Cuisine
Cuisine An introduction to Sado's many types of traditional cuisine, from simple family dishes to hearty fisherman's fare.
Sado Nishime
A local dish similar to o-den (Japanese vegetable stew) , and popular all over the island, Sado nishime is a simmering pot of tofu, kombu seaweed, daikon radishes, carrots and taro.
Tara no okijiru (pollack sea soup)
A coarse, fisherman's soup, made of freshly-caught Alaska pollack, chopped up live and flavored with Sado miso. Full of simple goodness, the soup is best enjoyed in winter.
Sado soba (buckwheat noodles)
Sado's soba noodles are made by hand and come in two kinds : rustic black soba made with 100 per cent buckwheat flour and smoother tsunagi soba. Both are fragrant and delicious. New soba in autumn is a particular delicacy. In Osaki in the Hamochi district, there is an annual "Osaki Soba Festival" where people are given the chance to make real, 100 per cent buckwheat soba for themselves.
Ayu no ishiyaki (sweetfish baked on stone)
The Hamo district is famous for this rustic delicacy where ayu is baked on a hot stone inside a bank of special Sado miso. The bitter-tasting liver of small wild ayu caught in mountain streams marries beautifully with the fragrance of baked miso to produce a distinctive taste sensation.
Okoshigata Yaseuma (Special Sado beanpaste cakes)
Dumpling paste dyed pink, green and yellow is pressed into wooden molds in the shape of flowers and animals and filled with sweet azuki bean paste. The shaped dumplings are then taken out, placed on camellia leaves and steamed. These dumplings are an essential part of the Hina Matsuri (Doll's Festival) decorations in Sado.