A FOOD TRADITION
Ainu Cuisine
Ainu cuisine is the Indigenous food tradition of Hokkaido and nearby northern regions, rooted in hunting, fishing, gathering, and cultivation adapted to cold environments. Salmon, other river and coastal fish, venison, bear in historical contexts, wild plants, millet, beans, and root vegetables have important places, with food practices varying among communities. Characteristic methods include roasting, smoking, drying, boiling, and preserving fish or meat for later use. Examples include ohaw, a nourishing soup made with fish or meat and vegetables; rataskep, a mixed preparation of beans, grains, and vegetables; and salmon dishes prepared through drying or smoking. It should be represented as an Indigenous tradition, not merely folded into generic Hokkaido cuisine.
Dishes linked to this cuisine
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Ainu Sito
Ainu Sito is a soft dumpling made from rice or other grain flour and water, with some preparations served sweetened.
Chep Ohaw
Ainu salmon soup, one form of ohaw, with roots and mushrooms seasoned with fat, salt or a contemporary miso preparation.
Inakibi Gohan
Ainu special-occasion rice cooked with foxtail millet, salt and fat and regarded as ceremonial feast food.
ohaw
Explore the dish and its connections.
Pumpkin Rataskep
Ainu dish of softly cooked beans, pumpkin, potato and grain seasoned with fish or animal fat and salt.
Shirari
Ainu ceremonial food consisting of the grain lees remaining after tonoto is strained, presented as an offering.
Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.