Summer foods in Japan: unagi and ayu

In my home country of Australia, seafood is incredibly popular during summer. The same could be said about Japan -- there are a couple of water-based foods that are seen as signs that the warmer months are well and truly with us. 

Unagi - the perfect meal for the dog days of summer

Unagi, or eel, is an extremely popular food during summer in Japan -- it’s said to have stamina-increasing properties, so when you feel as if you’re about to melt into a puddle it might be the time to give it a try! On the Day of the Ox each year (this year it fell on July 28th), you’ll find supermarket shelves stocked with a bounty of unagi, and it’s quite easy to simply serve it up over rice as unadon.

During the summer season, particularly around the Day of the Ox, supermarket shelves are filled with a bounty of unagi

My husband decided to jazz things up for the Day of the Ox this year, and opted to make an unagi bowl that was a little fancier! He added strips of cooked egg, some pickled ginger, shiso leaves, and some sesame seeds to the bowl, and as well as being a bit more of a balanced meal it was also much more eye catching!

If you’re after some unagi bowl inspiration, this was a bit more colorful (and balanced!) than plain ol’ unagi over rice.

If you don’t want to prepare unagi for yourself, there are a whole host of restaurants that sell it - most years, gyudon chain Sukiya also sell unagyu bowls where you can enjoy unagi, gyudon, and rice all together. My husband swears by it!

Ayu - the festival food classic

Another food that pops up at just about every summer festival is ayu, also known as sweetfish. Here in Urasa, we typically have an ayu and beer festival each year -- it was cancelled this year, however, because of COVID concerns. Hopefully we’ll see it pop back up again next year if the situation improves.

I’m not the biggest fan of ayu myself, although my children love it… I think maybe it’s something you have to grow up eating to enjoy. They’re typically prepared quite simply - just salted, skewered on sticks, and then grilled over flames. One thing I think is fascinating about the skewering process is the thought behind how it’s done - instead of just skewering them straight onto a stick, it’s done in a wavy, zig-zag pattern to emulate the look of the fish swimming. You've gotta give some extra points for effort to whoever thought that up!

Ayu aren’t really going to win any awards for their aesthetic qualities, but they’re incredibly popular during the summer months - especially at festivals!

Even though I'm not personally the biggest fan of these two iconic summer foods, they definitely remind me of the season!

Are you a fan of unagi or ayu? If so, have you indulged in any this summer? Any recommendations for how you prepare them?