🍱 Funayaki

“Funayaki” is an afternoon snack made from flour which has been passed down in the Chikugo region since ancient times. Water and flour are mixed together and made into thin, circular discs which are then cooked. It is often stuffed with a variety of ingredients that change depending on the region and the household, from piling in brown sugar to make an afternoon snack to sandwiching pickled mustard greens to make a light meal. Wheat is widely cultivated in the Kyushu region, especially in the wide and flat water basin of the Chikugo River found in the north; Fukuoka Prefecture and Saga Prefecture make up about 80% of all Kyushu's cultivated land. Thanks to this, wheat production flourished and “funayaki” is cheap to make, which is why it has been so widely consumed across the Chikugo region. It is said that the “funa” in funayaki comes from the Japanese word “fune,” which means ship, and this is because the discs were originally cooked in large pans with curved bottoms, so that when you folded the funayaki in half, it looked like a ship. Of course, this is just one of many theories on the name's origin.