Here are famous and signature Ryukyu & Okinawan food that you should try in Okinawa! Okinawa has very unique foods like Okinawan style soba (so-ki soba), Ju-ci (rice dish), Spam nigiri, Sata andagi (Okinawan donut), and so on!
You should NOT miss any of them since most of them are not eaten beside Okinawa in Japan!
Okinawan Cuisine & Food Culture
Ingredient
They often eat pork. Also they make soups with mixed of broth of pork and fish like bonito or seaweed.
Ryukyu or Okinawan
Okinawa was a kingdom named “Ryukyu” before (at that time, it was not a part of Japan, technically), so now they have both Ryukyu and Okinawan cuisine in Okinawa.
The feature of Ryukyu food are, less salt and weak taste. On the other hand, they use much salt and make it stronger taste for Okinawan food.
Ryukyu food
- So-ki soba
- Goya champuru
Okinawan food
- Pork Tamago Nigiri (Spam Nigiri + Egg)
- Taco rice
Influenced by USA
Some of Okinawan foods are influenced by American culture since it was occupied by USA from 1945 to 1972.
Like “Pork Tamago Nigiri” is very similar to “Spam nigiri” which is originally from Hawaii. Also “Taco rice” is rice with Taco meat and salsa sauce on it.
Okinawa Soba / So-ki Soba
It is Okinawan style noodle. Usually they make soup from bonito and pork. There are a sliced fishcake and pork on it. The red one on pic above is “Shoga” which is (red-pickled) ginger.
It is also different in each area even in Okinawa, so you can try one in each island if you’d like.
Yaeyama soba
The noodle is thinner than So-ki Soba, and pork meat is chopped thin.
Miyako soba
This is soba in Miyako island. Looks there is only green onion on it, but some sliced pork and fish cake are hidden under the noodle.
Ju-ci (sounds “Juicy”)
This is rice dish cooked with pork, carrot, Hijiki (Seaweed), pork broth and Konbu (Seaweed) broth.
The way to cook it might be close to Paella from Spain. If you don’t like white rice, you might like this 😉
You can have a small amout of Ju-ci with So-ki soba, or you can also find “Ju-ci onigiri (rice ball)”.
I personally like this so much since it is easy to eat and good balance of protein(pork), fivers and vitamins(carrot), minerals(hijiki), and carbs(rice).
Goya Champuru
Goya is a vegetable tasting very bitter but people say Okinawan people live longer because of Goya.
“Champru” means “something mixed”. So it is literally mixed saute with Goya. Usually they cook Goya with tofu, sliced pork, egg, and etc with dashi powder and soy sauce for Goya Champru. Other ingredients work well with Goya, it takes Goya’s bitterness out. And they sprinkle a bit of Katsuobushi (Bonito flake) on top.
Pork Tamago Musubi (Spam Onigiri)
This is a typical “Okinawan” food influenced by USA, Spam Nigiri is originally from Hawaii. Japanese-American – Barbara Funamura invented. It called “Spam Onigiri” or “Spam nigiri”, which is rice with spam sausage on it.
After WW2, Okinawa was occupied by USA and it was easier to get western (preserved) food, and it became a common food. In Okinawa, they add Tamago (egg) on it. It’s very simple but you can take protein from spam and egg, carb from rice.
Ji-mami Dofu
It is a tofu made by peanut, very slimy and bouncy. It tastes sweet 🙂 You might like it even if you don’t like normal tofu.
You can also find some dishes using Jimami Dofu, like Agedashi dofu (fried and dipped in sauce), dessert with sweet sauce and Kinako (= soy beans powder) on it, etc.
Attention* If you have an allergy for peanut
Umi Budou
It is one of seaweeds that you can eat in Okinawa, also called “green cavier” or “sea grapes”. It pops in your mouth.
You can eat itself, or find them on the top of salad, seafood bowl and so on.
Umi = Sea / Ocean
Budou = grapes (in this case)
I eat a ton of them while i’m in Okinawa.. since you barely find them outside of Okinawa, or it’s not that fresh even if you find one.
Sata Andagi
Do you like donuts? Sata Andagi is Okinawan style donut shaped round and smaller than normal donut, similar to Malasada but heavier than that. This is Ryukyu food.
Usually they don’t put anything outside such as graze, chocolate, sprinkles, etc. It tastes perfect as it is. There are some flavors but normally it is mixed in the dough. My favorite is one flavored purple sweet potato! The purple yam from Japan is way sweeter than one in USA as long as I know. A bit off the topic though, I like sweet potatoes named “Murasaki” in Trader Joe’s, because it’s sweet as Murasaki = Purple potatoes in Japan!
Sampin Cha (Tea)
Sampin Cha is very popular tea in Okinawa as you can find in vending machine everywhere!
it is Jasmin tea, and good refreshment!
Cha = tea
Oh, and you can find a lot of vending machines in Japan. I’ve heard that USA has the biggest number of machines, but the amount of money that sells in Japan is more than the one in USA.
I picked some of my favorite Ryukyu / Okinawan foods, hope you get ideas what to eat in Okinawa 😉
