Japanese Drinking Snacks: The Art of the Otsumami

By Yoshi | Japan Unveiled

The relationship between food and drink in Japanese culture is not the relationship between a primary and a secondary element. It is not the relationship between the meal and its accompaniment. It is something more genuinely equal and more genuinely interdependent.

The specific Japanese understanding: you drink with food, and you eat with drink. Neither is primary. Both are chosen with the specific consideration of how each enhances the other. The beer that goes with edamame and the cold tofu is a different beer than the sake that goes with grilled fish and pickles, and the food that goes with shochu is specifically chosen for the way it interacts with shochu’s particular flavour profile. This is not an accident or a convention. It is the specific expression of a food-and-drink philosophy that has been developing in Japan for centuries.

The word otsumami (おつまみ) — sometimes also called ate (あて) in the Kansai region — means specifically the food that is eaten with alcohol. Not the food that is served alongside alcohol, not the food that happens to be present when drinking occurs, but the food that is specifically chosen and specifically prepared for the specific purpose of accompanying a specific drink.

The otsumami tradition is one of the most sophisticated and most specific aspects of Japanese food culture, and it deserves full examination.

The Philosophy: Why Otsumami Exists as a Category

The specific existence of otsumami as a named food category — a category distinct from regular meal food — reflects the specific Japanese understanding that the context of eating determines what food is appropriate in ways that go beyond simple preference.

Food eaten with alcohol serves several specific functions that food eaten as part of a regular meal does not necessarily need to serve: it moderates the absorption of alcohol (the fat and protein in otsumami slow the passage of alcohol from the stomach into the bloodstream, which is the specific reason that eating while drinking produces a different experience from drinking without food); it provides specific flavours that complement the specific drink being consumed; and it provides the specific social occasion for continued conversation and continued shared experience around the table.

The specific character of good otsumami: it is flavourful enough to stand up to the flavour of the drink, but not so flavourful that it overwhelms it. It is portioned in small amounts — a few pieces at a time — that allow the eating to be spread across the drinking session rather than concentrated into a meal. It is often salty, because salt enhances the perception of both food flavour and the flavour of alcohol, particularly beer. And it is varied — the best otsumami selections provide a range of flavours, textures, and temperatures across the drinking session.

Edamame: The Universal Opener

Edamame (枝豆) — boiled salted young soybeans in their pods — is the most universally present otsumami in Japanese drinking culture, and the one whose specific function — the first thing consumed with the first drink — is so clearly established that ordering edamame at an izakaya is as automatic as ordering the beer itself.

The specific eating ritual: the edamame pod is squeezed between the lips or bitten at the end, pressing the beans out of the pod into the mouth. The pods are not eaten — they accumulate in a bowl at the edge of the table, their specific visual accumulation marking the passage of the evening in a specific informal way. The specific saltiness of well-made edamame — the pods boiled in heavily salted water until the salt penetrates the beans themselves — is the specific flavour that opens the palate for the first beer.

The seasonal dimension: edamame are a summer vegetable, available fresh from approximately June through September. The fresh edamame of summer — slightly sweet, specifically vegetal, with the specific clean flavour of a recently harvested legume — is significantly better than the frozen edamame that is available year-round. The specific summer izakaya experience, with cold beer and fresh edamame at the first outdoor table of the season, is one of the most reliably pleasant annual events in Japanese food culture.

Hiyayakko: Cold Tofu as an Art Form

Hiyayakko (冷奴) — cold silken tofu served with specific toppings and soy sauce — is one of the most specifically Japanese of all otsumami, and one that most clearly demonstrates the Japanese capacity for making something extraordinary from something apparently very simple.

The preparation: a block of cold silken tofu (kinu tofu) is served in a small dish, topped with a combination of specific garnishes — typically finely grated ginger, sliced green onion, dried bonito flakes, and sometimes specific additions including myoga (Japanese ginger blossom), shiso (perilla leaf), sesame seeds, or umeboshi (pickled plum paste) — and dressed at the table with a small amount of soy sauce.

The specific excellence of good hiyayakko: the tofu must be cold — genuinely cold, not merely room temperature — because the temperature contrast between the cold, smooth tofu and the aromatic toppings is part of the eating experience. The tofu must be fresh — silken tofu within a day or two of its production date is noticeably sweeter and cleaner in flavour than older tofu. And the toppings must be correctly balanced — the ginger’s sharp heat, the green onion’s specific bite, the katsuobushi’s smoky depth all working together to provide a complex sensory experience on top of the tofu’s mild, creamy base.

Sashimi: The Premium Otsumami

Sashimi — raw fish sliced to specific thickness and served with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger — functions as otsumami in the Japanese izakaya context in a way that is different from how it functions as a course in a formal meal.

