Ainu cuisine
Examples of Ainu restaurants include Haru Koro (Harukor) in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Ashiri Kotan Nakanoshima in Sapporo, and Poron'no and Marukibune in Akan, Hokkaidō.
[1]: 4 In addition to salt, the fats (sum) from cod, sardines, herring, shark, seal, whale (humpesum), sika deer (yuksum), and bear (pasum) are used to flavor dishes.
Seasoning and spices include pukusa (Allium ochotense), berries from the Amur corktree (Phellodendron amurense), and wavy bittercress (Cardamine flexuosa).
However, there were some instances of whaling in Funka Bay using harpoons coated with wolfsbane poison, aided by the gentle tides.
[2]: 367–374 One of the most important mountain plants gathered in spring was the Siberian onion (pukusa), which is very similar to wild leeks found in Canada and the United States in taste, texture, and appearance.
Large quantities of Cardiocrinum cordatum bulbs (turep) were gathered in summer as they were important as a preserved food.
Wild vegetables and beans are stewed until soft and the liquid has evaporated, at which point the mixture is mashed and seasoned with bear or fish oils and a small amount of salt.
The name sito is derived from the Japanese shitogi which refers to dumplings or a paste made from grinding raw grains.
[2]: 406–420 [3]: 150 Traditionally, sito were considered a luxury due to the time and effort necessary to produce the flour by grinding the grains with mortar and pestle.
Salmon was fished in quantities greater than what could be eaten immediately, especially in fall, and processed into preserved food so it could last up to six months.
The first step in the process was to remove the head and internal organs of the fish, which was then dried on a rack outside before being taken inside and smoked in the hearth.
Trout (icaniw) and Japanese char (tuksis) caught in summer were dried over a fire to prevent flies damaging the fish.
These dried fish were eaten as is by pulling off the meat, or by rehydrating in water and eating as ingredients in soup or as a final cooked item itself.
[7]: 79–85 Milt (up) and salmon roe (cipor) obtained when slicing open the fish were also dried and preserved then later used in sayo or to make stock for ohaw.
Meat from deer (yuk) and brown bears (kimun kamuy) was cut into narrow strips and simmered in a large pot.
[7]: 95 The starch obtained from Cardiocrinum cordatum bulbs (turep) held a more important position in the Ainu diet than grains.
[4]: 129 This was the time when Ainu women would take their sacks (saranip) and digging sticks (itani) and head into the mountains to gather the bulbs.
The primary starch was mixed with water and poured into the hollow of plant stems from the Japanese knotweed (kuttar) or Parasenecio hastatus (wakkakutu) and placed into the ashes of a fire to cook into a thin noodle-like shape.
The secondary starch was formed into round dumplings, wrapped in the leaves of the Japanese butterbur (korkoni) or magnolia (pusni), then placed in the ashes of a fire to bake.
[7]: 188 It was considered taboo to speak of alcohol or love affairs while working on any part of the starch making process.
The process involved uses the extreme cold of Hokkaidō in a fashion similar to the production of chuño in South America.
The starch that settled to the bottom of the water was collected, formed into spheres, and arranged in a warm place to ferment.
The flour was formed into cakes and baked in the ashes of the fire, then bear fat or cipor (salmon roe) was added and together placed in sayo to eat.
[4]: 99 The alcohol was stored in a lacquered vessel (sintoko) and left to set in hot embers as a warding against evil.
[7]: 163 As an additional warding against evil spirits, a hatchet (tasiro) or an Ainu blade (emus) was placed atop the sintoko as it was left to set for ten days near the kamuy puyar, the window furthest inside the cise, which was considered sacred.
[5]: 113–114 The teas drunk by Ainu were not made with the evergreen Camellia sinensis, but from the seeds and bark of trees, or medicinal herbs native to the cool climate of Hokkaidō.
[2]: 406–420 The Ainu would brew various plant materials to make tea such as Japanese bigleaf magnolia (pusni) twigs and seeds, kobushi magnolia (omawkusni) twigs and seeds, Lindera umbellata twigs (sumnuhas), bird cherry (kikinni) bark, Ledum palustre leaves (haspo), Vietnamese balm stems and leaves (ento), Libanotis coreana roots (upew), Heracleum lanatum (pittok) roots, and Angelica genuflexa (munusi) roots.
[4]: 94 The Sakhalin Ainu would make alcohol by placing set white birch sap into blackcurrant juice and leaving it to ferment.
[2]: 416 Sap fell out of use along with the influx of sugar during the Meiji Period, but it experienced a temporary resurgence during the shortages of World War II.
The guest would express their gratitude, and, if it were a valuable meal such as bear meat, they would raise the food to their forehead in thanks before beginning.
