So a few years ago there was a big scandal in Europe surrounding horse meat
when it turned out nearly every meat based dish ever was secretly horse meat
in disguise and ever since then the reputation of horse meat has been
tarnished and even then it's not something we really eat anyway.
Meanwhile in Japan they eat horse meat raw and today we're going to go and try it and
see what it tastes like and unfortunately we are joined by Ryotaro for this trip.
Raw Horse
Have you been drinking too much apple juice again?
He's the most hyper man ever.
But anyway I'm going to stuff you up with not only horse but beef and chicken.
And also I'm going to stuff you with garlic.
Garlic?
Yeah
Yeah!
Today we're visiting two neighbouring towns with two
distinct culinary identities in the far northern region of Aomori.
Gonohe town has been famous for its horses for over a thousand years first as a town
that bred horses for samurai and more recently for its lean juicy cuts of horse.
But before we stuff ourselves with horses we're first dropping in to the
nearby town of Takko. Now Takko town might sound like an exciting upmarket
Mexican restaurant but in fact this rural town is actually Japan's biggest exporter of garlic.
On first glance while passing through Takko you wouldn't know
the town is obsessed with garlic.
Well apart from the garlic street lights.
Oh yeah and the garlic character
Oh and I guess there's the unique variation on Cola.
That might give it away.
You can sense there's a real obsession with garlic in this town
just by looking at the cola which has garlic in it.
Garlic coca-cola; never had that so let's try it. This is my first drink of the day
this is my breakfast as well so you can definitely smell it.
There's a kind of spiciness to the flavor and the coke that makes it actually quite nice.
Bloody hell who'd have thought garlic and coke actually works.
Since the taste of the garlic is quite mild
normally garlic is used as spices or flavoring
But here you actually can eat the whole thing and you'll actually like it.
One characteristic of Takkos garlic is its high sugar content which means you can
eat entire cloves without setting your mouth on fire.
Ok so now what we've got
here is one whole garlic - they grilled it.
How do I do it? So they actually give us a fork so I think we're just gonna dig it.
Oh look at this!
There is something I need to declare to the world.
This is the best garlic I've ever had
I can't really explain it.
Well you have to until we have a 4D video experience.
That's true with the smell right?
Again it's mild and stuff but it's really creamy I would say.
If I close my eyes and ate that again it's like eating a jacket potato that's
been mildly flavored with garlic. It has a very silky smooth kind of texture to it.
Take all your preconceptions about garlic and discard them
this is the next level of garlic
Why are you trying to hide it?
Souvenirs?
It's not every day you see garlic coke.
Not for yourself?
One of them might be.
Okay this is the restaurant in Gonohe town that is famous for the horse meat.
And we're going to have a horse BBQ.
What is their obsession with horses? How did it come about?
Here in the Gonohe town
they've been eating this horse meat for the last 1,200 years, can you believe that?
Older than you!
So this is a horse meat and we call it "Sakura Niku" in Japanese
It means cherry blossom meat.
That's very romantic.
Yeah it is.
Even if it's a butchered horse.
So "Basashi" raw horse meat is pretty common throughout Japan.
This isn't. This is actually pretty rare right? Like grilled bbq horse meat.
It's the first time I saw it.
It's kind of a local specialty to this town so this is my first time to actually have horse meat
that's been grilled like on a barbecue so I don't really know what to expect.
Hmm the key word here is juicy. It's very juicy it tastes a lot like beef.
But unlike Japanese beef which is very fatty this is quite lean. It's juicier than beef
and it's slightly chewier than beef as well but it's a satisfying kind of sugary taste right?
That's really good and apparently it's lower in fat,
cholesterol and calories right.
You can eat horse meat all day every day
and you'll never get fat or never die.
Stuffed full of garlic and horses Ryotaro's got one last local dish up his sleeve
to finish me off from nearby Hachinohe city.
I'm absolutely stuffed and yet we've got one more final round to go but I'm not gonna complain.
It's a kind of free-range chicken called shamrock chicken but it's
got the Royal Seal of Approval there are 60 brands of free-range chicken across
Japan and this is the only one that has the royal seal of approval the only one
that the royal family of Japan eat.
If it's good for the Emperor it's good for me.
Not sure about that. You're not that Royal.
What is going on?
We'll rename the video to dining with Gollum.
Dining with Gollum.
I want that ring.
I want that ring? I don't remember that line.
I don't remember it either.
I think if there's one thing to take away from today it is
If I was ever stuck on a
desert island and I had to take one animal with me that animal would be an
Aomori horse because not only would I be able to ride it around and not only
would it be able to carry my garlic coca-cola around for me but if shit hit
the fan and times got tough I'll be able to chop it up eat it and have over
barbecue safe in the knowledge that it would be a truly delicious animal
If you're looking for the best cuts of horse in japan, an abundance of garlic,
and a taste of chicken worthy of the Emperor's kitchen
Hachinohe is a two-and-a-half-hour bullet train ride north of Tokyo. For more information on where
we visited in this video you can find the details in the description box below
But for now guys as always many thanks for watching we'll see you next time
What happens is that there's going to be some flow of horse oil.
Horse Oil?
Horse oil yeah. Because we are good in there you're just making up words in
Are you just making up words and terms as you go along?
You mean horse fat.
But it becomes horse oil at the end.
And horse oil will come into this hole here.
And we're going to use this horse oil to actually grill the meat later on.
Because otherwise it's gonna be burnt.
Every part of the horse is used.