Feast in the City of Culinary Delights
In the Edo period (1600 to 1867), Osaka was the center of trade and commerce in Japan. Fresh local produce and top-class foods from all around the country were cherished and transformed into sophisticated cuisine.
Tako-yaki
This popular Japanese dumpling originates in Osaka and is made of flour batter and includes tako (diced octopus), tenkasu (tempura scraps), pickled ginger, and green onion. Once cooked into a ball, they are topped with Okonomi-yaki sauce, aonori (green laver), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (bonito flakes.) Although Tako-yaki can be made easily at home with the right equipment, it is usually considered a fast food and is sold on the streets. In the Kansai region, Tako-yaki is eaten as a side dish with a bowl of cooked rice. Elsewhere in Japan, it is eaten without rice as a snack food.
Osaka sushi
Osaka's traditional sushi is called Osaka-zushi meaning "Osaka style sushi". In the 19th century, creative sushi chefs in Osaka began to incorporate their ingenuity in making Oshi-zushi (box pressed sushi) using expensive seafood such as sea bream, sea eel and shrimp. This elaborately designed Oshi-zushi was unique to Osaka and thus came to be called Osaka-zushi.
Okonomi-yaki
Similar to Tako-yaki but flat, Okonomi-yaki means "as you like it.” With a variety of ingredients from seafood to pork and cabbage, these are flat cakes that resemble a cross between a pancake, pizza, and omelet that is topped with Okonomi-yaki sauce, aonori (green laver), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (bonito flakes.) Osaka style is usually in the do-it-yourself form at small specialty restaurants. Tables are equipped with embedded hot plates and you will receive a bowl of ingredients that you would then cook "as you like it.”
Kitsune Udon
Udon are thick noodles, and kitsune is fried bean curd. Kitsune udon consists of cooked udon noodles in clear soy sauce based broth with fried bean curd. Do you know why fried bean curd is called kitsune (fox)? The fox is traditionally a symbol of a god of commerce and is called oinari-san. People believed that foxes loved to eat fried bean curd and so gave them as offerings at inari shrines. This is how the bean curd itself came be known as kitsune.
Tecchiri
Tecchiri is fugu (blowfish) hot pot. The ingredients are cooked in a very light Konbu (sea weed) stock and then dipped, generally in Ponzu (citrus juice with soy sauce). Fugu is considered a delicacy and Osaka is responsible for 60 percent of all fugu consumption in Japan. Because parts of fugu are highly poisonous, restaurants and chefs require a special license to serve tecchiri.
Shokado Bento (kaiseki)
The now internationally popular bento lunch box, served in a wooden or plastic box that is common on Japanese restaurant menu, is directly related to the makunouchi (literally means "between curtains") bento that developed during the Edo period (1600–1868). This type of box lunch was intended as a meal to be eaten during the intermission at Kabuki plays. During the same period, a more stylish type of bento box, called Shokado bento, evolved in Osaka. Several food items are placed in small individual porcelain or lacquered wood dish to suppliment a larger lacquered square or rectangular box. Shokado bento is not a portable lunch box like the makunouchi. Instead, shokado bento’s emphasis is in the colorful and artful display of food (much like traditional kaiseki, the elegant multi-course meal served prior to formal tea ceremonies) and it is served in restaurants and other formal settings.
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5/06 Introduction to Osaka's distinctive food culture
This was just a sample of the many things you can eat in Osaka! To find out more about Osaka’s food, make sure to read OSAKA - Culinary Capital [PDF] and visit our tour links page.