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• This study explores the cuisine of Hokkaidō Jōmon hunter-gatherer societies. • We combine in-depth analysis of tool-kits and site locations to predict culinary traditions at 18 different sites in five regions spanning the full Hokkaidō Jōmon sequence (ca. 14,500–2300 cal BP). These predictions are tested via organic residue analysis of 169 sherds from prehistoric cooking pots. • Despite compelling evidence that diverse tool-kits had supported a broad-based subsistence economy at both coastal and inland sites, the results demonstrate that pottery had primarily been used to process aquatic resources, including salmonids at inland sites, and marine resources along the coast. • In contrast, evidence for the processing of plants and terrestrial game in the cooking pots was infrequent, and it seems that these resources were being processed in other ways. • The insights confirm the potential of organic residue analysis, but also suggest that archaeologists should look "beyond the cooking pot" to fully understand the origins and regional diversification of Jōmon cuisine. The goal of this contribution is to stimulate a wider reflection on the role of food consumption practices throughout prehistory. We focussed on the Jōmon communities of Hokkaidō Island in Northern Japan since these mobile foragers underwent a process of economic diversification and intensification, eventually leading to higher levels of sedentism across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Moreover, dynamic social settings and expansion of the subsistence base at the start of the Holocene would have provided rich opportunities for novel food combinations, and potentially, the rise of diverse regional cuisines. We investigated tool kits and resource landscapes, and sampled pottery from a range of sites, phases and regions. We then applied organic residue analysis to confirm the actual spatiotemporal patterning in cuisine. Although we predicted that ruminants and nuts would have played a major role in local cuisine, especially in inland areas, our results indicate that aquatic resources were central to pottery-based cuisines across the island, and that other food groups had probably been processed in other ways. While organic residue analysis enabled us to reconstruct some major patterns in Jōmon cuisine, we conclude that archaeologists will need to look "beyond the cooking pot" to fully appreciate the full diversity of local foodways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]