Recreating local cuisine! A precious experience of our ancestors' hardships

On Mikurashima, we held a test event to try recreating the local recipes learnt from our interviews with island elders so far.

The dishes we tried making were mashed sweet potato made with gold band lily bulbs, and sweet potato candy. The gold band lily bulbs were harvested by Treasure Islands members. Though the typical impression is that lily bulbs are small and white, Mikurashima's gold band lily bulbs are a vibrant yellow, and can be around the size of a baby's head. Some of our members who had never encountered them before were surprised to see them.

As we could not find the america-imo sweet potato variety used to make the sweet potato candy on Mikurashima, we ordered some from Niijima to use in our test event.

The first time we tried making the sweet potato candy, it took a remarkable 11 hours. In almost half a day, we used 1kg of potatoes and 50g of malt to produce 210g of sweet potato candy. This really showed us how tough the process is.

We could see how much hard work traditional cuisine requires, and how our predecessors had worked to devise means of acquiring nutrients during times when food was scarce in the past. Today, we can easily access many things, so we may not have a need to make these dishes frequently now, but these treasures allow us to experience the island's history and culture, and our members want to pass them on.

When we served our sweet potato candy to the island elders, many of them told us, "It really took me back. It tasted good. You did a great job." They were pleased that younger people were trying to recreate flavors from the past, and the event turned out to be a worthwhile means for intergenerational exchange.

Meanwhile, we have also been using traditional local ingredients to make new recipes. We revised recipes using kabutsu citrus fruits that we received over the past year from people from Mikurashima and elsewhere, so that people on the island can use the ingredient more comfortably. We consulted a food coordinator for help in this project, and worked to develop new recipes.

We wrote and tested recipes for various new kabutsu dishes, such as kabutsu peel, and pasta with pork, cabbage and kabutsu pepper paste. These new dishes looked delicious, and they can all be enjoyed as a part of everyday meals.

Going forward, we plan to adjust and publish these recipes. We hope these dishes will take root in the community, as people on the island cook them and taste something special that can be experienced only on Mikurashima.