Regional food of Chugoku

In Bihoku, wani means shark rather than crocodile. Miyoshi and Shobara serve it as sashimi, blanched fish, simmered dishes, grills and fries.

CAVIEL SAND is a modern gift sweet produced by JEWELRy ITO, a Hiroshima jewelry shop founded in 1977, and assembled immediately before eating; it is...

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Chisha-momi is a Chugoku-Shikoku home dish of leaf lettuce torn by hand, salted and massaged, rinsed and squeezed, then dressed with vinegar, miso or...

Fukuyama uzumi places simmered tofu, taro, mushrooms, burdock and sometimes sea bream, shrimp or seasonal matsutake beneath a cap of white rice.

Azuma-zushi places vinegar-cured mamakari or gizzard shad over small hand-shaped portions of okara fried and seasoned with vinegar, sugar and salt.

Cavia Financier is an original baked sweet from Hiroshima jewelry shop JEWELRy ITO. It combines salt made with Heike caviar from Shiiba, Miyazaki...

Jewel Sand is a modern gift sweet from JEWELRy ITO, a Hiroshima jewelry shop founded in 1977. Its twelve colors and flavors evoke the birthstones for...

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Anago meshi lays sauce-glazed grilled sea conger across rice flavored with stock from the fish's heads and bones or with its tare around...

Hiroshima nigome simmers adzuki with small cubes of daikon, carrot, burdock, lotus root, taro, shiitake, konnyaku and fried tofu.

Hiroshima okonomiyaki layers a thin crepe, fish powder, a large mound of cabbage, bean sprouts and pork, then combines them with separately cooked...

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Toyoka wraps a Yamadaya blend of smooth and chunky adzuki paste in a thin baked mochi-flour dough with a distinctly moist, chewy bite.

Hiroshimana-zuke is a Hiroshima pickle made from the broad leaves and thick stems of the Hiroshima-na vegetable. Young pickles retain a vivid green...

Kaku-zushi presses vinegared rice and simmered fillings in a square wooden mold, decorating the top with egg, shiitake, fish, denbu and seasonal...

Kawadori Mochi is Kameya's Hiroshima confection: small pieces of soft gyuhi mixed with walnut and dusted with fragrant roasted soybean flour.

Kure Kaiji Curry is a city program in which approved Kure restaurants reproduce curry recipes from individual Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships...

Momiji manju is a maple-leaf-shaped castella cake filled traditionally with smooth azuki paste. It originated on Miyajima and is now made by many...

Onomichi ramen combines firm flat medium-thin noodles with clear soy broth based on chicken and Seto small fish, topped with distinct pieces of pork...

Bishunabe cooks chicken, pork, gizzard, tofu products, konnyaku and vegetables with Saijo sake, salt and pepper.

Suigun nabe is a generous hot pot of Setouchi octopus, fish, shrimp, shellfish and seaweed. It is presented across the Geiyo Islands around Innoshima...

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Kakioko is oyster-packed okonomiyaki from Hinase in Bizen, Okayama. A mound of shredded cabbage is briefly mixed with loose batter, spread across a...

Murasuzume folds a thin golden, bubble-marked egg-and-wheat wrapper around generous tsubuan in a soft woven-hat-like half moon.

Okayama bara-zushi mixes seasoned roots and mushrooms into vinegared rice and decorates it with seasonal seafood, egg, and vegetables. Sawara, eel...

Demi katsudon places fried pork cutlet over rice and covers or dips it in a dark demi-glace-style sauce, distinguishing Okayama's bowl from egg-bound...

Okayama ebimeshi fries rice and small shrimp with a dark sauce commonly combining caramel sauce, ketchup, curry powder and spices.

Okayama funameshi fries minced crucian carp, simmers it with burdock, carrot, lotus root, and other vegetables, then ladles the rich broth over hot...

Okayama kibi dango are small, soft sweets made with ingredients such as glutinous rice, starch syrup, sugar and millet. They are not necessarily...

Mamakari-zushi opens, salts, and vinegar-cures the small clupeid fish sappa, called mamakari in Okayama, then places it over vinegared rice like...

Ote Manju surrounds abundant smooth adzuki paste with an exceptionally thin steamed skin fermented from rice koji, glutinous-rice amazake and wheat...

Takasebune Yokan is Komiya Yokan's bite-size azuki confection poured into a paper boat wrapper in Maniwa, Okayama.

