Try Okonomiyaki, a Savory Japanese Pancake

By Sandy Hu

I’m still reliving my trip to Japan and the wonderful meals we had. Whether an o-bento from the fabulous Japanese department stores that devote their basements to prepared foods and food gifts, to portable eki-ben meals from the train station, to ramen shops and izakaya, to more formal restaurants, our meals in Tokyo and Kyoto were uniformly artfully presented and well-prepared.

In Tokyo’s Asakusa district, after a temple festival, we wandered into an okonomiyaki restaurant. Often called Japanese pancake or Japanese pizza, okonomiyaki more accurately describes a savory, dense pancake filled with such ingredients as chopped cabbage and sliced pork, beef or seafood, then topped with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and a generous sprinkling of katsuobushi, shaved bonito flakes. The bonito (skipjack mackerel) fillets are steamed, aged, dried and shaved so thinly they look like wood shavings.

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Umami Generation

By Andrew Hunter

Ben and Nick are my best taste testers. Their young palates are sensitive and bright. They are Generation Z…a generation of young foodies who unknowingly love bold flavors and appreciate the umami sensation. Even though they giggle when Marilyn and I say that “silly word!” So what does this silly word mean?

We all taste sweet, sour, salty and bitter, and the fifth taste is umami. A Japanese scientist who was doing research on amino acids and their effect on flavor discovered it. Commonly described as brothy, meaty or delicious, umami is difficult to explain, though you know the sensation when you eat a gorgeous tomato, aged Parmesan, stir-fried mushrooms or just a whisper of naturally brewed soy sauce. Then you know umami.

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