# Kappodori ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Kappodori

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
Northern region of the prefecture (mountainous area)

## Main Ingredients Used
Local chicken, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, burdock, and kuretake

## History, Origin, and Related Events
Takachiho Town in Miyazaki Prefecture is known as a town of myths and legends. In this region, bamboo is called “kappo.” In the past, bamboo was used as a vessel to boil water and hold tea in between farm work, and also as a water bottle. It is said that its name comes from the sound it makes, “kappo-kappo,” when pouring water into it. Kappodori is a dish that uses kappo (bamboo) as a bowl and has been eaten since ancient times in Takachiho, where bamboo is abundant.A part between the bamboo joints is hollowed out and stuffed with seasoned chicken or vegetables. The hollowed-out part is put on like a lid and the entire bamboo is put over the heat. The ingredients are steamed inside the bamboo, allowing the heat to pass through slowly. The scent and extract (oil) from the bamboo are added as well, creating a mellow and unique taste. It is also a dish where you can enjoy the flavor of bamboo, so for the bamboo used as the bowl, it is said that one-year-old young green bamboo, which produces more extract, is good for this dish. Other than using a bamboo vessel and adding chicken, there are no rules in particular, and the ingredients and seasoning are up to the person making this dish.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
It is often served at local festivals and events. Originally, at lunchtime during work in the forest or kariboshi-giri (the work of harvesting kaya in the mountains or wasteland), people first drank tea by drawing fresh water from a valley river, putting fresh mountain tea leaves in it, and heating it over a bonfire. After that, because of the pleasant scent of green bamboo and its production of bitumen oil, which is said to be good for health, people started using it to make kappodori by mixing local agricultural products such as local chicken, mushrooms, and carrots and steaming them in a bamboo cylinder. It came to be eaten with tea as a meal when working in the forest.

## How to Eat
The secret sauce has different seasonings depending on the family making it. A bamboo cylinder is made by hollowing out green bamboo, but if green bamboo is unavailable, it can be substituted with an earthenware pot as well, and instead of a hearth, it can be grilled on a BBQ grill too.Local shochu poured into a bamboo tube and warmed over a hearth is called “kappozake” and is enjoyed together with “kappodori”.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
(Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)It is prepared outdoors or served in restaurants serving local cuisine. The Takachiho Tourist Association holds kappodori-making experiences as well, and it is often served at local festivals and events.

## Ingredients
- local chicken: 1 slice (200-250g)
- burdock: 150g(cut into thin and long strips)
- shiitake mushrooms (medium): 2
- carrot: a little
- chives: 1／2 bunch
- garlic: 2-3 cloves
- salt and pepper: a little
- soy sauce: 1 tbsp
- kuretake: 1 section

## Recipe
1. 1. Cut the local chicken into easy-to-eat pieces. Cut the burdock into thin and long strips and the chives into sections measuring 2-3 cm. Thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms and shred the carrots. Slice the garlic thinly.
2. 2. Mix all of 1 and season with salt, pepper, and soy sauce.
3. 3. Prepare the kuretake and cut a hole right in between the joints with a saw. Wash the bamboo and stuff 2 inside.
4. 4. Steam over charcoal. Halfway through, remove the lid and adjust the flavor.

## Provider Information
provider : “Local Cuisine Collection” (JA Miyazaki Prefecture Women's Organization Council)

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