Eating in Okinawa ~ Part 1 [日本料理]

Natives in Okinawa, otherwise known as Ryukyu, are reputed to be people who as a group, live the longest.  They have been the subject of studies by people interested in finding the secret to longevity.  Was it their genes, the weather in Okinawa, their diet?

Since I had the chance to visit Okinawa, finding out what the natives eat might give me some clues to their longevity, eh?

Before I set off, I did my due diligence to find out about Okinawan cuisine.  Afterall, trying the local food is part of the fun of travelling.  So I penned down on my to-try list: chanpuru, umi-budo (sea grapes) and soki.  I vaguely recalled reading somewhere that the natives love their pork, but I had no idea how much they loved their pork.

For my first lunch at a restaurant at Shuji castle, I picked a Goya chanpuru teishoku to try.  The server arrived with a tray with a main dish of enough Goya chanpuru to serve two adults, and the teishoku was for one person.  Goya chanpuru is stir-fried bitter gourd with egg and tofu.  Interestingly, this dish doesn’t taste similar to anything that I’ve eaten in Japan.  For one, it is stir-fried, which is not a cooking technique associated with Japanese cuisine, more likely Cantonese cooking.  The bittergourd is also surprising unlike the large bitter ones used for stir-fries in Cantonese cooking.  These bittergourds are smaller and more knobbly.  The tofu is also firmer than those in the other parts of Japan.  In addition to the little mountain of Goya chanpuru, my teishoku came with the usual rice, pickles, there was a little dish of delish pigs ears.  The natives eat pigs ears too?  They are done nice and crunchy without too much miso and soya sauce.  Yummy!