that festival. Beyond the festival, it was reportedly also served as a working meal whenever residents gathered for shared labor, such as clearing irrigation channels or raising a roof beam. Pressing the rice into a mold so portions for many people could be prepared at once looks well suited to a life with frequent group labor.
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.
- Station food and ekiben (station bento)Where and when to find ekiben (station bento) before it sells out, etiquette for eating on board, how standing soba and udon stalls work, and where to find souvenirs sold inside the station.
- Soraben and airport diningA guide to what soraben means and how it differs from ekiben, whether to buy before or after security, etiquette for eating on board, airport restaurants, and things to check before buying food souvenirs to take home.
Dishes in the same style
- Aburafu DonDeep-fried wheat gluten, shaped into a log, is simmered in a sweet-savory broth and set with egg over rice, katsudon-style — a Tome City bowl said to trace to a tofu shop's shelf-stable gluten product, later turned into a bowl dish by a local innkeeper.
- Aburi-zushiNigiri with just its surface flash-seared by torch or hot iron. Unlike Edomae's shigoto curing for keeping, the searing here is done purely for the change in aroma and fat it brings — a relatively recent way of eating sushi.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Kagawa
- Aji no SanbaiAji (horse mackerel) is grilled until lightly charred, then steeped in a three-part vinegar dressing sharpened with chili and ginger. The vinegar is said to soften the bones enough to eat whole, and the dish has long served as a summer festival accompaniment to drinks around the Seto Inland Sea.
- Anmochi ZoniA New Year zoni made by simmering daikon, kintoki carrot, and a round rice cake filled with sweet red bean paste in dried-sardine broth, finished with white miso. Said to have begun as a once-a-year treat using sugar, once a costly commodity in the Edo period.
- Ebi Miso JiruSmall shell-on shrimp are pureed with rice rinse water, then simmered with white miso and tofu. Served as part of the roughly 300-year-old sacred sake festival at Uga Shrine in Toyonaka, Mitoyo, where it has long accompanied the shrine's home-brewed doburoku.
- Hage DangoFreshly milled new-wheat dumplings are coated in a simple red-bean paste. Traditionally made around Hangeshō, the early-July turning point when the rains break, as thanks for the season's farm work, and offered to household gods before the family eats.
- Ikanago shoyuA fish sauce fermented from sand lance and salt for six months or more, mainly produced in the Aji district of Takamatsu, Kagawa. It is said to have disappeared for a time before local volunteers revived production around 1998, and it is counted among Japan's three great fish sauces.
- ImotakoOctopus from the Seto Inland Sea and taro are simmered together in a simple seasoned broth. Once reserved for New Year and wedding feasts, it is said to have become an everyday side dish today.