Tai somen presents a whole sweet-soy simmered sea bream with boiled somen and uses the fish cooking liquid as dipping or pouring broth.

Tsuyama horumon udon grills beef offal, noodles, and vegetables on a hot iron plate, coating them in a sweet-savory, often miso-based sauce.

Akaten is a Hamada fish cake made by kneading chilli into pollock or other white-fish paste, shaping it into a flat rectangle, coating it in...

Izumo soba is a dark, aromatic noodle of the Izumo region in Shimane, made with buckwheat milled close to the husk in a whole-grain style. It has a...

Izumo zenzai is sweet azuki soup with grilled or simmered mochi or shiratama; texture, salt and red-white mochi vary by shop.

Shijimi-jiru is a soup made by simmering small clams in their shells and seasoning the broth with miso or a light salt-and-soy finish. In Shimane, the...

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Yamakawa pairs red and white pressed sweets: red evokes a mountain of autumn leaves and white the river water in a poem by tea lord Matsudaira Fumai.

Genji maki is a Tsuwano confection made by wrapping smooth bean paste in a thin, soft castella-like sheet and shaping it into a long, flat roll for...

Uzume-meshi hides simmered diced tofu, kamaboko, carrot, shiitake and other ingredients beneath rice, then adds seri, nori, wasabi and clear seasoned...

Inaba oiri uses toasted dried rice or puffed rice bound with mizuame and shaped into balls, bales or irregular clusters. Ginger is common but not...

Utsubuki Koen Dango is Ishitaniseikado's Kurayoshi sweet: small mochi centers covered outside with white-bean, azuki, and matcha pastes and arranged...

Igai meshi cooks rice with the meat and savory liquor of igai, a dark-shelled native mussel. The version highlighted here belongs to Natsudomari in...

Ago noyaki wraps seasoned flying-fish paste thickly around a rod and rotates it over charcoal or other heat until deeply browned.

Dondoroke-meshi fries crumbled drained firm tofu until it crackles, then cooks it with rice, burdock, carrot, dried shiitake and fried tofu.

Inaba no Shiro Usagi wraps refined yolk bean paste in a moist shell made with local Daisen butter and bakes it as a rabbit.

Daisen okowa steams or cooks glutinous rice with soy-seasoned foothill ingredients such as mountain vegetables, bamboo shoot, carrot, burdock, dried...

Tottori kani-jiru cuts female snow crab, locally called oyagani, into a miso soup with daikon. Matsuba-gani normally denotes the male, so the two...

Tofu chikuwa combines firm tofu and white-fish paste at roughly seven to three, wraps the mixture around a rod and steams it into a pale, tender...

Nonoko meshi fills large abura-age pouches with washed raw rice, burdock, carrot and other vegetables, then simmers them slowly in seasoned dashi...

Furoshiki Manju is Yamamoto Otafukudo's Tottori sweet: a softly chewy brown-sugar steamed skin enclosing restrained smooth azuki paste.

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Iwakuni chagayu cooks rice loosely in bancha or roasted-tea liquor, producing a fragrant porridge whose tea strength, salt and softness vary by home.

Kawara soba places pan-seared green tea noodles on a heated roof tile, topping them with sweet-savory beef, shredded egg, scallion, nori, lemon and...

Kitaura nuta pairs blanched wakegi scallion with obaike, the salted and parboiled skin-and-fat layer near a whale's tail, and dresses them with white...

Shimonoseki calls pufferfish fuku and serves it as paper-thin sashimi, hot pot, fried fish, milt, porridge and fin sake.

Shimonoseki tsubu uni preserves sea-urchin roe with salt and alcohol while keeping visible pieces, then packs it in small jars. It is a concentrated...

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Tsuki de Hirotta Tamago is Asahi Seika's round, pale-yellow steamed sponge cake. The standard cake contains custard made with Yamaguchi milk and...

Bari soba covers fried or griddle-crisped thick Chinese noodles with a generous, lightly thickened chicken-stock sauce containing cabbage, bamboo...

Iwakuni zushi layers vinegared rice, Iwakuni lotus root, shredded egg, shiitake, greens, fish or denbu in a large wooden mold, presses the stack and...

Kencho stir-fries daikon, carrot and crumbled firm tofu, then braises them with soy sauce, sugar and sake into a familiar Yamaguchi home dish.

Obaike thinly slices the whale's tail fluke, called oba, boils it and rinses it in cold water into pale, ruffled sarashi-kujira with a crisp...

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