[Shimanto City, Kochi Prefecture] Recommended foods you must eat in Shimanto City!

Shimanto food

Shimanto City has so many recommended ingredients that it's hard to choose just one. All the ingredients that can be found in the rich nature are exquisite.

You can enjoy Shimanto's food culture and local cuisine, including the delicacies of the Shimanto River, the sea, and the mountains and villages.

• Table of Contents
• “Natural eel” from the Shimanto River
• “Farmed eel” with a taste close to natural
• A gift from the Shimanto River: “Natural sweetfish”
• Plump texture "Shimanto River Shrimp"
• Shimanto River crab “Tsugani”
• Local snack “Shimanto Gori”
• Fragrant "Aonori" (Suziaonori)
• Fragrant “Aosa nori” from Shimanto
• Seafood from Shimanto
• The meat in Shimanto is also good! The phantom female cow “Shimanto Cow”
• Those who want to know more about Shimanto City!

“Natural eel” from the Shimanto River

Click here for restaurants where you can eat wild eel

How to identify wild eel

One of the key points to distinguish between wild eel and farmed eel is the color of the belly . Wild eels are creatures that live in the natural environment for a long time, such as at the bottom of rivers or in holes.

For this reason, it is said that when preying or escaping from natural predators, they rub their bellies against the riverbed, causing them to turn yellow .

Due to the abundance of exercise, the eel becomes muscular and has a meaty texture with light fat, and is characterized by its strong original flavor. In addition, the girth of eel is often larger than that of farmed eel.

A delicious way to eat wild eel

The thick, natural eel is grilled over charcoal, giving it a fragrant skin and a chewy texture. Typical ways to eat it include kabayaki, which is grilled with sauce, and shirayaki, which is eaten lightly with salt. The liver can be eaten in soups, and the bones can be fried.

Charcoal grilled eel

Fried eel bowl and bone

Eel salad made with generous amounts of eel

Eel Chimaki

Eel ochazuke

eel fishing

Natural eels from the Shimanto River are caught through traditional methods such as stone fishing and korobashi fishing , and are prized as branded ingredients representing the Shimanto River. Wild eel is a valuable ingredient as the amount of fish caught has decreased in recent years.

The fishing season for wild eel is from April to September.

stone fin fishing

Kolobashi fishing

glass eel fishing

Juvenile eels, called glass eels, are caught near the Shimanto River and are used for aquaculture.

Glass eel fishing takes place at night in winter, creating a magical scene under the light of fishing lights.

“Farmed eel” with a taste close to natural

Click here for restaurants where you can eat farmed eel

How to identify farmed eel

Because farmed eels grow on a stable diet in an environment free of natural predators, they are characterized by their white bellies and soft flesh. They grow beautifully without moving violently or rubbing their bodies on the riverbed.

Because they have less exercise than wild-caught eels, many of them are rich in fat.

Aquaculture

From December to March, we farm eel fry called "shirasu eel" caught in the estuary area of ​​the Shimanto River in a well-controlled environment.

The farmed eel grown in Shimanto is close to wild-caught eel, and has elastic skin and firm, muscular flesh that gives it a firm bite! The fat has a light flavor.

A gift from the Shimanto River: “Natural sweetfish”

Click here for restaurants where you can eat sweetfish

Two names for sweetfish

Ayu is called `` year fish '' because it lives its life in about one year, and it is also called `` fragrant fish '' because its staple food is riverbed moss, which gives it a very fragrant taste.

The taste of ayu changes depending on the river in which it was grown. Ayu that live in clear and beautiful rivers and are raised on high-quality algae are said to have a scent similar to watermelon or cucumber, and the natural ayu that grows in the Shimanto River is rich enough to be called `` fragrant fish .'' You can feel the scent of the river.

Natural sweetfish

Because they scrape off moss from stones to eat, their front teeth are well-developed and their mouths are pointed.

It has a yellowish color, is moist, and has firmness on the stomach.

A delicious way to eat sweetfish

Salt-grilling is a typical way to enjoy the ingredients, and it is easier to eat cleanly by removing the tail and then holding the head and pulling out the bones.

Locals eat the `` Ochi Ayu '' from December to January, when the fat has fallen off, as ``simmered in salt'', which is soft and easy to eat.

boiled salted fish

There are also many other ways to eat sweetfish , such as ``kanro-ni,'' which allows you to eat the entire soft sweetfish, including the head and bones, and `` uruka ,'' which uses salted fish innards.

Kanroni

Grilled sweetfish

sweetfish fishing

In the Shimanto River, traditional fishing methods such as ` `tomokake fishing,'' `` net fishing ,'' and `` hiburi fishing '' are still being passed down to this day.

The fishing season for wild sweetfish is from June to October 15th and from December to January.

friend fishing

net fishing

fire fishing

Plump texture "Shimanto River Shrimp"

Click here for restaurants where you can eat river shrimp

Three types of river shrimp live in the Shimanto River: long-eared shrimp, hirate (Yamato) long-eared shrimp, and southern long-eared shrimp, and the males are characterized by their long claws that exceed their body length.

River shrimp and crab

A delicious way to eat river shrimp

River shrimp, which are about 3cm to 10cm long, can be fried or grilled with salt and eaten with their shells.

Fried river shrimp

In addition, locals also make use of the shrimp stock and cook it with cucumbers, or add it to somen noodles.

