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Food Culture

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“Geo Food” is what we call meals that have close relationships with this geographic area.
Let’s take a look of some of these “Geo Food”.

Tea Porridge

Tea Porridge

Rice was valuable in the Nanki Kumano area for it had very little plain, and therefore people made it into “porridge” with coarse tea. Kumano’s mountainous area is suitable for growing tea for its morning mists, so they were home-grown by the locals. Tea porridge is popular among the locals for it is thinner than unflavored rice porridge and it tastes good even when it’s cold.


Mehari-zushi

Mehari-zushi

“Mehari-zushi” are huge rice balls wrapped up in salted mustard leaves.

Rafters and workers working in the mountain had often eaten these because of its convenience.

It is said that it is called “Mehari” because when you eat the Mehari-zushi, you have to open your mouth so wide that your eyes (“me”) get big (“hari”).


Sanma-zushi

Sanma-zushi

Sanma-zushi is made from saury that swam south from Sanriku offshore to Kumano-nada sea during the autumn/winter season. These fish are lean and has a light taste. They are soaked in citrus vinegar after they have been cut open with their head still on, and topped onto vinegared rice. An author from Shingu City, Sato Haruo had composed a poem about these saury dishes.


Maguro (Tuna)

Maguro (Tuna)

Tuna caught at the Kii Peninsula are not frozen on the deck but taken back fresh, so you can enjoy the most of their freshness. The Katsuura fishing port (Nachikatsuura Town) is especially popular in Japan for their fresh tuna catch.

You can try some of these extra-fresh tunas at local restaurants and accommodations nearby.

[Best Season December thru March]


Bonitos

Bonitos

“Ken-ken fishing” is a fishing method for luring bonitos and catching them from a moving fishing boat. This trolling method was introduced from Hawaii in the Meiji period and it is said that the name “Ken-ken” comes from how the Hawaiians were calling this method.

The bonitos are carried back to the port within a short time with their blood immediately drained after the catch and dunked into icy saltwater. With all the blood carefully drained and by being kept in an icy temperature, the bonitos has a rich flavor with light texture. The locals love to eat them in sashimi rather than the standard “tataki (lightly roasted bonitos)”.

[Best Season February thru June, and October]


Moray Eels

Moray Eels

Moray eels tastes good for they contain lots of gelatin, but they are difficult to prepare because of their small bones. Very few moray eels are on the market throughout Japan and Nanki Kumano is one of them. They are served lightly roasted or deep-fried or in hotpots.

Winter is the best season for fishing moray. You can see the triangle-shaped dried moray eels swinging in the cold wind blowing through the Nanki Kumano area. Moray eel tsukudani (soy sauce flavored preserved food) is a local product.

[Best Season December thru February]


Kumano Beef

Kumano Beef

Kumano beef is from cows that have been bred and raised in the Kumano area since the ancient times. They acted as a precious work force for the farmers. After succeeding in breeding pedigrees, the Wakayama Prefecture speciality “Kumano beef” was born.

The meat is tender with fine texture and excellent in its own flavor. The savory smell when cooked is very satisfying.


Inobuta (crossbreed between wild boars and pigs)

Inobuta (crossbreed between wild boars and pigs)

Inobuta is a hybrid between a male wild boar and a female pig which was born in 1970 in Susami Town. The meat is delicious with tenderness while having the flavor of wild boar meat. You can enjoy Sukiyaki or in hotpots, as well as barbeques and steaks.


Jabara

Jabara

It is said to be named after “conducting traditional ceremonies to expel evil spirits” (in Japanese, “ja” has a meaning for “the evil” and “harau” has a meaning for “exorcism”)

The one and only natural hybrid citrus tree was found growing in a village in a scattered territory, Kitayama Village. The scale of Jabara expanded because they found out that it was a completely new kind of citrus throughout the world. After that it became popular on the internet, and then made into a beverage as a local specialty of the village. t Around 20 kinds of products have been made which makes annual sales of over 200 million yen for the village.


Konjac of Sasabi

Konjac of Sasabi

The konjac of Sasabi is made from “Wadama” a konjac potato of native breed of Japan since the ancient times. The wadama has to be grown in a well-drained place and it hates the sun light.

There used to be a konjac field on an easy slope 100m upwards from the current residential area, and they used to grow more than a ton of konjac potatoes back in those days. This place had once seen a landslide and because of that, the water flows deep down inside the soil. Also, this place becomes shady around noon for it faces the east, so it was a perfect place to grow wadamas.

Today, the place is a cedar forest and the konjacs are grown near the residential area but the process of manufacturing konjacs is the same as the old days. It’s good to eat them in sashimi-style for it doesn’t smell like normal konjacs but the amount of harvest is limited, so it is sometimes called as the “phantom konjac”.