Yaseuma Oita

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Yaseuma noodles (yaseuma)

***** Location: Japan, Oita
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Yaseuma やせうま / Oita　大分
Thick, wide, fat wheat noodles eaten with kinako soy flour and sugar. The noodles resemble kishimen noodles.
The dish is "chewy and delicious." This comes from using a special local flour of Oita.




During the time of the Heian dynasty, a woman named "Yase" was hidden from the world, living in servitude to a young child as a nanny. A snack she made for the child, covered in soy flour, is the origin of the Oita specialty known as "Yaseuma."
This name, "yaseuma," is derived from the child's cries of "Yase, uma uma," with "Yase" being the nanny's name and "uma" a child's word for something to eat.

Because this snack is based on wheat noodles, it is high in nutrition and quite tasty. These noodles are dipped in soy flour, with a bit of sugar, which gives the snack its proper sweetness. This snack is best eaten chilled in the summer.

source : 　www.city.oita.oita.jp

uma uma (umai umai) is the childrens version, then turned to nma nma んまんま and finally to rice, o-manma おまんま as a word for food.
MA is also one of the first sounds a baby pronounces, in Italy it turned into MAMA for mother.


More specialities from Oita from this LINK

Blowfish Dishes (license required to serve dishes made from this poisonous fish!)
Seki Aji / Seki Saba (Spanish mackerel/mackerel)
Dango-jiru noodle soup
Toriten (Chicken Tempura)
Hocho noodle soup
Yoshino Torimeshi (rice ball with chicken)


There is even a "Yaseuma matsuri" やせうま祭り Festival in Oita.

yaseuma is also called kobiri こびり and prepared as lunch when the farmers have to be out the whole day for planting rice. kobiri can now also mean onigiri.



In Nagano and also Sado Island there is a kind of mochi distributed during festivals called yaseuma, or rather yashooma やしょうま.

「やしょうま」「やせうま」「犬の子」「いんころ」「やせご」「枕団子」「花草もち」などいろいろな名前.

The sound of yaseuma 痩馬 (yaseta uma) can also mean "thin horse", but that is a completely differnt thing.


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How to make yaseuma
http://www.coara.or.jp/~mieko/990819yaseuma/990819yaseuma.htm


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU



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Related words

***** WASHOKU : Regional Japanese Dishes

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