Edo Fishermen's Bowl · Clam Rice
Fukagawa-meshi
Photo: Yamaguchi Yoshiaki / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
It was invented for a 15-minute lunch break — Edo-period fishermen boiled clams, onion and tofu in diluted seawater right on their boats because they had no time for anything slower, then poured it straight over rice.
Clams are simmered in a light dashi with green onion and sometimes tofu, then poured over a bowl of rice, either as a simple simmered donburi or with the broth ladled tableside over rice at the last second.
Why it's made this way: The dish takes its name from Fukagawa, an Edo Bay tidal-flat fishing district; when 20th-century land reclamation drove the fishing fleet out and shellfish grew scarce, the dish nearly vanished until the 1986 opening of the Fukagawa Edo Museum, which recreated the old neighborhood and drew crowds back, put it back on Tokyo menus as a heritage dish.
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