Kitakata Ramen

Kitakata is one of Japan’s three main ramen cities, alongside Sapporo and Hakata. While just a small city outside Aizu-Wakamatsu, Kitakata boasts the highest number of ramen restaurants per capita in Japan. Kitakata ramen is made with a light soy sauce base packed with thick, wavy noodles and a hefty helping of melt-in-your-mouth “chashu” braised pork belly. Depending on the restaurant, the soup may be further flavoured by chicken bones, pork bones, or seafood, creating numerous distinctive takes on the dish.

Kozuyu

Kozuyu is a dish from Aizu made with a variety of local ingredients like wood ear mushroom, shiitake mushroom, konjac noodles, bracken, taro, and more, simmered in a broth made from dried scallop. After being seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, it is often served in a small, locally crafted red lacquerware bowl. Being inland, seafood like scallop was highly valued in Aizu, making kozuyu a treasured dish common at ceremonies and auspicious occasions.

Ikaninjin

Ikaninjin means “squid and carrot,” and that pretty much sums it up! It is a food from the Nakadori region of Fukushima, particularly common in the north. The squid used is dried squid, a common bar snack throughout Japan, sliced thinly together with carrots and flavoured with soy sauce, mirin, and sake. While available throughout the year, it is especially popular with locals during New Year’s.

Benkei

Benkei is a dish local to Haramachiku Kaibama in Minamisoma, a city in the coastal Hamadori region of Fukushima. It is made from daikon radish, dried taro stem, and chilli pepper cooked in soy sauce. Originally served during New Year’s or special Buddhist occasions, it is now regularly eaten during the daikon and taro harvesting season of late autumn and winter. Rather than freshly cooked and warm, locals claim it is more delicious cold, and reheating it is a no-go.