Айну халқының ас дәстүрлері

Culinary traditions of the Ainu

Ainu cuisine is the cuisine of the ethnic Ainu in Japan and Russia. The cuisine differs markedly from that of the majority Yamato people of Japan. Raw meat like sashimi, for example, is rarely served in Ainu cuisine, which instead uses methods such as boiling, roasting and curing to prepare meat. Also unlike Japanese cuisine, traditional Ainu cuisine did not use miso, soy sauce, or sugar, though these seasonings make an appearance in modern Ainu cuisine. The island of Hokkaidō in northern Japan is where most Ainu live today; however, they once inhabited most of the Kuril islands, the southern half of Sakhalin island, and parts of northern Honshū Island. There are very few Ainu restaurants in the world, though some do exist. Examples of Ainu restaurants include Haru Koro (Harukor) in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Ashiri Kotan Nakanoshima in Sapporo, and Poron'no and Marukibune in Akan, Hokkaidō.

Traditional Ainu cuisine used meats obtained through fishing and hunting such as salmon and deer, wild plants gathered in the mountains such as Cardiocrinum cordatum bulbs (turep) and acorns, as well as various grains and potatoes obtained through farming. Another feature is its liberal use of oils as flavoring. Due to the Ainu's reliance on local game and fauna, not all areas used all the same ingredients, instead utilizing what was most available. Miso and soy sauce have also been used in modern times. Soup stocks may be made using kelp (kombu), animal bone, and dried fish. Seasoning and spices include pukusa (Allium ochotense), berries from the Amur corktree (Phellodendron amurense), and wavy bittercress (Cardamine flexuosa).

There are some trees native to Hokkaidō that contain a sweet sap. The Ainu used the sap of these trees (niwakka, literally translated as “tree water”) as a drink and flavoring for foods. Large amounts of sap run from the trunk of the white birch (kapattatni) if it is damaged in the summer. This sap is called tatni wakka and was used as water for cooking when there was none available in the area. A drink was also made by adding chopped Symplocarpus nipponicus to the sap along with flavoring. The Sakhalin Ainu would make alcohol by placing set white birch sap into blackcurrant juice and leaving it to ferment. The painted maple (topeni, meaning “milk tree”) is related to the sugar maple of North America. A sweet sap flows from the trunk if it is damaged. The trunks would be scored during the winter to make “sap icicles” that were eaten like popsicles. The sap was also boiled down to create a sweetener. This was then boiled with beans or water chestnuts to make a high quality rataskep. Sap fell out of use along with the influx of sugar during the Meiji Period, but it experienced a temporary resurgence during the shortages of World War II.

“Meal” in Ainu is “ipe”. Traditionally, two meals were eaten per day, breakfast (kunneywa ipe) and dinner (onuman ipe), and a third meal, lunch (tokes ipe), was added during the Taisho period. A night meal (kunne ipe) was sometimes eaten during night fishing or other late activities. Food was transferred from the cooking pot using a ladle (kasup) into a lacquerware bowl (itanki) for eating. These bowls were obtained through trade with the ethnic Japanese and were large enough to hold 400 ml worth of food. Chunks of meat or fish that were too large to fit in the bowl were placed on mats woven from reeds. Items such as fish roasted on a spit or sito were eaten by hand, but otherwise, most foods were eaten with chopsticks (pasuy) or spoons (parapasuy). Parapasuy translated literally means “wide chopstick”. Both spoons and chopsticks were carved from wood. When guests were over for food, the head woman of the house would offer food and say “ipeyan” (please eat). The guest would express their gratitude, and, if it were a valuable meal such as bear meat, they would raise the food to their forehead in thanks before beginning. However, the family would not say anything before eating if there were no guests. Once finished, it was customary to say “hunna” to express their gratitude for the food. Similar to the ethnic Japanese, it was considered polite to eat all food that was provided. Because of this, it was considered polite to use one's finger to wipe the remaining sauce from inside the bowl and lick it. This custom is the reason for the Ainu name for the pointer finger, “itanki kem atsukep”, literally meaning “bowl licking finger”.