🍱 Shoyu-meshi

Since the Muromachi period (1333-1573), stir-fried soy sauce rice has been called "Shouyu meshi" and has been a popular local dish for celebrations and other occasions. It has been handed down in the Matsuyama area since ancient times. As it is a simple dish made with ingredients that common people had at hand, it was often made to entertain guests when they came to visit. It can be enjoyed throughout the year by adding seasonal ingredients such as Butterbur and Bamboo shoots in the spring, and Taro, Chestnuts, and Ginkgo nuts in the fall. These days, seafood and chicken are often added, while the traditional "Shoyu-meshi" is made mainly with vegetables and dried fried Tofu, which provides vegetable protein and at the same time gives it a rich and very tasty flavor. In the 1950s, a Bento(Lunch box) store in the town of Matsumae rearranged this recipe to create the "Shoyu-meshi” Bento box. The rich, soy-sauce flavored rice is fluffy and tasty even when cold, and the rice is topped with Chicken, Lotus root, Shiitake Mushrooms, Bamboo shoots, Royal ferns, and other vegetables that have been simmered in soup stock, making it a nutritious and satisfying meal for commuters to pick up at the station.