Menu for Fiscal Year 2025

Monday, September 22, 2025

Chicken Sauce Cutlet Bowl

When you think of "Katsudon," you might imagine a pork cutlet simmered with egg, but "Tare Katsudon" is a bowl of rice topped with freshly fried cutlets dipped in a sweet sauce made from soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and other ingredients. It is characterized by the use of thinner cutlets compared to the typical Katsudon.

In Niigata, you can eat at many restaurants. Also, the ingredients and sauce flavors vary depending on the restaurant.

In school lunches, chicken cutlets fried until crispy in plenty of oil are dipped in sauce and served on rice.

Thursday, September 4, 2025

Penne Arrabbiata

The world cuisine for September is Italy.

Arrabbiata is one of the representative pasta sauces of Rome, Italy. It features a tomato sauce with added chili peppers and garlic, giving it an appetizing flavor. The word "Arrabbiata" means "angry" in Italian. It is said to be named because the spiciness of the sauce, made with plenty of chili peppers, makes one's face turn red as if angry.

In the school lunch, we seasoned mainly with garlic and tomato without using chili peppers, creating a flavor that is easy for everyone to enjoy. The sauce was mixed with penne, a type of pasta that is short and pointed at the ends.

School Lunch on Thursday, July 17, 2025

Fasolada

The world cuisine for July is Greek.

Traditional meals along the Mediterranean coast, such as in Greece, are called the "Mediterranean diet," which is said to be a nutritionally balanced diet that includes daily consumption of cheese, yogurt, olives, seasonal vegetables, and fruits. The "Mediterranean diet" is registered as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, just like Japanese cuisine.

In school lunches, you can enjoy "Fasolada," a traditional Greek dish and considered a national food, which is a white bean soup. It is characterized by the generous use of beans and vegetables.

School Lunch on Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Mozuku Soup

The local school lunch for July is from Okinawa Prefecture.

Mozuku seaweed in mozuku soup belongs to the same seaweed family as wakame and hijiki. In Okinawa Prefecture, which has the highest mozuku production in Japan, it is sometimes eaten as tempura. Mozuku contains a lot of dietary fiber that helps regulate your digestive system.

In the school lunch, mozuku seaweed was added to a soup made from chicken bones. You can enjoy the smooth texture and chewiness of the mozuku.

School Lunch on Monday, June 30, 2025

Kojiwari (Simmered Stir-fry of Soybeans and Vegetables)

　The local school lunch for June is from Fukui Prefecture. Fukui Prefecture is located in the Hokuriku region, almost in the center of Honshu, and faces the Sea of Japan.

　Kojiwari is a dish made by sautéing and simmering finely shredded daikon radish, carrots, softened soybeans, and fried tofu. In Fukui Prefecture, it has traditionally been eaten at celebratory occasions.

　Since this is an area with heavy snowfall, there are times when people eat a preserved food called "uchimame," which is made by softening and crushing soybeans and then drying them, as a source of nutrition during winter. It is also sometimes used in kojiwari.

School Lunch on Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Karemoa (Chicken Curry)

　The world cuisine for June is Samoa. Samoa is a country in the South Pacific about 1.3 times the size of Tokyo. Surrounded by the sea, it is exactly the "beautiful southern island" that everyone imagines.

　In Samoa, the staple food is a large taro-like root called "taro," but rice and noodles are also eaten.

　Today's school lunch features "Karemoa," one of the Samoan dishes. In the Samoan language, "Kare" means "curry" and "Moa" means "chicken."

School Lunch on Friday, May 30, 2025

Salmon Chan Chan Yaki Sauce

The local school lunch for May is from Hokkaido. Hokkaido is the northernmost region of Japan and is surrounded by the sea, making it a thriving fishing area. About 90% of the salmon caught in Japan comes from Hokkaido. Salmon Chanchan-yaki is a representative local dish of Hokkaido. It is said that Chanchan-yaki originated when fishermen in Hokkaido grilled the salmon they caught on their boats and ate it.

For school lunch, we grilled salmon from Hokkaido and topped it with a sauce containing cabbage and other ingredients.

School Lunch on Thursday, May 8, 2025

Chicken with Barbecue Sauce

The world cuisine for May is Australia. Australia is located south of Japan and has opposite seasons to Japan. It is a country with an area about 20 times that of Japan and is rich in nature.

When it comes to classic Australian dishes, barbecue is a staple. Parks and beaches are equipped with barbecue facilities, and they become lively with people on holidays. In school lunches, chicken, which is commonly eaten at Australian barbecues, is finished with barbecue sauce.

School Lunch on Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Thunder Juice

　The local school lunch for April is Kaminari Soup from Tochigi Prefecture. Kaminari Soup is a broth dish where tofu, drained of moisture and crumbled, is stir-fried in oil and then simmered in dashi stock. The name comes from the crackling sound made when frying the tofu in oil, which resembles the sound of thunder, and because the central region of Tochigi Prefecture is an area where thunder frequently occurs.

　In the school lunch, tofu was crumbled and stir-fried in a large pot capable of making meals for 1,000 people, creating a "crackling" sound while making thunder soup.

School Lunch on Friday, April 18, 2025

Julienne Soup

　The world cuisine for April is France. France is a country located in the western part of Europe, and French cuisine, like Japanese washoku, is registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

　"Julienne" means "thin strips" in French. In French cuisine, the names are given based on how the ingredients are cut. In the school lunch, vegetables such as carrots and cabbage were cut into thin strips and simmered in chicken broth.