Rice dishes
Warigo Bento
Warigo bento — a Shodoshima lunch box packed with molded rice and simmered vegetables
A Shodoshima lunch box packs rice pressed in a dedicated wooden mold alongside simmered konjac, shiitake, and other vegetables. Around 20 boxes are said to be brought and shared between acts at the Hifuyama rural kabuki performance, an Edo-period tradition still held today.
- Origin: Kagawa
- About 530 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Warigo bento packs mold-shaped rice and a hearty assortment of simmered vegetables into "warigo," rectangular wooden boxes split diagonally in two. Konjac, shiitake, carrot, burdock, fish cake, and lotus root are simmered with a slightly bolder seasoning, and rolled egg or fish cake add color. Two boxes are said to make one portion, and forty boxes for twenty people were traditionally packed into a black lacquered case with a carrying strap. It's said to be a distinctive style of bento long associated with Shodoshima.
How it's made
Rice is shaped using a dedicated wooden mold and packed into the warigo box. Konjac, shiitake, carrot, burdock, fish cake, and lotus root are simmered together, with the lotus root, burdock, and konjac seasoned a bit more strongly, then packed in colorfully. Rolled egg and fish cake round out the presentation. Since the ingredients and seasoning of the simmered vegetables vary by household, bringing several boxes together lets everyone sample a range of flavors.
Why it took this shape
Shodoshima holds an annual rural kabuki performance on May 3, said to have begun as a celebration of the completion of an agricultural irrigation pond, and warigo bento is said to have been eaten during breaks in the performance. In a gathering that kept people together for hours watching kabuki, a wooden box built to carry a large batch of portions for many people at once appears to be what settled into this shape. The custom of each household bringing its own box to share also seems to have turned the meal into a chance to sample everyone's own version.
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
Related lineage
- KakimazeBamboo shoot, dried shrimp, fried tofu, and other ingredients are simmered in soy sauce and folded into freshly cooked rice. A specialty of Shodoshima, an island long known for soy sauce production, traditionally served to large gatherings such as village meetings.
- MossomeshiDried 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.
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.