A Basic Guide to Japanese Festival Food!
Japanese festivals (or matsuri) are hands down one of my favourite things about Japan! There's always a great atmosphere, fun games, unique entertainment and of course DELICIOUS FOOD! All Japanese festivals (especially the summer ones!) have a lot of food to offer; whether there's a couple stalls or a whole street of food to choose from, you'll not go home hungry! So here's a quick glimpse into the world of Festival food!
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TAKOYAKI
Japan, for all it's healthy rice and seafood dishes, sure knows how to make amazing fried goods! And one tasty treat you can't miss is takoyaki (literally fried octopus). These little fried balls may not sound too appetising but one bite into their battery, seafoody goodness will have you scarfing down 12 of them before you know it! From the back streets of Osaka this Japanese street food can now be found all over Japan and is not to be missed!
HASHIMAKI
Trying to explain Hashimaki is kind of difficult without first explaining it's original form of Okonomiyaki. Literally translating to 'grilled how you like' this Kansai region favourite is a savoury pancake style food filled, topped and surrounded by and manner of meat, veggies and seafood. Yum! One fateful day some genius clearly needed his okonomiyaki on the go and invented Hashimaki, in other words, okonomiyaki on a stick! Savoury, sweet, saucy, you name it Hashimaki's got it. While it's not as common as it's pancakey parent, its still a festival food must have! Grab yourself a stick or two and see for yourself!
KAKIGORI
What would summer in Japan be without kakigori!?!? I for one can barely make it through one day without craving a refreshing bowl of Japanese shaved ice! Simply ice topped with fruit, condensed milk or syrup it's a sweet treat (and lifesaver) when the summer heat is beating down! It's cheap (at a couple hundred yen), cheerful and found at every summer festival in Japan! Chose from a whole host of flavours, sit back and enjoy!
YAKITORI
Two words. GRILLED. CHICKEN. That's all you need to know. But really how can you go wrong with some succulent pieces of meat on a stick dipped in delicious secret sauce (normally from a recipe dating back generations!)? I don't think you can. Plus many yakitori stalls don't just offer chicken but pork, beef, veggies, seafood and more so it's great to buy a load of different skewers and try them all out!
BEER AND ICE CREAM
That's right, after all that tasty Japanese food you can grab yourself a cold beer and a soft whippy ice cream to top off the festival experience! Japan loves nothing more than beer and domestic brands like Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin are super cheap compared to beer in other countries so a matsuri is the perfect time to get a bit drunk and wander the streets! And well, ice cream is ice cream wherever you are except Japan loves a crazy flavour or two! Matcha green tea is a common one but I've also seen squid, black sesame and wasabi to name a few! If you find anything stranger I'd love to know!
That's it for my basic guide to festival food! Of course this is a very small list of food you can find at a matsuri compared with all the kinds of food really out there! But if I put down every single one it would take a lifetime (and spoil all the fun!). Hopefully though these foods have made your taste buds tingle! If you're planning a trip to Japan, already here, or want to try some authentic street food at home I highly recommend trying some of these!
