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Eating in Okinawa


Eating in Okinawa

Okinawan cuisine is distinctly different from that of mainland Japan and bears notable Taiwanese influences. Okinawans too proudly proclaim that they use every part of the pig except the squeal and pork makes an appearance in almost every dish, including bits like ears, trotters and blood which are generally disdained by the Japanese. Even Spam has a distinct following. Other Okinawan ingredients include vegetables rarely seen on the Japanese mainland such as bitter melon (ゴーヤー; gōyā) and purple yam (紫芋; murasaki-imo). Okinawan tropical fruits including mango, papaya, pineapple, dragonfruit and the sour lime-like calamansi (シークァーサー; shīkwāsā) are delicious when in season. Dark cane sugar (黒砂糖�; kurosatō) is also a popular snack, eaten both as is and made into a vast variety of candies and pastries. Some dishes worth trying:
  • Gōyā champurū (ゴーヤーチャンプルー) is a stir-fried dish made from goya mixed with pork and tofu.
  • Gurukun (グルクン) is no less than the official fish of Okinawa prefecture. Small but tasty and prepared in a variety of ways, even the bones are edible.
  • Hirayāchī (ヒラヤーチー), an okonomiyaki-like thin savoury pancake
  • Raftī (ラフティー) is a side dish consisting of very fatty cubes of stewed pork.
  • Sātāandagī (サーターアンダギー) are deep-fried balls of dough also aptly known as Okinawan donuts.
  • Sōki soba (ソーキそば) is Okinawan noodle soup with fatty cubes of roasted pork.
    • Okinawan chinmi or "strange foods", eaten as snacks with drinking, include:
  • Chiragā (チラガー), the skin from a pig's face; can be very chewy
  • Mimigā (ミミガー), sliced pork ears in vinegar; crunchy and nearly tasteless
  • Umibudō (海ぶどう) or "sea grapes", a type of seaweed eaten raw dipped into vinegar or soy, mild with a pleasant caviar-like texture
  • Sukugarasu (スクガラス), salt-pickled tiny fermented fish, usually pressed onto tofu before eating
    • Aficionados of American fast food may find Okinawa to be a curious treat, as many American restaurants popped up here to serve the US military long before they made it to the mainland. Most prominent is the presence of A&W outlets serving hamburgers and root beer (with free refills, even), available practically nowhere else in Japan. Foremost ice cream (under the "Blue Seal" brand) is also common. Several hybrid Okinawan-American dishes, most of which seem to employ copious quantities of Spam, are widely available:
  • Nuuyaru burger (ぬーやるバーガー), a speciality of local fast food chain Jef , is gōyā champurū, cheese and a slice of Spam in a bun. Appropriately enough, the name is an Okinawan pun that translates roughly as "What on earth is this?".
  • Pork eggs (ポーク卵 pōku tamago) consists of fried slices of Spam served with ketchup, scrambled eggs and ? since this is Japan, after all ? rice and miso soup.
  • Taco rice (タコライス tako raisu) is spiced Mexican-style taco meat with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes, but instead of being in a tortilla, it's on rice.

    • The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Okinawa

    A small gōyā gourd (front) and a scoop of gōyā champurū (back)

    Sōki soba noodles

    Taco rice

    Mimigā (pig ear) and Chiragā (pig face)

    Sukugarasu on tofu

    Umibudō (sea grapes)

    Sātāandagī donuts


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    Okinawa Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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