🥩 Bibai Yakitori(Bibai Grilled chicken skewers)
Bibai City sits between Sapporo and Asahikawa. The western part is on the low lying ground of the Ishikari Plain and is known as being one of Hokkaido's bread baskets. On the eastern side, there is a hilly region which extends into the Yubari Mountains. Formerly one of the biggest coal mining towns in Japan, many mine workers used to bustle around here. At that time, "Bibai Yakitori" is said to have been a favorite place for the mine workers to come and eat at. Even today, a wide range of people from children to adults come to eat at "Bibai Yakitori" as local soul food. It is said that "Fukutaro Mifune", who ran a yakitori stand in Bibai City, invented his dish around 1955 (the first half of the 1950s). At that time, yakitori restaurants threw away offal and skin, but seeing this, "Fukutaro Mifune" thought this was a waste and began selling “motsu kushi” using the offal. These motsu kushis became popular among the locals and mine workers, and it became known as "Bibai Yakitori". Today, “Bibai Yakitori” still means “motsu kushi”, which they make by skewering different chicken parts, such as the head, skin, internal eggs, gizzards, and onions, and then grilling them on a skewer. One characteristic of "Bibai Yakitori" is that they use onions instead of leeks. The reason for this is because "Bibai" is famous for onions, which are grown in the space around the city and their agriculture is flourishing. So, you can get good quality onions at relatively low prices compared to leeks.