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Hokkaido Cuisine

Japan is a small country but even it boasts numerous types of food. Hokkaido's regional food, for example, represents a wonderful sample of the diversity that can be found in Japanese cuisine.

The most omnipresent of all Hokkaido foods is Sapporo ramen, a miso-based ramen.

Miso is one of the most common of all ramen flavors found in Japan next to soy sauce and salt.Most non-Japanese people who have tried miso ramen may not know that this is a Hokkaido specialty.

Although not as common as miso ramen, an oddly named hot plate barbeque dish called Genghis Khan, which features lamb or mutton with vegetables, experienced a surge of popularity in Tokyo over the past few years. Ishikari Nabe, a miso-based hotpot with salmon, vegetables, and tofu is perfect during the wintertime and can easily be made at home.

Other dishes that are less prominent outside of Hokkaido but are known to visitors are Ika Meshi, a squid stuffed with rice and simmered in sauce, and Chanchan-Yaki, a dish that features salmon stir-fried with butter, vegetables, and miso.

With the Snow Festival in Sapporo coming up, February is a great time of year to discover Hokkaido cuisine.