昨年小出さんが開催した
おやきづくり体験の様子
The oyaki bun is one of the most famous local foods of Shin-shu or Nagano prefecture. Oyaki is like a bun with some vegetables inside and is made of a mixture of wheat flour or buckwheat flour and water in a form of paste. In northwestern Nagano city and the surrounding areas, where oyaki originated, it used to be cooked in ash. This ash was available anytime from the fireplace cut in the middle of the floor of most houses. With it, oyaki became a non-perishable food consumed as a snack for farmers during a break.
The oyaki bun grilled with ash was a major food among villages in mountains. As it became popular, in the process of its spreading, there were several variations. Its cooking style in the fireplace got more variations as it propagated to other towns and cities. The original cooking style in the fireplace shifted to other methods like cooking in an oven. Some people even started up oyaki bun businesses, so they started testing to try to find the way to make it more and more easily. New making methods were created such as frying, steaming, combination of frying and steaming, combination of deep-frying and frying, which varied upon environment.
In her childhood, Ms. Koide barely realized how great the oyaki bun was, as it was too common in her life, until she was away from Shin-shu. "Even though you can buy rice balls and sandwiches, don't you know the oyaki bun's more nutritious and lower in calories?" This became the momentum for her to take over her mother's oyaki bun business in order to promote this nutritiously balanced food. Now the Board of Shin-shu Oyaki Bun, established by members in Shin-shu Oyaki Bun Promotion Board, has been playing its important role in promoting oyaki.