Sometimes it’s not that the food isn’t delicious, it’s just you don’t have enough life experience to enjoy it yet.

For many Japanese people, domestic travel revolves around food. If you mention a visit to Fukui, you’re likely to be asked, “Did you try snow crab?”, instead of “What did you see?” or “Where did you go?”. However, for our Japanese-language reporter Saya Togashi, local cuisine often turned out to be a disappointment. When she was younger, she’d hear fantastic stories about how delicious they are, only to try them and be let down. This tragedy born from overblown expectations resulted in her internalizing the idea that “there’s nothing tasty about local cuisine.”

▼ Although, I know a few fans of Hokkaido’s Genghis Khan (grilled mutton and onion) that would rise up in indignance at that statement.

For example, twenty years ago Saya had the impression that Okinawan food was “generally brown,” “an acquired taste rather than something suitable for mass consumption,” and “had fame but wasn’t something [she] particularly liked.”

Coming back to Okinawan food after a quarter of a century of life and experiences, she found herself feeling incredulous at how delicious she found the food to be. She’s convinced that there must have been something wrong with her tongue when she was younger. With her newfound appreciation for Okinawan food, she has decided to rank her top five personal favorites.

● 5th Place: Hamburgers

Being so heavily influenced by American culture, in part due to the military base located there, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to discover that there are many restaurants and cafes that serve American food. There are many local hamburger chains, as well as independently run burger joints, but the one that really grabbed her fancy was A&W, known locally as “endaa”. A&W also happens to be the first-ever fast food restaurant that opened in Japan, beating other American chains by several years.

To Saya, the interior that was reminiscent of a traditional American diner had an ambiance that conjured up images of an American TV drama, however it was the food that truly left her blown away. The burger had a deep flavor that seemed to retain the taste of the original ingredients. Perhaps it was the addition of cream cheese that added depth, but the sauce had the complex taste of homemade food, rather than an over-processed, uniform flavor. It completely lacked the “junk food” flavor that large chains seem to have.

Their specialty root beer also gained a new fan, with Saya having now become addicted. Root beer isn’t widely drunk in Japan, but the word “beer” is very common, which can lead some Japanese people to have the misconception that it’s an alcoholic drink. However, when she tasted it, the distinct herbal flavor knocked her socks off with its deliciousness. With the store also having free refills, she may have drunk a lot more than she initially intended to, so it’s probably a good thing that it’s not alcoholic.

● 4th Place: Steak

Similarly, there are also a lot of steakhouses. Most tourists tend to gather around well known restaurants that offer performances, such as the chefs tossing pepper mills into the air. Saya gets kind of nervous around hidden gems only known by the locals, so she’s quite happy to enjoy her meals in the more touristy restaurants. Even though it feels like the stores are trying to gather more customers by offering unique shows, they still serve incredibly good meat. She thinks there’s a special thrill in having steak grilled right before your eyes, and they’re so juicy and tender that it feels like the meat could just melt in your mouth. She reckons you could have steak every other day of your Okinawan holiday and even then you still wouldn’t be tired of it.

● 3rd Place: Island cuisine

Okinawa has a lot of specialities that are lauded as delicacies throughout the country: mimigaa (pig’s ear), goya chanpuru (bitter melon stir-fry), irichii (food stir-fried then boiled in sauce), sea grapes, kamaboko (fish cake), and yushi tofu (tofu that hasn’t been pressed or molded). However, for Saya’s previous childish palate that once believed that “roast beef, potatoes, and corn soup” make the ultimate meal, she couldn’t appreciate the simmered, vinegared, and marinated dishes that make up most of the traditional cuisine.

Tasting them once again as an adult, she felt like she had her world overturned. The subtle richness of the ingredients seeps through, and the cooking methods themselves feel like products born from nature.

Using bitter melon as an example, when Saya tried to cook it herself, the result may as well have been called “essence of bitter.” However, when prepared by a local chef along with some egg, it made for an exquisite dish. The bitterness instead became an accent, which transformed the food into something she could eat endlessly.

● 2nd Place: Sata Andagi

Nowadays, it’s pretty easy to find both Hokkaido and Okinawa specialties on the mainland. Quite often there are shops or exhibitions in shopping malls or department stores with an assortment of food available to purchase. Even sata andagi (deep-fried dough, similar to donuts) has become something that isn’t too hard to find, being sold in some supermarkets and bakeries.

However, eating them freshly made is another experience altogether. In fact, it’s quite possible that when you first eat a fresh sata andagi made in Okinawa, you will come to treat all the ones on the mainland as imposters, heralding the Okinawan sata andagi as its one true form.

The crispy outside has a sugar-glaze-like crunch, but the inside is beautifully fluffy. Finished off with the mellow sweetness of the brown sugar, sata andagi are without a doubt a glorious snack. Some shops can sell other flavors, like pumpkin or salty sesame, but the best ones are still the surprisingly plain-looking ones.

● 1st Place: Soki Soba

Probably the poster-child of Okinawan cuisine—the one that everyone is likely to ask if you have tried it or not—is soki soba. Although saying this, there are still quite a few people who don’t like it, and even Saya herself didn’t enjoy it when she first tried it all those years ago.

Eating them again now puts a completely different set of eyes on the food. Unlike the soba (buckwheat noodles) found elsewhere in the country, which could be said to be roughly similar to spaghetti in size, these thick, sturdy noodles are somewhere between udon (very thick noodles) and ramen noodles, and are quite chewy.

The sweet and salty soup, infused with the taste of the pork, is rich and flavorful. That being said, it’s also quite fatty, making it difficult to eat a lot at once. However, it packs a punch that lingers in your mind, leading you to crave it again the following day.

● Honorable mention: Blue Seal ice cream

Blue Seal ice cream can be found with little difficulty on the mainland, being sold in some supermarkets and train station convenience stores. However, Saya had never experienced walking into a store and having them serve it up in a cone, despite the fact that there are stores that do exactly that in the three big cities of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, and their surrounding prefectures. If you want interesting Okinawan-flavored ice cream like Okinawan salt cookies or pineapple and coconut, it might be worth hitting up your nearest store.

Everything that Saya ate on her recent trip was something she’d absolutely be willing to try again. Not once did she find herself saying, “I tried it once, and that’s enough.” There were even some surprises, like sea grapes, which she had thought would be kind of crunchy, but instead were juicy when they popped in your mouth, much like salmon roe.

While Okinawa has many attractions, beautiful nature, a unique culture, and resort life, just the cuisine alone is reason enough for a visit. So start planning your trip now.

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