Escape the cold and the snow, prepare food in a convivial atmosphere and roast rice over the fire while you can snack. This or something similar is the basic recipe for the cozy atmosphere that makes Akita’s soul food so irresistible.

Kiritanpo, which is mashed rice roasted over a fire in a stew with local vegetables and chicken, is the dish par excellence when it comes to creating that very special cozy feeling of relaxation after a long hard day fighting the snow masses.

It all starts with the locally grown Akita Komachi rice, which is considered one of the best rice varieties in Japan. Once you have tasted good rice in Japan, you can’t go back to the products from your local supermarket.

The rice is cooked and then pounded in a special bowl with a wooden pestle. The locals say: half beaten to death. The result is a sticky mass, similar to the relatively well-known mochi, but not quite as chewy.

While the hearth, the “irori (囲炉裏)”, is being prepared, around 100 grams of the pounded rice is formed around a wooden stick.

Things now get sociable around the fire. While the stew, known as “nabe”, simmers away directly over the fire, the sticks are placed to the side and slowly roasted.

Now it’s time to eat: A slightly sweet miso glaze is applied to the roasted rice with a brush and then eaten straight from the stick. The whole thing is called “misotsuketanpo” and is super tasty despite, or perhaps because of, its simplicity!

The remaining “tanpo” are cut in half and added to the stew. This is how the name of the dish comes about: “Kiri” for cut and “Tanpo”, the name of these wooden sticks wrapped in rice.

The soup contains a large amount of meat from a local chicken variety, various local vegetables, including some wild plants gathered on the mountainside, and is irresistibly delicious in combination with the rice.

Best of all, the whole process is hands-on. Pounding the rice, shaping the sticks, roasting over the fire. Even today, kiritanpo is often prepared at gatherings in Akita to combine two important things: socializing and good food!