By Paul McInnes
Hokkaido, the giant northern Japanese island is very different from the Japan you think you know and so is Hokkaido’s Food Culture.
The Japan from movies like Lost in Translation and Black Rain and from the crushed Tokyo and Osaka trains you’ve watched, gobsmacked, on YouTube and numerous TV travel shows.
It is Japan. It has neon and big cities with izakaya, retail stores and ski resorts. But it’s a world away from Tokyo. It’s quieter, with more space and stunning scenery. Freezing cold in winter with piles of snow and relatively mild in summer making it a popular destination for mainland tourists. It’s also a relatively new addition to the Japanese archipelago. Having only been colonised in 1869 and due to its slightly frontier mentality Hokkaido does things its own way especially when it comes to food. Famous for its supreme, fresh seafood, quality dairy products and love of lamb it’s a world away from Tokyo and Osaka whose citizens eschew dairy and look down their collective noses at lamb – which many mainland Japanese view as pungent and unappealing. How wrong they are.
Ramen
One of the main variations on typical Japanese cuisine can be found in Hokkaido’s version of ramen. In Tokyo, noodle lovers can be found slurping up shio (salt) and shoyu (soy sauce) varieties while Fukuoka is renowned for its tonkotsu ramen made from pork bones. Hokkaido, in a wise move, uses and fuses what it’s famous for – its legendary miso ramen. The late, great Anthony Bourdain, one of the best food writers in recent memory, wrote:
“Miso ramen is a Sapporo thing, invented in the 30s. Like any ramen it starts with the broth. In this case roasted pork bones, crushed garlic, some fish oil. The broth is the heart and soul of ramen. But of course the ramen is important too. The noodles, fresh egg noodles to be precise. Lemony yellow in color, quickly boiled and slightly chewy. Here in Sapporo they saute crab legs in butter, infusing it with the taste of the shells and local scallops which it’s also famous for. Then miso, made from fermented bean curd. Garnished with beansprouts, char siu slices and a knob of whole butter. And then the kooky, crazy addition of sweetcorn.”
Hokkaido is a must-visit destination for ramen geeks and those looking for a hot and meaty broth to warm their cockles on a cold day. The ramen that Bourdain describes above has its regional variations throughout the island so best ask the restaurant staff for their recommendations with “osusume wa nan desu ka?” It’s one of the essential phrases that anyone new to Japan should learn.
More about Hokkaido’s food culture will be revealed in part 2. Until then check out some of Sapporo’s best Ramen restaurants including famous RAMEN YOSHINO or pushing the limits of what ramen can be at SAPPORO RAMEN HARUKA…
