Pigs were first brought into the Ryukyus by Chinese immigrants in 1392, but they failed to prosper because of the lack of food available at the time. When sweet potatoes were introduced from China however, the practice of pig farming spread rapidly, marking the beginning of the meat eating culture in Okinawa. The relationship between "pork and the sweet potato" now occupies a special position in Okinawan food culture. the favorable geographical conditions helped the combination to become by far the most important food items in the Okinawans diet. It goes without saying that all the pig was eaten, including the fat, leaving nothing behind.

Some present examples of widely used Okinawan pork dishes include leg tibichi (soup made with leg of pork, konbu seaweed and daikon radish or gourd melon), ear skin sashimi (skin of the face or ear in a vinegar and miso salad with cucumber, beanshoots and peanuts), and nakami suimono (soup made with pig stomach or intestine, cooked with mushrooms until soft). These dishes all contain large amounts of collagen and elastin, both attracting interest in recent years as important substances in preserving health and long life through the prevention of lifestyle diseases.

We tend to avoid pork in modern cultures, but in Okinawa it is a major pillar of their diet. When cooking in the Okinawan Style it is important to realize that there is a fat content in the pork, not just in the meaty portions, but in the special parts such as feet and ears, skin of the face and internal organs, and it is important to remove this during the preparation process. In popular dishes such as sooki shiru (soup made with pork ribs and daikon radish and konbu seaweed), nakami no suimono and leg tibichi, the subcutaneous fat is carefully removed in a process known as akunuki, so that these healthy pork dishes are made with almost no saturated fat content.