Ivy Sanriku Ebi Senbei Shrimp Crackers

Off the northeast coast of Japan, the cold Oyashio current runs down from the north and meets the warm Kuroshio coming up from the south.

Where they collide, the water churns nutrients toward the surface and feeds one of the richest fishing grounds on earth.

This is the Sanriku coast, a ragged line of drowned valleys and deep inlets running through Iwate and Miyagi, and for centuries the food culture here has been built entirely around what the sea gives up.

These crackers are made from two things that coast produces: shiba-ebi, a small local shrimp with a clean sweetness that Japanese cooks prize for tempura, and salt evaporated from Sanriku seawater.

The shrimp is worked into the dough rather than dusted on top, and the crackers are baked instead of fried, which is what gives them their particular character — a dry, brittle snap and a savory depth that reads as shrimp rather than as seasoning.

The salt is present but restrained. Nothing here is trying to shout.

Senbei of this kind occupy a specific place in Japanese life.

They are what comes out when a guest arrives and green tea is poured, and they are what you buy at the station on the way home to hand around the office.

This box holds 14 or 27 individually wrapped pieces, which is the standard architecture of a Japanese gift: enough to distribute, wrapped so each person receives their own.

They also work as they are, with beer or sake, which is how a good many boxes actually get eaten.

Please note that this product contains shrimp.

About this item
Item Name : Sanriku Ebi Senbei
Brand : Ivy
Item Form : Cracker
Number of Items : 14 and 27 Counts (Box of 1)