Aomori Prefecture home cooking: event foods

<p>[Purpose]To understand the unique characteristics of regarding the most characteristic New Year's dishes in Aomori Prefecture.</p><p>[Methods]The survey period was from 2013 to 2015. Aomori Prefecture was divided into three regions, the Tsugaru region, the Nanbu region, and the Shimokita region. Interviews were conducted in a total of 25 areas in the above regions regarding home cooking characteristics of that region. The subjects of the survey were 41 people who have lived in the regions for a long time, were familiar with regional dishes, and still cook those dishes. Mainly the characteristics of New Year’s dishes were summarized from the family event meals which were examined in the interviews.</p><p>[Results]Throughout the prefecture, many families ate at the same table over Year's Eve and New Year’s. The dishes common to the three regions were "Nishime", "Chawanmushi", "Namasu", "Namako-no-sunomono", "Koae", and "Sashimi". A characteristic point of "Chawanmushi" was it being not sweet in the Nanbu region but sweet in the Tsugaru region. "Namasu" was eaten in some parts of the Tsugaru region. Scallops, squid, and octopus were eaten throughout the prefecture as "Sashimi," and "Sudako" was common in the Tsugaru region. In the Nanbu and Shimokita regions, a dish called "Niaekko" made from ingredients such as radish, edible wild plants and tofu was eaten. As for the fish used in the main dish in each region, "Cod" and "Aramaki salmon" were mainly used in the Tsugaru region, "Aramaki salmon" and "Flatfish" in the Nanbu region, and "Flatfish" in the Shimokita regions. As for sushi, "Salmon and bamboo shoot Iizushi" was eaten in the Tsugaru region, and "Squid sushi" was eaten in the Shimokita region. Soups eaten in the regions were "Keno-shiru" and "Azube-jiru" that use wild plants in the Tsugaru region, "Ichigoni" and "Kujira-jiru" that use seafood in the Nanbu region and "Kujira-jiru" and "Tsubo-jiru" in the Shimokita region. Aomori Prefecture is blessed with agricultural and marine products, and even with dishes that have the same name, the ingredients used were different in the inland and coastal regions of the three regions.</p>