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Image of Mizutaki(2015)

Mizutaki(2015)

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Hakata's Specialty Dish Mizutaki - Inspired by Chinese and Western Cuisine

When the weather grows cold and the north wind blows, one gets an appetite for nabe. When young people think of nabe in Fukuoka/Hakata, motsunabe comes to mind, but those with longer memories will think of mizutaki. The late Einosuke Obiya, a historian who specialized in manners and customs and the first director of the Hakata Town Culture League observed, “The defining trait of Hakata culture is to take something that comes from somewhere else and skillfully rearrange it so that it becomes something that seems to have always been a local specialty. That’s also true of food,” Mizutaki is a case in point. This specialty dish of Hakata, which is thought to be a typical Japanese cuisine, is actually said to have been created by combining Chinese and Western cuisines. The man who by all accounts got the idea for the dish was Heisaburo Hayashida, the owner of the famous shop Suigetsu, currently located at 3 Hirao, Chuo Ward. Originally from Nagasaki, Hayashida traveled to Hong Kong at the age of 15 and lived with an English family, and studied Western cooking during his stay. After returning to Japan, he blended consommé with the Chinese method of simmering chicken in water to create a plain soup. To this he added seasonal vegetables, udon noodles, and mochi (sticky rice cake) to create a type of zosui (type of rice soup) with a Japanese twist. He brought the dish to Fukuoka in 1905 (Meiji 38) when he opened his shop. From there it spread throughout Japan and became known by the name of Hakata-ni. How does one properly eat mizutaki? First put chicken broth in a bowl, add Hakata green onions and kotonegi for flavor, and relish every bite. Then eat the chicken. Next, put Chinese cabbage or cabbage into the pot and add tofu, spring chrysanthemum, and mushrooms. Squeeze in the juice of a citrus fruit, like citron, sudachi, or bitter orange, and then flavor with soy sauce and yuzugosho. It’s not just for winter meals - it is eaten year-round. Obiya once exlained that during the 500-year period from the Tang diplomatic missions to China, to when Sakai in Osaka became a port in the Kamakura period, foreign culture came to Japan almost exclusively through Hakata. It is no surprise, then, that food came to Hakata first and then spread to the rest of the country. Japanese missions to Tang China occurred between 630 and 894 in which Japan sent numerous missions (there is an ongoing debate as to the actual number). In any case, it is said that the missions departed from Osaka Bay, and stopped over at Hakata Bay on their way to China. They also landed in Hakata on their way back to Osaka. Since then, Hakata has been Japan's gateway, so it is inevitable that Hakata has had much influence from the Asian continent in terms of food.

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