food forum

TASTY TRAVEL Vol. 30 No. 4  January 2017

Yamagata Imoni

Yamagata Imoni
Imoni cooked in an iron pot
Yamagata

Imoni, which literally means “simmered potatoes,” is a stew made of sato-imo taro, beef, konjac and Japanese long onion seasoned with soy sauce, sugar and sake. Japan’s northern Yamagata Prefecture is known for its autumn imoni parties, when friends and families gather along riverbanks to make pots of this hearty dish over a fire pit. Imoni is a dish usually made at home, and its recipes are passed down over generations using ingredients that vary from family to family. Thousands of visitors flock each year to Yamagata’s famous Imoni Festival, where imoni is prepared in an enormous iron pot six meters in diameter.

Vol. 30

Other articles in this series