【Reading】いなかずし

【English Name】Inaka-zushi (Country-style Vegetable Sushi)

Inaka-zushi is a local sushi rooted in the mountainous areas of Kochi Prefecture. Also called "Tosa inaka-zushi," it is a type of nigiri sushi that uses no seafood and features vegetables and wild plants as the leading roles.

While a sushi culture centered on seafood developed in the coastal areas of Kochi Prefecture, in the mountain villages, procuring nori and kelp was not easy. So it is said to have originated when people began making sushi from the abundant mountain bounty around them. The key to the vinegared rice is citrus-based vinegar such as yuzu vinegar, which gives off the distinctive flavor unique to inaka-zushi.

Standard toppings include ryukyu (the stem of the hasuimo taro), myoga (Japanese ginger), shiitake, konjac, and the bamboo shoots of shihochiku. The richness of color, with the red of myoga, the green of ryukyu, the black of shiitake, and the yellow of bamboo shoot lined up, is also a major appeal. Local ingenuity can be seen throughout, such as pressing vinegared rice into the hollow part of shihochiku, or making deep cuts in konjac to finish it like inari-zushi.

Behind the wide recognition of the name "inaka-zushi" lies its entry in 1986 into the "Furusato no Shoku, Nippon no Shoku Hyakusen" (One Hundred Selections of Hometown Foods, Japanese Foods) sponsored by the Food Agency. The Kubokawa Lifestyle Improvement Group of Hayama Village (now Tsuno Town), Kochi Prefecture, named it when submitting their wild-plant sushi, and achieved selection into the Hundred. In 1990 it was also exhibited at a product fair in Los Angeles, coming to gain nationwide recognition.

Because it contains no animal-derived ingredients at all, it has come into the spotlight in recent years as a vegan-compatible food, and public-private overseas expansion is also being considered. Today it lines the shelves of supermarkets and Sunday markets within Kochi Prefecture, having blended into the dietary life of the prefecture's residents as an everyday taste.