Uwajima-style taimeshi · Photo: Fred Cherrygarden / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
JapanMatsuyamaTaimeshi Explained: Why Ehime Has Two Completely Different Sea Bream Rice Dishes
Order taimeshi in Ehime and you may get rice cooked with a whole sea bream, or raw sea bream sashimi tossed in an egg-and-soy sauce over rice. Here is where each style comes from, how to eat it and how to order the one you want.
Why Ehime Is Sea Bream Country
Red sea bream (madai) is Japan's celebration fish, and Ehime Prefecture is its biggest producer. Figures based on national statistics from the late 2010s show that more than half of Japan's farmed red sea bream comes from Ehime, mostly from Uwajima and Ainan on the deeply indented Uwa Sea coast in the southwest of the prefecture. It is no surprise, then, that Ehime has many sea bream dishes, and the best known is taimeshi (鯛めし), sea bream rice. The twist is that one name covers two entirely different dishes. In central and eastern Ehime, where Matsuyama is, taimeshi means rice cooked together with sea bream. In the south around Uwajima, it means raw sea bream sashimi dressed in a sauce and served over rice.
Matsuyama and Hojo Style: A Whole Fish Cooked With the Rice
Matsuyama-style taimeshi is grilled sea bream cooked with rice in stock, often in an individual pot. The Hojo district in northern Matsuyama, together with the small offshore island of Kashima, is known as its home. There the custom is to cook a whole fish with the rice and add little else besides kombu, with no vegetables or fried toppings. A local legend says that when Empress Jingu prayed for victory at the Kashima shrine on her way across the sea, fishermen offered her sea bream, and she was delighted with the rice cooked with it. It is only a legend, but it shows how long the dish has been part of life here. Today Japanese restaurants in Matsuyama and Imabari commonly serve it as a single-portion kamameshi set meal.
Uwajima Style: A Sailor's Meal Made Without Fire
Uwajima-style taimeshi is sea bream sashimi mixed with a soy-based sauce, raw egg, sesame and chopped green onion, then spooned over warm rice. It began as the sea bream version of hyuga-meshi, a local home dish of seasoned raw fish on rice. One story says it started with pirates based on Hiburi Island in the Uwa Sea, who ate it on board without lighting a fire. In the late 1970s and 1980s a restaurant in what is now Uwajima City put it on its menu and it became known beyond the area. For a while it was written as both hyuga-meshi and taimeshi before the latter name stuck, and in 2007 it was chosen for the Ministry of Agriculture's list of 100 regional dishes as Uwajima Taimeshi.
How to Eat Uwajima-Style Taimeshi
Uwajima-style taimeshi usually arrives in parts: rice, sashimi and sauce. Beat the raw egg into the sauce bowl, add the sashimi and toss until every slice is coated, then pour the fish and sauce over your rice. If nori, green onion or sesame come on the side, add them as you like. The raw egg makes the sauce mellow and rich, so many first-timers find it gentler than an ordinary sashimi bowl. If you avoid raw egg or raw fish, choose the Matsuyama-style cooked version instead. Some places serve it as a set meal with the sashimi on a fish-shaped plate and several side dishes.
Ordering Tips and Where to Try It
If a menu just says taimeshi (鯛めし), you cannot tell which kind it is. For the cooked style look for takikomi (炊き込み) or kamameshi (釜めし); for the raw style look for Uwajima (宇和島) or sashimi (刺身). If in doubt, simply ask which style it is. The cooked version is often made to order and can take 20 to 30 minutes. You can try both in Matsuyama. Local-cuisine and Japanese restaurants around Dogo Onsen, the downtown shopping arcades and Matsuyama Station serve them, while the Hojo area is the home of the cooked style and the Uwajima area the home of the raw style. Taimeshi bento boxes are also sold at stations, handy for a train journey.