Yesterday, I went out to eat with my host family for the last time to a sushi restaurant. One of the kinds of sashimi we ordered was the Ika (“squid”) sashimi. Ika is a local Hakodate specialty, and the squid serves as a sort of mascot for the city as well. In the Hakodate Asaichi (“morning market”), there is even a tank of live squid where customers can pay to catch their own squid, which will then be freshly prepared on the spot into sashimi. When I visited the market two weeks ago with my host family, I watched a crowd of people queue up to get a chance to catch their own squid for breakfast!
I asked some questions about the local specialty dish, ika sashimi, in order to find our more about how it is made and what distinguishes good from bad ika. The restaurant was quite busy, so I also supplemented some of the answers from the staff of the restaurant with answers from my host family.
The best way to prepare Ika sashimi is to cut it extremely fast, because the hands are warm, and holding the squid to long makes it less fresh because of the heat from the hands. The best way is to cut it up while it is still alive. The best ika sashimi is as fresh as possible, and the only ingredient is the raw squid meat. It is served with pickled ginger and they suggested dipping the ika in soy sauce mixed with the pickled ginger.
The best ika is really clear and see through, while bad or less fresh ika is white or cloudy. Good ika also has a very fresh chewy, almost rubbery texture. It makes a certain noise when you chew it. Bad ika is more soft and slimy, and has a more gooey texture.
The reason Ika is so popular locally is because the ocean in between the city of Hakodate and Aomori on Honshu has lots of really delicious squid in it. This city makes quite a bit of its living off of the port, and specifically the squid that come in from the fishing boats in the port.
Squid is a huge part of this city’s identity. My host family told me that one of the number one things Japanese people know Hakodate for is squid. There is even the Ika Odori (“Squid Dance”) that everyone who grows up here knows. My friends and I actually learned it for the Port Festival last week and did it in the parade last Friday.
There are also tons of squid themed shops, souvenirs, and other foods available for tourists and locals alike. All in all, squid is an important aspect of Hakodate culture, food, and history, and the city would not be the same without it.