Vegetables as Medicinal Food
Medicinal Foods:
Okinawan cuisine uses vegetables and medicinal herbs not seen in mainland Japan. These are plants like Goya (bitter melon), Hechima, green mustard, Suizenji leaves, fennel, and "long-life" grass - plants with strong curative value.
 Goya
is a summer vegetable that effectively combats the enervating effect of the summer heat. Liquids decocted with Goya
leaves have been held since old times to be good for heat rash and eczema. Yomogi treats all kinds of ailments.
Green mustard is a diuretic and also promotes regularity and a healthy stomach. Suizenji leaves are used for diarrhea
and as blood medicine. Fennel promotes stomach health, treats coughs and loosens phlegm. Long-life grass draws poison,
kills odors and quiets coughs.
These vegetables with bitter flavor and strong aroma are also often used to kill the undesirable odors of fish, pork and goat soup. They are also used in tempura, as juice, in sauces and stir-fries. Some might scorn them as merely folk medicines, but contemporary scientists and nutritionists have verified their curative value.
Evidence now suggests that excessive free radicals in the body give rise to many of the diseases of adulthood. The sun's ultraviolet rays are a potent source of free radicals and Okinawans receive Japan's largest doses of these. However, the vegetables and medicinal herbs that Okinawans eat contain antioxidants that suppress free radicals. Medical research has shown that eating pork along with the vegetables enhances the antioxidant effect.
Potatoes:
Since the introduction to Okinawa of the so-called Tong (Satsuma) potato in the early 17th century, ordinary people in Okinawa had stable access to a basic food. The potato continued as a dietary staple right up to the period of recovery after the World War II. The potato was revered as Okinawa's salvation from malnutrition and famine. Potatoes were usually eaten steamed, with the leaves of the sweet potato vine stir-fried and eaten in soups. However, potatoes were hard to keep so they were often converted to potato starch as a preservative strategy. Various dishes used this starch. After the war, however, rice became more readily available and Satsuma potatoes disappeared from Okinawan dining tables.
Purple Beni Imo (sweet potatoes) have recently become popular. They are sold mainly in the form of various confections.
 Now, potatoes are potatoes of course, but the paddy field potatoes also grown in Okinawa are an indispensable item on the menu at any special occasion. The stems, called "Muji," are also a food item.
Finding a cluster of smaller paddy field potatoes growing around a "parent potato" has always been regarded as a treasured omen of good fortune promising abundant and healthy children and grandchildren. Paddy field potatoes are important offerings at New Year's and Obon.
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