These are sushi rolls with natto (納豆) or fermented soy beans in them. They were accompanied with soy sauce and pickled ginger. In fact, I don’t like stringy natto very much because people in Hamamatsu, at least my family and relatives, didn’t have the custom of eating it when I was little. It is still unfamiliar for me. Natto in the sushi rolls was as stringy as ordinary natto that is eaten as it is. However, it seemed to be nutritious anyway.
The other sushi rolls contained kanpyo (干ぴょう, 干瓢, or かんぴょう) or dried gourd shavings cooked with sugar, soy sauce, and sweet sake. The combination of sweetened dried guard shavings and vinegared rice was very good.
One of the rice balls contained umeboshi (梅干し (うめぼし)) or a salted plum. This kind of rice balls may be easily recognizable because they often have a red color on the package.
After eating the top of the triangle, I remembered that I had to take a picture of the plum inside. It was a big plum and was salty and sour - exactly how it should be. Salted plums are said to have an antibacterial and antiseptic effects and have been traditionally combined with rice in rice balls or box lunch.
The other rice ball was made of red rice. This rice is glutinous rice steamed with adzuki beans and is originally eaten on celebratory occasions. Though this product contained also nonglutinous rice, it was elastic and remained me of a rice cake.
Today’s lunch was substantial. All these sushi and rice balls are made by Chikuya (知久屋). It is a food company that uses chemical- free vegetables or vegetables cultivated with a reduced amount of chemicals and avoids food additives for their products. Kosei Iro Iro in Entetsu Department Store has a corner for their ready-to-eat food other than sushi and rice balls.
In addition to products from Chikuya, Kosei Iro Iro handles products from several popular local shops. There may be some other vegan-friendly or vegetarian-friendly foods.
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