🍱 Dongame-jiru

It is also called” Dongame-jiru” or “Dorogame-jiru”. “Dongame-jiru” is a miso soup made in the summer at the residence of an Omi merchant in the Gokasho area, and has spread throughout the prefecture, especially in the Koto region. The miso soup contains ground sesame seeds, and was named "Mud Turtle soup (Dongame-jiru)" because the sesame seeds in the soup look like mud and the slit in the eggplant skin looks like a turtle's shell. This “Dongame-jiru” contained eggplant, which is a summer vegetable. Eggplant contains a lot of potassium, which allows body heat to escape to the outside, and aspartic acid, which is effective in relieving fatigue, thus helping to prevent anorexia caused by the summer heat. Furthermore, sesame seeds contain high-quality protein and gomarignan, making this soup dish full of nutrients. Gomarigunan, a nutritional component of sesame seeds, has been found to be effective in inhibiting the action of active oxygen, which is detrimental to health, lowering cholesterol, and preventing aging. At that time, Omi merchants did not know about nutrients, but they ate seasonally appropriate and healthy food.