Rich Local Ingredients Make Nagato Oden Popular Dish

By Toshikatsu Kizaki / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

14:22 JST, March 15, 2026

Oden cooked with local brand chicken in both the ingredients and the soup base has become popular among tourists at a michi no eki roadside rest area in Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Nagato Bussan LLC operates the rest area in the city’s Senzaki district, dubbed Senza Kitchen, and said the oden prepared with the rich flavors of local products warms you from within.

The Nagato oden was jointly developed by Nagato Bussan, Fukawa Poultry Agricultural Cooperative, which produces and sells Choshu-dori chicken, and others at the request of the city in an aim to add value to local products. They started making trial products around June 2025 and began selling them at the roadside rest area and other locations in December last year.

The oden contains nine ingredients, primarily local products. Among them are Choshu-dori drumsticks and cartilage as well as tsukune meatballs made with the chicken. Yakikamaboko grilled fish cakes, a local specialty, and tempura made from fish caught in the region are also used.

The entities that developed the dish said the tender chicken drumsticks are exceptionally delicious, and their juicy flavor is popular with tourists.

The 800-gram pack of oden is priced at ¥1,000.

According to the serving suggestion on the packaging, it is recommended that the oden be enjoyed with yuzu pepper made with Nagato Yuzukichi, citrus fruit cultivated mainly in the city. Nagato Yuzukichi is said to complement the rich flavor of the chicken and fish better than karashi mustard paste, which is usually served with oden.

The developers also put their efforts into making the oden broth delicious. The soup is made by simmering the bones of Choshu-dori, rich in umami flavor from components such as collagen, for hours then blending it with broth made from grilled locally caught flying fish.

The chicken broth is a staple of Nagato cooking and used for school lunches in the city. The broth from the oden can be enjoyed even after eating the ingredients by cooking udon or soba noodles in the soup as a final treat.

“We aimed to create a product that would also be enjoyed as a souvenir by tourists. To enjoy the flavor of the oden in the rich stock, we recommend heating the pack of oden in boiling water, rather than taking the ingredients and soup out of the pack and heating them in a pot,” said Kinji Shimada, 52, who was responsible for product development at Nagato Bussan.