Everybody Likes Hot Pot!

               Or, if not, you will after a winter in Akita. This is a short explanation of food and food production in the Akita Prefecture of northwest coastal Japan. Akita cuisine is quite unique to the rest of the country in that it reflects the harshness of the long winters and the agricultural industry. Commonalities among the various dishes of Japan are ones that can keep well through the winter, or that may be served hot or cold, depending on the snow or hot farm work outside. The natural resources in Akita are ideal for the high level of rice production and other industries, such as sake brewing.

                Agriculture is one of the main constituents of the Akita economy. It is aptly called “the rice bowl of Japan,” much like the Midwestern US is called the “bread-bowl,” for exactly the same reasons.  In general, Hokkaido has the highest acreage and agricultural productions, but the long and cold winters (worse even than Akita) prevent all but the hardiest strains of rice from growing; Hokkaido rules in the areas of wheat and livestock. However, Akita, and neighboring Yamagata, Niigata, and Iwate, leads the country in rice production (http://stats-japan.com/t/kiji/10665)Akita has the highest per-capita production of rice and soybeans, the indispensable grains of the Japanese diet.  The factors in Akita’s success have often been named as the rich mountain soil and plentiful clean water from rivers, melt water, and mountain runoff. These factors let Akita grow large amounts of high quality rice. This spurs other industries and statistics in the region, mostly associated with sake production and consumption.

I hope that some of the rice fields are as cool-looking as this!....or maybe it's just wishful thinking :/

                The long and cold winter is the ultimate deciding factor in the types of dishes traditionally served in Akita. Nabe is the Japanese variety of one-pot stews all over the world and East Asia known as hot pot. The hot earthen pot and easy cooking process over an open fire make it an ideal dinner during the winter. Akita has its own special type of nabe, called kiritampo nabe. Kiritampo are a type of rice balls wrapped around a cedar stick and ideally cooked over an open fire around the simmering hot pot. The hollow cooked rice cigars then go into the hot pot and served warm, making a very hearty, hot meal in the winter. Here is a video on how to make kiritampo; it’s a lot harder than it looks! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRtZTxI9VJQ. Another thing that makes Akita hot pot so special is the particular Hinai chicken used in the stews. This free range breed is native to Akita and is famous for its tender, non-fatty meat.

                Other hot pot varieties are found all over Japan; some of the ingredients are common staples, some can be exchanged depending on season and available materials. Almost anything you want can go into a hot pot dish. Ingredients include meat, vegetables, eggs, mushrooms, pickles, or noodles (though not with kiritampo). Of these ingredients, anything can be substituted for something else (like pork for beef, cabbage for carrots), as long as the final product tastes good after being cooked in an earthen or cast iron pot over high heat and served hot for everyone at the table to eat from. This means nabe can be as much a social experience as a simple eating one.

                A curious way of cooking evolved in Akita that doesn’t require a stoneware pot, but still needs lots of heat and stone. Ishi-yaki, or stone cooking, involves heating a smallish stone up to around 1,200 degrees C and dropping or dipping it into water with uncooked ingredients for a soup or stew. The super-heated stone instantly boils the water and the ingredients. I’m not sure if it gives it a particular texture or flavor to the dish, but it certainly sounds cool.

                There are other types of foods native to the Akita region. Another type of hot pot, shottsuru nabe features pickled sandfish caught in the muddy coastal plains of the Sea of Japan coast. This adds essential protein and salt to this wintery dish. This brings up another area of Akita cuisine, found on the coastline. Huge iwagaki (crag oysters) may be found in the nutrient rich deposits at the mouths of rivers. They reach their peak in the summertime, and so make a classic, refreshingly cool meal in the hot summers. Tsukudani is a traditional preserve of northern Japan, made from freshly-caught fish and pickled in soy. This is something likely to last through the winter.

                Akita boasts its own variety of pickles. It’s most famous is called the iburi-gakko. Gakko means “pickle” in the Akita dialect, and so this one most quintessentially represents Akita flavor. The iburi-gakko is a daikon radish smoked and preserved in salt and rice bran. This may be served with dishes hot or cold, tasty after a long hot day on the farm, or warm inside the hut. 

                One among the top three udon types originates in Akita. The unaniwa udon noodles may also be served hot or cold. The peculiarity of this noodle comes from the thin strip of air inside each and every strand. This gives it more body and a hearty texture.

                Much of Akita’s production is based on agriculture, but another industry arose from it that makes the prefecture famous for completely separate reasons. Akita is Japan’s largest producer of sake, Japanese rice wine, and also the country’s largest consumer. Sake as understood by Westerners is really named nihonshu, or Japanese alcohol, whereas the word sake means simply “alcohol.” The western name “rice wine” is also a misnomer, since the brewing process for sake is much closer to beer than wine. The ingredients are simple: very fine rice, milled down as much as 60%, making the sake sweeter and more refined, very clean and good-tasting water, and koji and yeast fungi to facilitate the fermentation.

                Like beer, wine, and other alcohols around the world, there are very specific cultural practices associated with the brewing and drinking of sake. Schools of brewing traditions, or ryuha, make sake according to old recipes and techniques handed down by brew masters over several generations. These schools may be separated by technique, ingredients or region. These brew masters, or toji, control and oversee production of the sake at his brewery. Toji are considered masters of their work, and are viewed to be at the same social position as great artists or musicians. The toji hands down his special wisdom to his son or apprentice. The culture around drinking the sake is as refined as making it. Sake tastings and competitions take place all over the country, and Akita breweries are often very competitive. We also all know about drinking etiquette, drinking games, sake serving ware, and side dishes that complement the drinking of sake in a social setting.

                Akita is a special place for sake making. The large amount of rice cultivation, together with good-tasting water makes the sake production convenient and successful. It also has a very developed toji group, the Sannai toji.  There are dozens of sake breweries in Akita (many right in Akita City), each with its own unique flavor and recipe for varieties of sake. http://www.osake.or.jp/english/index.html  It is possible to take tours at many of the more major breweries, but tours in English I can’t guarantee. Sadly, it’s up to the brew master to give us some samples L

              So I hope we can try many or all of these different foods when we visit Akita, and also partake (just a little) in the sake culture. It will be cold outside, so let’s have some fun inside with the hot pot and warm sake \(^-^)\