[Early 2000s] The reality of gibier processing and the local food culture that continues to this day
Around the year 2000, the word "gibie" in Japan still only appeared occasionally in cooking magazines, and game meat was referred to as "mountain meat" or "matagi cuisine." Hunters would stab and bleed their game in the mountains, then transport it to the village on a backpack or in a light truck, and butcher it in the dirt floor of their homes or behind their butcher shops. Cooling was done simply by packing ice into styrofoam, and the current hygiene standard of lowering the core temperature of meat to below 4°C was unknown. Game was consumed almost entirely locally. It was common practice to preserve it by marinating it in miso or simmering it in strong soy sauce to prevent spoilage.
"Mountain delicacies" that live on in each region
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Hokkaido : Ezo deer are marinated in miso, frozen, thinly sliced and served as sashimi. Venison cutlets are served at winter festivals.
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Tohoku (Akita, Aomori) : Matagi bear soup. A nutritious tonic hotpot made by frying root vegetables in bear fat and simmering them with wild vegetables. There is also a custom of drying out the gallbladder to use as medicine.
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Shinshu and Hokuriku : A culture of raw food that makes use of the clear waters and wasabi, such as venison sashimi in Toyamago and "Botan Yuki Nabe" in Hakuba.
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Kinki (Tamba) : The New Year's celebratory meal "Botan Nabe" is made by simmering wild boar in white miso and Japanese pepper. Deer is called "Momiji" to distinguish it from other deer.
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Chugoku and Shikoku : "Boar Teppanyaki" in the Tsurugisan mountain range in Tokushima, "Deer Sukiyaki" in Yusuhara, Kochi. In the Setouchi region, the wisdom of squeezing lemon over wild boar meat to remove the odor has been handed down.
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Kyushu (Shiiba and Kuma) : Wild boar soup with yuzu pepper and sweet and spicy wild boar simmered in brown sugar shochu are winter staples.
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Okinawa : Ryukyu wild boar (kamai) is boiled in salt and used as an offering in rituals, coexisting with pig culture.
Modernizing the Pest Control System
When damage to agriculture, forestry and fisheries reached 20 billion yen per year in the 2010s, the national government established the "Special Measures Act for the Prevention of Bird and Beast Damage" and created a grant program. Local governments have established slaughterhouses with refrigerated storage, and have begun to strictly enforce standards such as bringing in animals within two hours of capture and keeping their core temperature below 2°C. Processing plants equipped with HACCP-compliant lines, metal inspection machines, and radiation inspection machines are in operation in various locations, including Tamba, Otsuchi Iwate, Tottori, and Kumamoto, ensuring quality that is comparable to livestock meat in terms of hygiene. Some facilities have also introduced individual tracking systems using IoT temperature sensors and blockchain, and processing with a view to complying with halal standards has also begun. maff.go.jp hojyokin-portal.jp
Furthermore, in 2022, the "Domestic Gibier Certification System" will be launched. Facilities that meet the necessary equipment, hygiene, and traceability standards will be given a deer mark, further visualizing trust. Venison that meets the standards will be exported to Singapore for the first time in 2023, ushering in an era in which mountain resources can earn foreign currency.
The eating out scene driving the "mini boom"
With the development of processing systems and growing awareness of the SDGs, the 2020s have seen a rapid increase in gibier fairs and specialty stores in urban areas. At the "Tottori Gibier Restaurant Fair 2024," which saw the participation of 11 restaurants in Tokyo, deer ragout and wild boar ham drew attention, and media exposure has also increased, with the opening of a new gibier izakaya restaurant, "Amakarakumakara," in Asakusa. The tag "wild yet high in protein and low in fat" has spread on social media, stimulating demand from young people and female customers. Gibier cooking classes and hunting experience tours organized by local governments are also popular, helping to create an exchange population connecting the mountains and the city. cuisine-kingdom.com prtimes.jp
Diversification of processed products and sales channels
In addition to fresh meat, processed products such as canned meat, jerky, salami, deer bone soup, and instant curry are appearing one after another. Canned deer curry and canned deer stew from Ootsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, have become a hit in department stores and online, and have become a staple of camping meals. Nishiawakura Village's "Forest Game for PET" is a regular top-ranking product in hometown tax donation rankings, and is also developing the pet food market. In addition, upcycling is also active, with products such as shoes and smartphone cases made from deer leather, and "regional brands" are on the rise. momiji-otsuchideer.com furusato-tax.jp
The intersection of tradition and technology
Gibier, which started as a simple mountain dish, has taken advantage of the social issue of pest control and adopted advanced hygiene technology and marketing to become a food trend in the Reiwa era. Currently, processing, distribution, dining out, and processing are integrated, and a cycle of "catch, butcher, eat, and utilize" has been established nationwide. The skills of hunters, local wisdom, and urban consumers will circulate to protect the Satoyama and deliver new "delicacies" to the future - this is the next stage of Japanese gibier. Furthermore, on the part of diners, there are increasing suggestions to pair it with orange wine and doburoku in addition to red wine, and the freedom of taste is expanding even more.