Famous for Salt
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Got finished at Iwagi Branch early today, so, partially to get out of the rain, and partially to not have to clean dishes, I ducked into the famous restaurant near Kinoura Port. It’s called Sanwa. Sanwa is where tourists (and Hakatans - ha ha sounds like High Cottons) come to dine on the indigenous delicacy known as Salt Ramen. Mmmm. Salt Ramen. It’s basically a whopping standard bowl of ramen noodles, complete with some nice nori, bamboo shoots, slices of pork, and little patches of oil slicking their way about atop the surface tension. Just add more salt than normal. What do you get? Salt Ramen! It’s famous because…it is salty…and available only on Hakata. Now, I am really not trying to poke too much fun at the folks on Hakata for being proud of their salt. Truth be told, most of my friends on the JET program see my town’s salt in their stores on each trip. My host mother in Tokyo knew of Hakata Salt before I told her. It’s actually pretty famous.
What I am a bit skeptical of, however, is the number of cottage industries that have popped up as a result of the fame of our salt. For instance, salt candy. It is sold in the Ai-Mart 3 minutes’ walk from my apartment building. Tastes like…you guessed it, salt! (Reminds me of adventures with dundersalts in Norway, but that is another tale for another time.) It is labeled on the front “Made with Hakata Salt!” and uses the appropriate font and everything. On the back, however, one discovers (if one is bored and attempts to read labels on food in mom and pop shops) that the candy is actually a product of Tokushima Prefecture. That’s on the other side of Shikoku. What gives? They buy our salt, make candy in Tokushima with it, and then sell it back to us? Ha ha. Hey, fair is fair. Just thought I would point it out.
Anyhoo, I have been in this restaurant about 7 times now. I have had the Hakata Salt Ramen 5 of these times. I once ventured to try the Hakata Salt Tonkotsu Ramen, which was good, but…dare I say it?…slightly salty. This time I decided to get something different. I am a huge fan of breaded pork cutlets in curry on rice, and to my knowledge, I haven’t had the dish since returning to Japan, so I placed my order for Tonkatsu Curry. They paused for a second, as if they wanted to ask if I was sure I wanted that and not some extra-salty version, but decided not to, and left me alone. I like the island people. They pretty much rule. They are slow to make a spectacle of you in certain circumstances, which is nice. (Not true 100% of the time, though, obviously.) Well, long story short, the curry was good, but I make it better at home.
In other news, completely and totally unrelated to salt, I also ducked into the miniature Deo Deo electronics boutique on our island. (In honesty, it is a store for light bulbs and CDRs, and that is about it.) I bought an SD card reader for the iMac, so now I can pull photos off my camera. Thank GOODNESS. Expect an increase in interesting things once I get some nice photo opportunities. I thanked the lady, who promptly asked me which way I normally travel home. I was confused. I bought an SD card reader…which way do I go home? I pointed towards the restaurant, the way I always go, and she said…you know, there is a faster way. I told her I didn’t, and she whipped out a book of city street maps, and showed me. I promised to try it the next time I head to Kinoura Port. She was happy about it, I think. She likes that I shop there.
Also, I put up my first podcast. It is a rambling talk about various things that are going on. Soon, though, I will have reasons for doing podcasts. Reasons like video features. Or special events. Or perhaps trips to recall. We shall see. In the meantime, I wanted to test the waters and see what making one was like. I hope it isn’t too terribly lame. Ha ha. Just listen to me on there, and you will know without a doubt that this one and all subsequent podcasts will be lamer than Hakata Salt Candy made in Tokushima-ken. Oh yeah, I really should say, by the way, that Sanwa’s food is actually pretty darn good. Salty, sure, but that is what it is famous for!