Explore Regional Flavors
Visiting the Hidden Village - Part 2
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In Part II of the two-part series, YouTuber Chris Broad visits a “hidden village” in Tsuruoka city, Yamagata prefecture. Towering over the city is the Dewa Sansan, three mountains revered from ancient times as a place where gods reside.
For countless generations, locals have picked seasonal wild plants and bamboo shoots in these mountains to make shojin ryori (vegetarian Buddhist cuisine). The people of Tsuruoka have also carefully cultivated and handed down over 50 kinds of indigenous crops for hundreds of years.
In the program, we also visit the Maze area of Gero city, Gifu prefecture, where ayu sweetfish swim in a river said to be Japan’s clearest. One of the area’s local dishes is hoba zushi, made of sushi rice and local seasonal ingredients wrapped in a leaf.