🍱 Nishime

Nishime is a traditional dish prepared throughout the entire prefecture during weddings, funerals, New Year's, O-Bon (Festival of the Dead), and other gatherings. The main ingredients include tofu (grilled to prevent it from falling apart during cooking), carrots, konjac, butterbur, shiitake mushrooms, and wild vegetables such as Zenmai (Japanese royal fern) and bracken, often with dried and sliced herring added. Dried and sliced herring was a valuable protein source in inland areas during the Edo period, and was transported by Kitamaebune cargo ships. The ingredients used in Nishime vary from region to region. In the Ou and Kitakami mountain regions, preserved foods such as salted and dried wild vegetables, frozen radish, and frozen tofu (koya tofu) are commonly utilized. Zenmai, in particular, is considered the best of the wild vegetables and is traditionally on special occasions prepared in a dish called "Zenmai no ippon ni," in which it is cooked without being cut. In coastal areas, dried fish like rockfish, dark sleeper, fat greenling, conger eel, salmon, and others may also be included.