Trip to the Land of Plenty
29 July 2008
Not only is Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido famous for its spectacular landscapes, but also for its delicious food. All the different Japanese regions and places (or even individual city neighbourhoods) cherish their local specialties – but everyone seems to agree that Hokkaido’s cuisine offers some particular treats. And rightly so! Our trip through the eastern part of the island was packed with culinary highlights, and although we were served incredibly rich dinners at our ryokan (the Japanese-style spa-resort we stayed at), we couldn’t stop trying bits and pieces of all the different kinds of sweet and savoury snacks offered at the shops.
As opposed to most other regions of Japan, this area is very thinly populated, offering plenty of farmland on the wide plains between the densely wooded volcanic mountains and lakes. Besides dairy farming, the space is used to grow corn, different kinds of potatoes (including sweet ones), and Hokkaido-specific kinds of pumpkins and melons (Simon and I have both become big fans of the melons and of all the sweets that contain them – they have such an intensive and yet so refreshing taste!).
All these tasty fruits and vegetables are of course reflected in the local dishes, and also butter has been integrated into the cuisine, although dairy production only really started in the mid-20th century. But in my eyes Hokkaido’s absolute highlight still is its fantastic seafood, from oysters to scallops (the best I’ve ever had!), and all above the giant crabs which the region is probably most famous for.
Eager to try them, I asked upon check-in at the ryokan if any crabs would be included in our dinner (we had booked for Japanese meals) – but as we found out later, my question had been quite redundant (in fact, anybody with a shellfish allergy should maybe pick another holiday destination). Crabs were clearly the main topic of our meals for the three nights to follow, presented in different versions – the legs as sashimi as well as cooked, the meat finely chopped and simmered in a fish-broth and vegetable pot, the shells cooked in miso soup, a piece of leg in a glass of sake, and finally on our last evening we got the huge animal cooked as a whole. This whole feast of crabs was complemented by plenty of other types of sashimi and various highly elaborate vegetable and meat dishes. It was just excellent!
When planning our summer holidays we had decided to take a shorter trip than usual this time, but pick a ryokan that would really impress us (given the prices for such kind of resorts, this had to be the trade-off!). This had been the right decision – we thoroughly enjoyed being pampered for 3 days and nights at the Tsuruga Resort, which was just fantastic. The weather was rather changeable (as you can see in the pictures), but the resort could really not have been any better, from the service to the room to the spa (and not to forget the food!). From our beautiful Japanese-style room we overlooked Lake Akan (originally a volcanic crater lake) through a huge window. And although we happily used own private hot tub on the terrace, we went to check out the ryokan’s large hot springs (they have separate ones for men and women) on one of the rainy days: it was by far the most beautiful Japanese spa I’d ever been in, with plenty of different basins of various shapes and temperatures, with or without bubbles, with different kinds of bubbles, in a cosy little cave, in an outdoor stone and cedar garden overlooking the lake,…
I am actually not so much of a spa freak, but this time I completely forgot the time over trying out all the different basins, and I was almost late for my “date” with Simon to go for our afternoon tour through the souvenir shops to try samples of all the yummy regional sweets, some of them home-made and freshly prepared at the ryokan.
After great 4 nights and 5 days (after our stay at Lake Akan we spent another night at Lake Saroma, a bit further up north) of bathing, gourmet food and touring lonely places we are now also happy to be back in a lively big city, and have been mainly on a diet of salad and simple pasta since, recovering from the heavy feasting…
