【Reading】おかやまばらずし

【English Name】Okayama Bara-zushi

Okayama bara-zushi is a representative local sushi of Okayama Prefecture, differing from other regions in that its ingredients are cut large and the variety of items is numerous. Its origin lies in the castle town of Okayama in the Edo period: in response to the "one soup, one side dish" ordinance issued by the feudal lord Ikeda Mitsumasa, it is said that the common people devised a trick of packing sushi ingredients into the bottom of a vessel, covering them with vinegared rice, and turning it over so that a lavish sushi would appear. Shredded egg (kinshi-tamago) is spread over vinegared rice mixed with simmered kanpyo (dried gourd) and shiitake, and the bounty of the Seto Inland Sea—such as shell-on shrimp, grilled conger eel, boiled octopus, vinegar-cured Spanish mackerel and mamakari, ark shell (sarubo-gai), and jackknife clam (agemaki-gai)—is arranged colorfully. Vinegared lotus root and koya-dofu (freeze-dried tofu) are also added. In 1963, Miyoshino Honten commercialized it as the station bento "Matsuri-zushi." Its prototype is the "dodomese" of Bizen-Fukuoka, and its history dates back to the Kamakura period.