🍱 Hikado

A local dish that has been passed down in Nagasaki since the early 1600s. Portuguese missionaries and traders in Nagasaki used to eat stews made with beef and pork during the cold months. The taste gradually spread among the locals, and later on, unique ways of making it using locally grown vegetables, chicken, and fish were established. This is said to be the origin of the version of “hikado” as it is known today. The name “hikado” comes from the Portuguese word “picado,” which means to chop meat into small pieces. It was introduced as one of the Nanban dishes in cookbooks in the mid-Edo period.