Japanese students compete in regional culinary contests

Students across Japan are participating in specialized culinary competitions aimed at promoting regional ingredients and recovery efforts.

In Wakkanai, students from Wakkanai Takinogawa High School have qualified for the finals of the 15th Umaimon Koshien. Their original recipe, ‘Saihoku Tanshi Stew,’ utilizes local Soya-produced beef, Yuchi potatoes, and North Hokkaido cream to promote the use of local resources.

In Fukushima, the ‘Sweets Koshien: Fukushima Tomioka Town Recipe Challenge’ has announced its winners. The competition, designed to support the reconstruction of Tomioka Town following the Great East Japan Earthquake, tasked students with using local specialties like passion fruit, Shine Muscat grapes, onions, and sake lees. Nagi Oku from Kamimura Gakuen High School won the fresh sweets category with an onion-based petit gateau, while Yuma Ito from Yashiro Minami High School won the baked sweets category with a sake lees baumkuchen. Winners will collaborate with professional pastry chefs to develop commercial sweets for sale in Tokyo.