Rice dishes
Tofu Meshi
Tofu meshi — crumbled tofu and vegetables over rice in a light broth
Said to have spread as a Buddhist memorial dish among merchant households, crumbled and pan-fried tofu is set over rice and doused with a light broth simmered with shiitake and dried gourd shavings — made from cheap, easy-to-find ingredients that turned it into an everyday dish.
- Origin: Okayama Takahashi
- About 570 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Crumbled, pan-fried tofu is pushed through a sieve and served over rice with a light broth poured on top — a dish rooted in Buddhist vegetarian cooking. The carefully drawn stock lets the ingredients' own flavors come through, and shredded egg, snow peas, and dried shiitake add color for a clean, understated dish fit for a memorial table.
How it's made
Raw tofu is crumbled small and boiled, then squeezed dry in a cloth while still hot. It's fried in oil, seasoned with soy sauce, and pushed through a sieve while still hot. A broth is drawn from dried sardines and kelp, enriched with the simmering liquid from shiitake and dried gourd strips. The tofu and toppings are arranged over rice, with the broth poured on just before eating.
Why it took this shape
Tofu-meshi is said to have started as a vegetarian dish served at Buddhist memorial services, often in merchant households. Because the ingredients were cheap and easy to find, it's said to have spread into ordinary homes from the Meiji era on, becoming part of the food served at family memorial gatherings.
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 Okayama
- Ami to Daikon no NitsukeTiny Setouchi shrimp called ami, richest in early autumn, are simmered with daikon in soy sauce and sugar — a pairing said to have grown from the two coming into season together, with a salted version kept for winter when rough seas kept boats ashore.
- Bachi JiruThe offcut ends of hand-stretched somen, called bachi for their resemblance to a shamisen pick, are simmered with daikon, carrot, and fried tofu in Asakuchi's Kamogata — said to hold a firmer bite than the somen strands themselves.
- Buri ZoniIn southern Okayama, New Year's zoni is built around yellowtail, a fish that changes name as it grows and so is read as auspicious, simmered with spinach, daikon, and other root vegetables — a dish passed down through the generations for the New Year's table.
- Chiya GyuJapanese Black raised in Niimi, Okayama, tracing to one of the oldest documented "tsuru-ushi" pedigree lines from the Edo period — said to benefit from the clear Takahashi river and fertile soil.
- Demi KatsudonA freshly fried pork cutlet is doused in hot demi-glace sauce over rice, a bowl said to have been devised by the founder of an old Okayama City restaurant after being won over by Western-style cooking at a Tokyo hotel — toppings vary shop to shop.
- FunameshiCrucian carp caught in the waterways of the reclaimed Kojima Bay farmland, at their least fishy in the cold season, are minced by hand and simmered with root vegetables, the rich broth then ladled over hot rice — also known as tonto-ko-jiru for the sound of the knife against the board.