Popular Japanese food, Okonomiyaki

Since Okonomiyaki is one of the most popular Japanese dishes, you may be tempted to believe that it is one of the old traditional Japanese foods... However, although a type of pancake desert called Funoyaki was known during the Edo Period, Okonomiyaki as we know it today was invented in Osaka just before the WWII and became popular during the war, when rice was scarce and people started searching for recipes using the available ingredients.

Actually, its name says all: konomi can be translated as "what you like" and yaki means "grilled". So, besides the pancake - which is made with flour, grated nagaimo (a variety of yam), water or dashi and eggs - Okonomiyaki can be prepared with cabbage, vegetables, pickled ginger, green onion, meat (usually pork or bacon), shrimps, clams, scallops, squid, oysters, octopus...

You can find Okonomiyaki in restaurants (where the ingredients can be provided separately, so you can prepare your own version) or you can taste it at festival stalls... and although it doesn't look as fancy as other Japanese dishes, Okonomiyaki is delicious and I strongly recommend you to try it...