How People in Okinawa Relate to Saury and Salmon: Regional Characteristics in the Diffusion, Distribution, and Consumption of Food

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate the diffusion process and background to regional meals, the creation of sale-consumption activity, and regional characteristics focusing on the distribution and consumption of fish species. Sauries were not part of traditional regional fishery in Okinawa. However, some of the saury catch, which is used as bait in pelagic fishery, began to be converted to food use from the late 1950s. In the 1960s, traders in the Ryukyu Islands (the former regional name for Okinawa which was used before the reversion to Japan) began to import food commodities from Japan. Since the reversion of the Ryukyu Islands to Japan in 1972, traders from Japan proper entered the food distribution sector in Okinawa. Full-scale commodity trading in sauries was gradually established. At present, sales of raw or fresh sauries are diffusing. Eating habits and the socioeconomic conditions of Okinawa differ from those in the rest of Japan and they are reflected in the methods of sales and trends in cooking and consuming sauries.本研究は，沖縄県を対象として，当該地域の漁業活動で対象とされていない魚種の流通・消費を取り上げて，地域の食卓への普及過程とその背景，販売・消費活動の展開や地域的特徴を明らかにすることを目的とする．遠洋漁業用餌のサンマの一部が1950年代末から食用に転用され，1960年代には琉球の業者が食用商材を本土から集荷を開始していた．日本への復帰を契機に，本土の業者も流通に参入し，本格的にサンマ商材が扱われるようになった．今日では生・生鮮品の販売も普及している．沖縄の食習慣や社会・経済的条件の影響を受けて，本土とは異なるサンマの販売形態や調理・消費動向が確認された．