Iwate

A variety of warm millet dishes rich in dietary fibre and minerals

Zakkoku Ryori

Iwate Prefecture accounts for 50% of the entire area in Japan devoted to growing Japanese barnyard millets, foxtail millets, and proso millets (as of 2005). People are recently rediscovering the benefits of eating millets as a good source of dietary fibre and minerals. In the days when people consumed these grains in their daily diet, local women created various recipes and cooking methods, and handed them down to the younger generations. This culinary culture is incredibly rich and diverse, and plenty of dishes have been developed using, for example, buckwheat alone, such as hand-kneaded soba noodles, kakke dumplings, and hatto dumplings. These homely dishes are simple, but very warm to the heart.