Photo/Illutration The new train lunch called “Very hard chicken meal made with parent chicken” will be sold for a limited time. (Photo courtesy of Hanazen)

Although rarely eaten on its own in Akita Prefecture, adult chicken meat has risen to the top of the pecking order for a popular train station bento. 

Bento maker Hanazen, based in Odate in the prefecture, is offering a boxed meal made of chewy chicken called “Totemo katai oyadori no tori-meshi” (Very hard chicken meal made with parent chicken) for a limited time.

“I don't think we have ever used it in a bento," said Shuichi Yagihashi, president of Hanazen, which is known for its train lunch “Tori-meshi” (Chicken meal) that sells 500,000 units a year. “Although the chicken has been cut into small pieces to help with chewing, I advise people with bad teeth to refrain from eating it, if possible.” 

The main feature of Hanazen’s boxed lunch is the salty-sweet chicken. While thigh meat of young chicken is normally used, the company will utilize the tougher thigh and breast meat from older chickens this time.

Mature chicken meat offers umami and richness lacking in younger chicken meat and it often tops “niku-soba” (soba noodle with meat), a specialty of Yamagata Prefecture.

In Akita Prefecture, while it is an indispensable ingredient when making stock for the local “kiritanpo” hotpot stew, it is almost never eaten solely on its own.

The meat's biggest feature is the tough texture that keeps people from biting off some parts. This is emphasized on the wrapping paper as, “Adult chicken meat that is unbelievably hard!”

Hanazen, which has set up shop in front of JR Odate Station, is a long-established food company founded more than 100 years ago.

Its tori-meshi is its leading product, which has garnered the top “train lunch great shogun” award three times in past contests.

In the “Ekiben aji no jin” (Train lunch flavor battle) contest sponsored by East Japan Railway Co., the best train bento is chosen through nationwide online voting.

Hanazen is submitting its latest product to this year’s contest that starts in October in the hope of repeating the feat.

The boxed chicken meal is priced at 1,000 yen ($6.60), including tax.

It is on sale in outlets at JR stations including Odate, Akita, Aomori and Morioka as well as at some supermarkets in Akita Prefecture from Oct. 1 until the end of the year.

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