One trend I've noticed in fan fiction is too call okonomiyaki "Japanese pizza". That's a misconception; okonomiyaki have as much in common with omelets as they do with pizza.
An okonomiyaki is a large, savory pancake made with diced seafood, meat and vegetables mixed in batter, then fried on a griddle like a western pancake. "Okonomiyaki" can be translated as "cook what you like," and in many restaurants, the customers choose their ingredients and then cook their okonomiyaki themselves, right at the table.
The okonomiyaki style of cooking originated in Osaka and continues to be most popular there, although okonomiyaki-ya can be found throughout Japan. The restaurants are popular with students on a budget, since the food is inexpensive, tasty, and filling.
The menu in an okonomiyaki-ya lists the main ingredients available; an order of okonomiyaki consists of a bowl of batter, a dish of diced vegetables and sometimes noodles, and the main ingredient, such as shrimp or pork. A regular order of shrimp okonomiyaki is called ebi-ten (or ebi-tamayaki); some restaurants also serve monja-yaki, which makes for a somewhat thinner and more watery pancake.
The waiter or waitress turns on the grill at your table and brushes the surface with oil; after that, you're on your own. First you mix together all the ingredients, then you pour the mixture onto the grill when it's hot enough. You use small spatulas for flattening the pancake and pushing it into shape, and a larger spatula for turning it over (not as big as Ukyou's, though!). Before and after turning, you can brush the top of the pancake with Worcestershire sauce, then you can sprinkle it with aonori (green seaweed powder) and katsuo (dried bonito shavings) before eating it.
It takes a bit of experience to figure out when to flip the okonomiyaki, it doesn't hold together nearly as well as a pancake, so practice is necessary. It's perfectly okay for a newcomer to ask the waiter/ waitress for advice. Okonomiyaki-ya also serve yakisoba (fried noodles with meat and vegetables), as well as some egg-based dishes that are even closer to omelets.
Japan also has pizza, which they adopted from the West. However, the Japanese eat things on pizza that the average Westerner wouldn't think of. Here is a brief list of unusual toppings found in Japan:
Asparagus, broccoli, cabbage-curry, chicken (whole breast), chicken (teriyaki), cod roe, corn, curry powder, dried fish flakes, eel, egg (boiled/sliced), egg (yolk), eggplant, jalapeno peppers, kimchi, mayonnaise, parsley, raisons, salmon, scallops, seaweed, shrimp, spaghetti, spiced ginger, spinach, squid, tater tots, tuna, welsh onions.
Of course, no intro to Japanese pizza would be complete without mention of the Squid Ink Pizza. In these pizzas (and pastas) the tomato sauce is replaced with a black-as-sin squid ink sauce. Squid ink sauce doesn't taste all that bad, but tomato sauce is ten times better. Plus, squid ink looks weird & stains your mouth black.
Here are some pizzas found on menus in Japanese restaurants:
From Domino's:
ALL-STAR SEAFOOD: Smoked salmon, asparagus, shrimp, squid, green pepper, dried fish flakes, onion, extra cheese.
BASILICO DEL MARE: Scallop balls, mushroom, onion, roman tomato, extra cheese. Uses a green basil sauce instead of tomato sauce.
BASILICO DELUXE: Egg plant, mushrooms, roman tomatoes, onion, crispy bacon, extra cheese. Uses a green basil sauce instead of tomato sauce.
MAYO JAGA: Mayonnaise, potato, green peppers, onion, corn, crispy bacon, extra cheese. (A best seller!)
NASU SHIMEJI: Sliced eggplant, whole shimeji mushrooms, Italian sausage, bacon, onion.
From Pizza LA:
GET'S: Garlic chunks, fresh mushrooms (triple), crushed tomatoes, bacon bits, sausage slices, pepperoni, shoulder bacon, corn, green peppers, parsley, black pepper, parmesan cheese, choice of three extra bonus toppings. (Be sure to pass on the entire chicken halves.)
MEGA MEAT: Triple pepperoni, pepper ham, Italian sausage bits, sausage slices, fresh mushrooms, garlic chunks, onion, green peppers, basil, black pepper.
From Pizza Hut:
IDAHO SPECIAL: Potato chunks, sliced bacon, onion, corn, parsley, black olive, mayonnaise, double cheese.
KARAMARI FRITTI: Squid, green peppers, red peppers, onion, black olives, green chili sauce, double cheese.
SEA FOOD SPECIAL: Squid, shrimp, tuna, broccoli, onion, mayonnaise, double cheese.
From Pizza Studio:
EXCELLENT: Pepperoni, chopped beef, bacon, mushroom, eggplant, tomato, green pepper, garlic, shimeji mushroom, onion.
SEAFOOD SPECIAL: Shrimp, squid, octopus, clam, scallops, crab legs.
THE PRIME: Pepperoni, chopped beef, bacon, mushroom, green pepper, onion.
SEAFOOD: Shrimp, squid, tuna, mayonnaise.
BARBECUE CHICKEN: BBQ chicken, onion, shredded green onion, sesame seeds.
GARLIC STEAK SPECIAL: Cubed beef, garlic, special steak sauce.
MEXICAN SALAD: Fresh lettuce, tomato, Mexican pork.
JAPANESE STYLE: Shredded pork, shimeji mushrooms, bamboo shoots, nori (seaweed), shiso (perilla) leaves.
THE NORDIC: Bacon, anchovies, tuna, onion.
PEPPER DRY: Red pepper, spicy sausage, onion, Mexican pork.
THE QUATTRO: Shrimp, white sesame/ asparagus, bacon/ chopped beef, garlic, steak sauce/ shimeji mushrooms, mushrooms, red peppers.
From Tanto Pizza Company:
KIMCHI BACON: Kimchi (Korean spiced fermented cabbage), bacon, nila, double cheese.
POTATO HUMBERG: Chunks of ground beef, crushed potato (tater tots), onion, corn, green pepper, meat sauce.
From Strawberry Cones:
STRAWBERRY MIX: Tarako (Cod roe), ika (squid), pepperoni, mushrooms, asparagus.
TAPURI CORN: Corn, sweet corn, white corn, (and what a surprise) extra corn.
So, Japan isn't all raw fish... it gets much stranger than that.
Ja ne,
LarryF
http://lwf.tripod.com
"Whose cruel idea was it for the word "lisp" to have an "s" in it?"