I love a good food movie but often leave the theater feeling hungry and something like unrequited love. It happens when the food starring in the film is unobtainable locally. (“Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” anyone?)

That’s what I felt following last month’s Honolulu International Film Festival screening of “Jimami Tofu,” a love story about a humble chef and a snobby Tokyo-based food critic whose cold heart is thawed by a taste of home. The chef winds up in the restaurant of the critic’s estranged father, who runs a small rural restaurant in Okinawa known for its jimami (peanut) tofu and seaweed tempura. The film was one of the most popular of the festival, originally set to screen two nights but commanding an added third showing.

I was unaware of jimami tofu before seeing the film but left with a strong desire to try it. Luckily, the film’s promoters were prepared for such cravings. A private reception for the writers/producers/actors Jason Chan and Christian Lee featured the tofu as well as other specialties of Okinawa. On the reception menu were awamori-marinated rafute, goya champuru, awamori punch, and plain and pumpkin andagi.

Well, that was well and good for a handful of VIP filmgoers, but what about others left curious about jimami (which translates as “beans on the ground” in Okinawa) tofu after seeing the film?

Aloha Tofu was tasked with creating the menu and making jimami tofu for the first time.

For owner and president Paul Uyehara, peanut tofu is tofulike but no more a true tofu than soy milk is equivalent to cow milk, although the process of making jimami tofu is similar to making soybean tofu. It’s an arduous 24-hour process that starts with blanching raw peanuts, softening and mashing them to the point where the peanut milk can be wrung from them. That milk is coagulated with tapioca starch and stirred until attaining a smooth, creamy consistency. There is no shortcut.

Uyehara ordered samples from Okinawa and, after two tries, said, “I think it came close to the original and was probably better because it was fresh-made.”

The tofu can be purchased at Aloha Tofu Town restaurant at Dole Cannery for $4.50 per order, with a 15-order minimum and four days’ advance notice.

“The people most interested in it are the ones who travel to Okinawa, then come back and request it. That got us to thinking, as tofu makers, what else can we make? Other standards are sesame and egg tofu.”

Experiments with those forms of tofu could start after the holidays. On a side note, Aloha Tofu recently developed the ability to make sheets of fresh yuba (soybean curd skins), another niche product, offered at Aloha Tofu Town for $10 for a sheet about 12 inches square.

Call 585-8588.

For a more immediate taste of jimami tofu, try Izakaya Naru in Moiliili. A small bowl of the tofu, which is stickier and thicker than that of Okinawa, is $6. The tofu is made on-site, starting with shelling and roasting the peanuts, which gives the resulting tofu a stronger peanut flavor than traditional blanching.

In seeking out the jimami tofu, I was reminded how good this little restaurant is. It’s next door to Sushi King on King Street. Parking can sometimes be difficult because of the workout crowd attending Egan Inoue’s Bootcamp nearby, but Naru is worth the hassle.

The tofu is just a warm-up act for a menu full of such Okinawan specialties as rafute (braised shoyu pork belly, $9.75); slippery, sour, marinated mozoku seaweed ($4.25); and seasoned ground beef-topped, stone pot taco rice ($11.75), a post-1960 fusion specialty that became popular with U.S. military personnel stationed in Okinawa.

Another postwar specialty is bitter melon stir-fried with tofu, egg and that favorite Occupation meat, Spam ($8.75).

This is also the place to get Okinawan soba ($10.75), which is closer to the thickness and chewy consistency of udon than Japanese soba. You can get it topped with shoyu spareribs, shoyu pork belly or stewed tofu. Add to that a splash of awamori-soaked chili peppers, the Okinawan equivalent to Hawaiian chili pepper water.

You can also opt for gyoza ($7.50) in its regular folded form or in ono pizza form, with a thin layer of meat and cheese spread over a gyoza crust ($8.50).

Make sure to check out the izakaya’s lengthy list of daily specials, which might include hamachi carpaccio dressed with Okinawan lime ($12) and two pieces of crab toast with crab innards sauce ($6.95).

For dessert there’s sata (sugar) andagi, an Okinawan doughnut served with vanilla ice cream ($5.25). Considering the Okinawa immersion of the rest of the menu, the flavor of the ice cream was a jolt back to the USA.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.