This site contains a fairly comprehensive list of Okinawan specialities, and over the course of 11 days, we ticked off quite a number (sometimes by accident).

Goya chanpuru is a stir fry of bitter melon, tofu, pork, and eggs. Delicious, and I'm not normally a fan of bitter vegetables. (And look at that word for mixture: "chanpuru", sometimes transliterated "champuru". So like the Malay/Indonesian "campur" in meaning and form -- is that coincidence?)

I'm pretty confident we had fu, a wheat-derived protein, in our stir-fry at the Little Kitchen in Zamami.

And tofu made a star appearance in the meal we had at Aji Sai (also in Zamami). This is an interesting restaurant in that it is essentially someone's lounge. The owner cooks to order in the open-plan kitchen. Right next to it is a big room, with sofas at one end, and low tables and tatami mats filling the rest of the space. We squatted (gracelessly, as is our wont) at one of these tiny tables, and waited until it was our turn to be cooked for. We enjoyed excellent gyoza, and a tofu stir-fry, with rice and miso soup.

Umibudo (sea grapes) turned up in our breakfast spread in Zamami, and I'm reasonably sure the soft white block our fellow-guest from Tokyo couldn't identify was another sort of tofu, although I haven't been able to track it down definitively...



While we're on the subject of tofu, let's mention peanut tofu (jimami tofu), which is 100% delicious.

Taco rice (taco meat sauce, grated cheese, and salad atop a bed of rice) has an amusing provenance, and constitutes one of the more positive aspects of the American presence.



Blue Seal ice-cream is arguably another such (and don't forget to try the one made with beni-imo, which is Okinawan purple sweet potato).

Absolutely ubiquitous is Okinawa soba, which is different, be it noted, from the buckwheat soba available on the mainland, and represents, some say, another form of Okinawan fusion. At its most basic, it comes with pork, a little slice of fish cake, green onions, and pickled ginger. The gourmet version may include different kinds of tofu, goya, and egg. The pork might range from a thick slice or two of belly, a row of ribs, a chunk of fall-apart leg, or thin slices of shabu-shabu from renowned Agu pigs. We encountered a lovely variant of this in Bise: Soba noodles, but dry (seasoned with salt and pepper, fried up with vegetables, and served with pork).



The most spectacular drink we encountered was bukubuku tea. This is made with polished rice, brown rice, and jasmine tea. It comes with a fabulous foamy top (to produce which, apparently, you need Okinawa's hard water), and little peanut biscuits on the side. Heaven in a bowl...



Another delicious discovery was the flat lemon (aka shikwasa or citrus depressa), whose tanginess makes tasty juice and desserts.

And alcohol? Well, Orion make a very palatable range of beers, and awamori, a rice alcohol, gains its uniquely earthy taste from the mould that is added before distillation. Drunk on the rocks, we found it quite perfect for seeing in the New Year while watching the ceremonies in Kyoto on TV...



Postscript: At the airport, heading out to Hong Kong, we spent our coin collection on a bottle of awamori with sugar cane (I think that's what the salesperson said...) It resembles port, and is really very drinkable. And as free gifts for New Year, we also acquired a couple of beni-imo tarts. We'd been lusting after these in Naha, but had always been too full of other food to really feel justified in buying them. So you see, to those who wait stuff comes...