Okinawan Food

Everything Japan does is usually full throttle, so I guess I should have expected Okinawan food to be as prevalent as it is.  Okinawa has a lot of claims to fame and they can all be found within arms reach. I've only had a handful thus far, but I've been pretty happy with the selection.  Like the mainland, every different prefecture has something they do different but okinawa does many things, way different.

Goya chanpuru is pretty well known and is in the top middle of the picture above.  The goya is the green bitter melon and it is mixed in stir fry.  I can't really compare it to anything because it doesn't taste like any food I've ever had.  Really bitter is all I can say, but it works really well mixed together with all the other ingredients.

I'm putting Koregusu on everything here!  It is hot peppers mixed with awamori (okinawan alcohol with an acquired taste). You then pour the spicy alcohol on your okinawan soba and taste the magic. I'm not sure how much alcohol is actually in the mixture, but it has quite a spicy kick so have a beer ready. It tastes WAY better than the awamori with the pit viper in it, Habushu. Habushu may be a story for another time but lets just say some places give free samples, it tastes like bitter whiskey, it is supposed to be good for your health (yeah right) and its pretty disturbing how they make it.

The good stuff, Koregusu ( コーレーグース) 

Stay tuned.