Boiled river shrimp and cucumber

River shrimp somen

river shrimp fishing

Shrimp from the Shimanto River are caught using traditional fishing methods such as `` Korobashi fishing '' and `` Shibazuke fishing .'' Additionally, if you make a reservation in advance, you can easily try your hand at river shrimp fishing.

The fishing season for wild river shrimp is from May to August.

Kolobashi fishing

Shibazuke fishing

Shimanto River crab “Tsugani”

Tsurugi crabs (Smitten crabs) come down the river to spawn from late summer to early fall.

Although there is not much edible meat, the rich taste of miso is exquisite.

crab in the water

A delicious way to eat Tsugani

Tsugani soup with full of umami flavor, boiled crab with salt, Tsugani rice, and a local dish called ``Gane miso'' are all popular fall delicacies.

Tsugani soup

crab fishing

There is ``crab basket fishing,'' in which a basket filled with bait is sunk into the river and brought up the next morning, and `` crab fishing, '' in which a basket is set in the path of the crabs that come down the river to spawn.

The fishing season for wild crabs is from August to October.

crabfish fishing

Local snack “Shimanto Gori”

Click here for restaurants where you can eat Gori

Gori is a general term for freshwater gobies, and in Shimanto City, it mainly refers to young fish such as the goby.

Delicious way to eat gori

In addition to fried chicken and tsukudani flavored with sweet sauce, local dishes include gori-don, which is made by chopping dried daikon radish together with an egg, or putting it on rice.

Fried gori

Gori Tsukudani

Gori's egg binding

Gori fishing

Fishing begins in March when the river water becomes warmer, heralding the arrival of spring. The mainstream method is ` `nobori-otoshi ``fishing, '' which takes advantage of the fish's ability to move along the riverbed. ``Garahiri'' is also practiced, in which pairs of people pull a rope with shells suspended from upstream to downstream, and chase gori, which are surprised by the sound of the shells hitting stones on the riverbed.

The fishing season for wild gori is from March to May.

Climbing stream fishing

Gulp fishing

Fragrant "Aonori" (Suziaonori)

Here are some restaurants where you can eat Aonori

Delicious ways to eat Aonori
In addition to being made into powder and used in various dishes, it is also used in sweets to take advantage of its aroma.

Aonori tempura

Harvesting green laver

The Shimanto River is one of the best producing areas of natural seaweed in the country. In winter, you can see the seaweed that grows naturally on the stones at the bottom of the brackish river being scraped off with a comb-shaped tool and dried in the sun.

The season for green laver is from December to May.

Click here for a restaurant where you can eat Aosanori

Delicious ways to eat green lettuce
Aosanoori grown in the Shimanto River is rich in aroma and very soft. In addition to being used as an ingredient in seaweed tsukudani, it can also be eaten in tempura or in soups.

Nori tsukudani

Green lettuce tempura

Harvesting green lettuce

It is harvested from winter to spring by cultivating it in the brackish waters near the mouth of the Shimanto River.

The season for green lettuce is from February to May.

Aosa nori fishing ground

Green seaweed fishing

Sun-dried green lettuce

Seafood from Shimanto

Nakamura's traditional taste Nakamura's salt tataki

Click here for a restaurant where you can eat salt tataki

Seared bonito is famous nationwide. Salt tataki is often a simple dish that just sprinkles salt, but the salt tataki in the Nakamura area of ​​Shimanto City is made by adding a salt sauce made with vinegar mandarin juice to blend the flavors.

Each restaurant has a different seasoning, making it a traditional flavor that can only be eaten here.

In addition to bonito, other fresh fish such as suma tuna (suma tuna) and bonito tuna are also used.

From March to May, you can enjoy the fresh-tasting first bonito, the up-going bonito, and from September to November, you can enjoy the fatty bonito and down-going bonito. You can also enjoy seasonal fish seared with salt at other times of the year.

seasonal sashimi

In Shimanto City, located in the center of western Kochi Prefecture, which has a rich fishing ground, you can find fresh fish such as Isegi, Gure, and Korou in the shops, and you can eat bonito not only seared but also as sashimi. The thickness of the satisfying sashimi is also unique to the local area.

Can you eat it unless you come to Shimanto City? ! Birigatsuo

Click here for restaurants where you can eat birigatsuo

Biri is a fresh bonito caught in the evening, before rigor mortis, which takes about 3 hours from landing until it reaches the customer's mouth.

It has a chewy texture that feels elastic yet shockingly soft. The extremely fresh and addictive bonito will go well with sake. (The dialect "Biri" used in the Hata area means "freshest of freshness.")

The meat in Shimanto is also good! The phantom female cow “Shimanto Cow”

Click here for restaurants where you can eat Shimanto beef

Shimanto Beef is a legendary type of beef that uses only female Kuroge Wagyu beef, and only about 100 of them are shipped each year. The most distinctive feature is the sweet and refreshing fat with a low melting point that is unique to female cows.

They are carefully raised on a directly managed farm, fed with natural water from the deep mountains that flows into the Shimanto River, as well as special homemade feed, hay, and local rice straw. Shimanto Beef is raised in a quiet mountain area with no traffic or traffic, stress-free, and produces melt-in-the-mouth meat with a rich sweetness.

This good fat content is what gives it its sweetness and melt-in-your-mouth texture. Its taste is exquisite in terms of taste, sweetness, and aroma.

Those who want to know more about Shimanto City!

The Shimanto City Tourism Association also rents bicycles!
Also, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about sightseeing in Shimanto City or if you would like to receive a pamphlet.

Article created by Shimanto City Tourism Association