Nihon Chomiryo Tabi
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The opening of Yokohama brought foreign technique and foreign ingredients into Japanese food. Western and Chinese cooking took root, and deep-frying and stir-frying entered everyday kitchens.
Demand for oil grew out of that shift. The technique for pressing sesame was already old, but the change in how the city cooked widened the uses for it. Food in a port town takes the shape of what it has taken in from outside.
- Deep-frying and stir-frying arrived with the opening of the port
- A change in city cooking widened the uses for sesame oil
Kanagawa's seasonings came out of the open port and Chinatown
Food in Kanagawa changed sharply after Yokohama opened as a port in 1859. Western and Chinese cooking came in, and frying and stir-frying, which need oil, joined the everyday repertoire of the city. Demand for sesame oil widened accordingly.
Cooks in Yokohama Chinatown have long used Iwai no Gomaabura, pressed locally in Kanagawa Ward, Yokohama. Its flagship Kinkuchi is made by roasting the sesame lightly and pressing it, giving an aroma that is clean rather than assertive. Rather than roasting deeply to push the aroma forward, the Yokohama approach keeps it refined enough to stay out of the ingredients' way. From Chinese stir-fries to Edomae tempura to namul made at home, it has been passed down in the port town as the oil that draws the outline of a dish.
Iwai no Gomaabura began two years before Yokohama opened
Iwai no Gomaabura was founded in 1857, two years before Yokohama opened as a port. From 1893 it has pressed sesame in Kanagawa Ward, Yokohama, an oil works that has kept pace with the port town for close to 170 years.
Chinatown took shape as the port opened, Western restaurants lined up, and oil settled into the city's cooking. As frying and stir-frying spread, from Chinese dishes to Edomae tempura to the Western-style food of the Meiji era onward, the account is that Yokohama's own sesame oil absorbed that demand. Iwai's approach, roasting no deeper than needed and finishing with a clean aroma that stays out of the way, has held a position that suits a city where many cuisines sit together.
Local dishes and their seasonings
- Sanmamen (サンマーメン)
- A local noodle dish said to have been created in Yokohama Chinatown. A shoyu or salt-based broth is topped with a thickened sauce of bean sprouts and pork. Written 生馬麺, the name is said to come from Cantonese for crisp, fresh ingredients. How the shoyu and sesame oil are used decides the outline of the flavor.
- Gyunabe (牛鍋)
- A beef dish popular in Yokohama in the early Meiji era, after the port opened. Beef is simmered in a warishita of shoyu, sugar and mirin. It is considered one of the forerunners of Kanto-style sukiyaki.
- Kenchinjiru (けんちん汁)
- A vegetarian temple soup said to have originated at Kenchoji in Kamakura. Burdock, daikon, carrot and tofu are fried in sesame oil first, then finished with dashi and shoyu. The name is said to be a corruption of Kenchojijiru.
Makers in Kanagawa
- Iwai no GomaaburaFounded in 1857
An oil works that has kept pressing sesame in Kanagawa Ward, Yokohama. It has operated on its present site since 1893. Its flagship Kinkuchi, lightly roasted and pressed, is a clean-scented oil that stays out of the ingredients' way. Yokohama Junsei Kuro Goma Abura, pressed from black sesame alone, was created to coincide with the Yokohama Port Festival.
Nearby prefectures
