Oden is a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon, konjac, and processed fishcakes stewed in a light, soy-flavored dashi broth. Ingredients vary according to region and between each household. People, who wanted to try the oden characteristic for Odawara region, could taste it on ‘Odawara Oden Festival’, that was held on 8 and 9 October.

The best way to try local specialities is participating in theese kinds of events. Of course, you can buy it in many shops or restaurant, but as a tourist, you have no sure, where are sold the best local products. Festivals of food are usually all about local dishes. People come there to eat particular kind of dish and it’s unlikely to find an untasty one. For local producers it’s great a chance to promote their dishes and everyone wants to stand out from the other sellers. That’s why they care so much for good quality of the products sold on theese kinds of events. On the Odawara Oden Festival local producers offered many kinds of oden, prepared in different ways. In fact, because of variety of dishes, everyone could find something delicious!

I participated in festival only on the second day. Sunday morning was very rainy and cloudy, then I thought, that due to bad weather not many people will come there. However, what surprised me a lot was, that the park was so crowded, when I came there! Because of a rain in the morning, all the people had muddy shoes and trousers. But to be honest, anyone didn’t care about it and had just a great fun. The most popular was the shop marked with inscription ‘Odawara Oden’. Before this shop formed a long queue of people, who were waiting about half an hour to get his own portion of oden. Untill then, I have eaten only oden sold in japanese convenience stores, but obviously it wasn’t as good as on the festival. People, who wanted to feel like a food critic for a moment, could take part in festival attraction called ‘oden’s comparison’. Respondents had been sitting in the special corner and filling out forms during eating the oden. Except of oden, on the square there were sold local handicraft and jewellery.

Summary

I recommend coming on ‘Odawara Oden Festival’ for all tourist visiting Odawara surroundings. It’s the best chance to try local specialities, made from fresh and high quality ingridients. Moreover, if you haven’t ever seen renovated Odawara Caste, you should definietly visit it after eating oden. Don’t forget to get hungry before you come there!

Weronika Golubska

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* This article was written by a trainee from overseas. Please note that there might be spelling and grammar mistakes.