{"id":1788,"date":"2023-07-14T18:03:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T09:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/?p=1788"},"modified":"2025-07-21T18:05:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T09:05:39","slug":"23047","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/23047\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Local foods in Iwate | Jajamen, Wankosoba, Morioka cold noodles, Hoya, and Hittsumi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roots in Chinese home cooking \u201cJajamen\u201d<\/h2>\r\n
\"Roots<\/div>\r\n

Jajamen has its roots in a Chinese home dish called \u201cjaja-men\u201d. The original Morioka city restaurant reproduced the dish he had while in China, returning to Japan and selling it at his food stall. Jajamen is boiled flat udon noodles, topped with special sweet and spicy meat paste, green onions, and cucumbers. Common seasonings include vinegar, chili oil, and grated garlic. The dish is finished off by adding chicken egg soup, and boiling with the remaining meat miso in the bowl. <\/p>\r\n\n

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Read Next<\/div>\n
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How to eat <em>jajamen<\/em> noodles | Finish off with some <em>chitantan<\/em> soup!<\/div>\n
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How to eat jajamen<\/em> noodles | Finish off with some chitantan<\/em> soup! <\/p><\/div>\n

Jajamen noodles are a specialty noodle dish of Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture. Its origin is the Chinese dish jajangmyeon noodles, but the way to eat it is different. We asked a specialty restaurant how to eat jajamen noodles the Morioka way!<\/p><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\r\n

Pineapples appearing on the Sanriku coast? \u201cHoya\u201d<\/h2>\r\n
\"Pineapples<\/div>\r\n

Known as the \u201cpineapple of the sea,\u201d hoya, or ascidians are cultivated in Iwate, harvested from May to August, but can be found throughout the year. It is characterized by its bitter, salty taste with the slight smell of the sea. Although it looks like a shellfish, its classified as chordate, making it a very mysterious creature. Fresh ascidians are recommended to be eaten raw and often served as sashimi or with vinegared dishes. <\/p>\r\n

How many bowls can you eat?\u3000Wanko soba<\/h2>\r\n
\"How<\/div>\r\n

Wanko soba is an \u201call-you-can-eat\u201d idea with having endless freshly boiled soba noodles. \u201cWanko\u201d is a dialect word meaning \u201cbowl.\u201d Is is said that Nanbu Toshinao, the lord of Hanamaki Castle, began the trend, and Prime Minister Hara Takashi, gave the dish it\u2019s name.
\r\nThe bowl of soba is a single mouthful of buckwheat noodles, which is eaten as many times as you want. It is usually eaten with salmon roe, nameko mushrooms, grated radish, and other condiments. <\/p>\r\n

Iwate Prefecture’s Cold Winter Ally \u201cHittsumi\u201d<\/h2>\r\n
\"Iwate<\/div>\r\n

Due to severe weather conditions, Iwate prefecture has never been a good area for Rice harvesting. So instead, flour was more viable, and hittsumi was born. The name \u201chittsumi\u201d was devired from flour and water were kneaded together, and stewed in a broth. Other names include \u201csuiton\u201d or \u201ctottenage.\u201d Hittsumi contains other ingredients such as vegetables, mushrooms, and chicken. Its seasoned with soy sauce or miso. It remains a staple food of Iwate.<\/p>\r\n

Noodle dish born in a yakiniku restaurant\u3000\u201cMorioka Reimen\u201d<\/h2>\r\n
\"Noodle<\/div>\r\n

Morioka Reimen is said to have spread throughout Morioka City after being served at yakiniku restaurants. \r\nThe noodles are made by kneading together wheat flour and starch until thick, translucent, and very firm. It\u2019s topped with a broth made from beef and chicken, and including ingredients like kimchi, eggs, cucumbers, watermelon, pears, and stewed beef. The kimchi can adjust the spiciness, and there tends to be 3-5 levels. Another option is to have the noodles and kimchi served separately. <\/p>\r\n\n

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Read Next<\/div>\n
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5 Local foods in AKITA | Iburi-gakko, Kiritanpo nabe, Hatahata, Inaniwa udon, and Hinai jidori<\/div>\n
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5 Local foods in AKITA | Iburi-gakko, Kiritanpo nabe, Hatahata, Inaniwa udon, and Hinai jidori <\/p><\/div>\n

The prefecture of Akita is situated on the Sea of Japan side of the Tohoku region, the northeastern part of Japan\u2019s main island of Honshu. High-quality spring water flows from the Ou Mountains into rivers, where it is used to cultivate superb rice, which is the primary ingredient of renowned local specialties such as nihonshu (sake) and kiritanpo (mashed rice skewers which are toasted around the hearth). Other delicious Akita specialties include iburi-gakko (smoked daikon radish), hatahata (sandfish), and Inaniwa udon (an artisanal style of udon made entirely by hand).<\/p><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iwate prefecture has cultivated a unique noodle culture since ancient times. It has the Sanriku Coast, which are a world class fishing grounds, provide a wide variety of marine products. Lets take a look at the amazing food culture born in Iwate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[100,111,56,76,77],"class_list":["post-1788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slug_articles","tag-tohoku","tag-area-gourmet","tag-what","tag-local-gourmet","tag-local-noodle"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2147,"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions\/2147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodie-foodie.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}