The specific sashimi-as-otsumami experience: the sashimi plate ordered at an izakaya is chosen for the specific complementary relationship between the fish’s flavour and the drink being consumed. The clean, delicate flavour of white fish (hirame, tai) pairs specifically with sake. The specific richness of tuna (maguro) belly (toro) pairs with beer or with highball. The specific briny intensity of fresh squid (ika) pairs with shochu.

The specific sashimi moriawase (assortment plate) that appears on izakaya menus combines several species in one plate — typically tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and one or two seasonal additions — providing the variety that a long drinking session benefits from.

Karasumi, Shiokara, and the Extreme Otsumami

The most specifically traditional otsumami — the preparations that are specifically designed for sake consumption and that reflect the deepest layers of the Japanese fermented food tradition — are worth describing separately, because they represent a specific category of flavour intensity that is acquired rather than immediately accessible.

Karasumi (からすみ) — the salted, dried roe of the grey mullet — is one of Japan’s three most prestigious food products (sanshu no chinmi — three rare delicacies), alongside sea cucumber intestines and salted sea urchin. Karasumi has a specific intense, salty, umami-rich flavour and a specific dense, waxy texture that makes it most appropriate as a very small accompaniment to sake — a few thin slices are sufficient to provide the specific flavour intensity that the best sake complements require.

Shiokara (塩辛) — the salted fermented viscera of squid or other seafood — is one of the most specifically challenging otsumami for non-Japanese people encountering it, and one of the most beloved for those who have acquired the taste. The specific flavour: intensely salty, deeply umami-rich, with the specific fermented quality that comes from several weeks of the enzymes in the viscera breaking down the surrounding proteins.

The Potato Salad Question

Japanese izakaya potato salad — poteto sarada (ポテトサラダ) — deserves specific mention because it is one of the most specifically Japanese of all otsumami despite being, on its surface, a Western preparation.

The Japanese potato salad is not the mayonnaise-heavy American potato salad. It is a specifically Japanese preparation: boiled potatoes that have been partially mashed (some pieces remain intact for texture), combined with specific additions (finely julienned and salted cucumber, thinly sliced onion that has been rinsed to reduce its sharpness, sometimes sliced ham or carrot), and dressed with Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie mayonnaise, made with rice vinegar and using only egg yolks rather than whole eggs, which produces a richer, more specifically savoury result than Western mayonnaise) and a small amount of rice vinegar and salt.

The specific excellence of good izakaya potato salad: it is served at room temperature rather than cold, which allows the specific flavour to be fully perceptible. It is lightly seasoned — Japanese mayonnaise provides the specific richness without overwhelming — and has the specific balance of the soft potato, the crisp cucumber, the mild onion, and the specific tanginess of the dressing that makes it one of the most satisfying of all izakaya small dishes.

Karaage and Tsukune: The Warm Otsumami

The warm otsumami — freshly cooked preparations that provide specific heat and specific aromatic qualities to the otsumami selection — are the backbone of most izakaya orders and the category that most clearly demonstrates why the izakaya format integrates food and drink so successfully.

Karaage (唐揚げ — Japanese fried chicken) as otsumami: the specific combination of the crispy coating, the juicy interior, the specific soy-ginger marinade, and the specific heat of freshly fried chicken with a cold beer is one of the most reliable pleasures in Japanese casual dining. The specific pleasure is not complex — it is direct and immediate — but it is genuine.

Tsukune (つくね — chicken meatball) as otsumami: the specific chicken meatball grilled on a skewer, typically with a sweet tare glaze, served with a raw egg yolk for dipping — is the otsumami that best expresses the specific character of Japanese drinking food: simple in concept, specific in execution, and designed to be eaten slowly across the evening in a way that sustains both the appetite and the conversation.

The Home Drinking Snack: Kanpai at the Kitchen Table

The specific Japanese home drinking culture — the ie nomi (家飲み — home drinking) that increased significantly during the COVID period and that has remained popular as a specific alternative to izakaya evenings — has produced a specific home otsumami culture that is worth acknowledging.

The convenience store otsumami selection — the specific snacks and small prepared foods that are sold in the refrigerated section alongside the canned beers and the chūhai — is the most accessible expression of this home drinking culture: the cheese in various forms, the specific salted nuts, the dried squid (surume), the specific seaweed snacks, the small portions of salted fish.

The home otsumami that requires slightly more preparation but provides significantly more pleasure: a small plate of hiyayakko, a handful of edamame boiled in salted water from frozen, some sliced cucumber with miso paste for dipping. These take ten minutes to prepare and provide the specific relaxed, flavourful accompaniment to a quiet evening of home drinking that the best otsumami traditions are designed to produce.

— Yoshi 🍺 Central Japan, 2026

Enjoyed this? You might also like: “Japanese Drinking Culture: Kanpai, Nomihoudai, and the Unwritten Rules” and “Izakaya Culture: How to Order, What to Eat, and Why It’s More Than a Pub” — both available on Japan Unveiled.