On July 30, at Tohoku Women's Junior College (Hirosaki City), a special class was held in which students created recipes for the local cuisine "Hirosaki Igamechi".

The class, which was held at Professor Ikuko Kitayama's class at the university, was conducted as part of the "Develop recipes using local ingredients" and "Let's communicate local cuisine" projects that started at this university this year. There have been classes to teach people how to cook local dishes, but it is the first class to let students create recipes for local dishes.

"Hirosaki Igamenchi" is a local dish in which squid, especially the leg part, is tapped with a kitchen knife, seasonal vegetables and flour are mixed, and then baked or fried in oil. Although there are various theories about its origin, since squid was a precious seafood in the inland Tsugaru, what was cooked without waste so that it would not be left behind is now called "Igamenchi". Therefore, there are various cooking methods depending on the family, and it is said that each family has one "Imagenchi".

“Because there are students who come from outside the prefecture, there are many people who are new to“ Igamenchi ”itself. I often hear that local students have never made it,” says Kitayama. "That's why I expected that I could make a new recipe without a preconceived concept," he said.

The recipes lined up in the same class on the same day are "non-fried squid burgers" with buns sandwiched between bunches, "chocolate squid and burdock squid", "plum and leafy squid squid", "spicy spicy squid squid", " 7 types: Toro-li ikamenchi, curry-flavored ikamenchi, and fluffy squid with sweet and sour sauce. Nohana Nakamura, who is from the same city and has never made an Iga Menchi, smiles, saying, "I want to make one, but Menchi was better than my mother."

After the class, Mr. Kitayama said, “While it is inherited as a mother's taste, the number of households that do not make it is increasing because there are many cooking processes. I think it was an opportunity for children to learn traditional cooking happily. He was showing a satisfied expression.