Global fast food chains often create dishes inspired by a country’s local cuisine when setting up shop there, and Japan is no exception. For example, Japanese branches of Domino’s Pizza have been known to serve up mentai toppings and even unveiled a ‘Pizza Rice Bowl’ to try to entice locals.

Their latest lineup puts locally sourced ingredients in the spotlight and highlights some of the great specialty flavours found in certain areas of Japan. The campaign is called ‘Sanchoku’, meaning ‘direct from the farm’, or ‘farm-fresh’. You can even get all of them at once, served up as a ‘Quattro’ pizza.

One quarter brings the taste of whitebait fish from the Seto Inland Sea, known as one of the top destinations in Japan for freshly caught seafood. This fishy take on Margherita pizza combines the whitebait with tomato and basil.

The next one will transport you simultaneously to Kagoshima prefecture with charcoal-grilled black pork, and Chiba with rapeseed flowers. Kagoshima’s juicy black pork has a proud 400-year history, and the gently bitter rapeseed flowers work in perfect harmony with the sweet pork.

Suruga Bay in Shizuoka is home to the sakura shrimp, a species named after cherry blossom because of its light pink hue. For this pizza creation, Domino’s has made Suruga Bay’s specialty shrimp into a sauce and paired it with some tender shrimps and broccoli.

Lastly, there’s a cheese lover’s dream, with three different types of cheese sourced from Hokkaido prefecture. The luxurious combination is amped up even further with a cream sauce drizzled on top.

This pizza starring local specialty foods is part of Domino’s initiative to promote local ingredients and food manufacturers. For each pizza sold, Domino’s will donate a portion of the profit to their ‘Sanchoku Domino’s Fund’ to support farmers and other produce workers.

This taste journey around Japan is available until 3rd July 2022, at branches of Domino’s Pizza in Japan.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.