A non-alcoholic beer-style drink (0.00% alcohol) made by Orion Breweries of Okinawa, with zero sugar, calories and purines, brewed with locally grown barley. I had it from a bottle at the soba restaurant and from a can at dinner.
Sources: orionbeer.co.jp
This moment in the journey
Okinawa soba yakisoba and bonito sashimi
Time to cook dinner. Okinawa soba noodles, soft and chewy, would surely be delicious stir-fried. Cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot and thin slices of meat went into the pan over the gas flame. I added the noodles and seasoned them with Okinawa soba soup.
On the table: a can of Orion's non-alcoholic beer and a plate of fried noodles. And bright red bonito sashimi, glistening, served with shredded daikon and cucumber, soy sauce and wasabi. Fresh and chewy, really good.
In a glass bowl, yushidofu, eaten together with its broth. I topped the noodles with shaved bonito flakes. The flavor of bonito clung to the thick noodles. Ippee maasan: so delicious.
Watch this scene on YouTube3:51
More notes from this journey
Motobu, Okinawa
Rice with sea grapes and egg yolk
Sea grapes (umibudo) rank third in Okinawa's aquaculture by both volume and value and are known as one of the prefecture's signature products.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Motobu bonito sashimi
Freshly landed bonito from a fish shop in Motobu, the only town on Okinawa's main island where pole-and-line bonito fishing survives, where the fish is fresh en…
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Okinawa soba yakisoba
Okinawa soba is a noodle dish made with wheat flour rather than buckwheat.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Bise Fukugi Tree Path
In the village of Bise, at the northwestern tip of the Motobu Peninsula, fukugi trees planted as windbreaks around the houses form the largest tree-lined paths…
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Ie Island and Mt. Gusuku
An island about 5 kilometers west of the Motobu Peninsula, forming the village of Ie.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Ryukyu kanhizakura cherry
In Okinawa, cherry blossom means kanhizakura, whose deep pink flowers hang downward like little bells.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
More notes from Kyushu & Okinawa
Motobu, Okinawa
Spam musubi
In postwar Okinawa, when meat was hard to come by, canned pork became a widely used source of protein that kept well and was easy to prepare, and serving it wit…
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Goya chanpuru
Chanpuru, Okinawa's everyday stir-fry, combines seared island tofu with seasonal vegetables, and goya chanpuru is its best-known form.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Jushi
Jushi is the Okinawan word for seasoned rice.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Stone-roasted sweet potatoes
The sweet potato is said to have reached the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1605, when Noguni Sokan brought seedlings back from Fujian in China.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Yanbaru
Yanbaru, written with the characters for mountain and field, means a region of connected mountains and spreading forest, and refers to the north of Okinawa Isla…
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Fukugi windbreaks
In Okinawa, fukugi trees have long been planted around homes to shield them from typhoon winds.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house