Okonomiyaki

After we visited Peace Park, which is a very serious place, we took a nice walk, did a little shopping, and then enjoyed one of Hiroshima's specialties for dinner - Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is very hard to explain, and it sounds kind of, well, gross... but it is delicious!  My whole family loved it, and that doesn't happen often.  It is something I ate a LOT when I lived in Hiroshima so I was so anxious to have my family try it.

There must be a hundred Okonomiyaki places in Hiroshima.  We peaked into a place, it looked good, so we took our places at the counter, and placed our order.

At this point our kids are still quite skeptical:)

Okonomiyaki is made in stages:
1.  A thin crepe is cooked first.
2.  Shredded cabbage and bean sprouts, and perhaps some green onion and bonito flakes, are piled on top.
3.  Three thin strips pork are placed on top of this tall stack of veggies.
4.  You can add shrimp, oysters, squid, or even octopus at this point (we didn't). 
5.  The whole thing is flipped over, and it starts sizzling.  Yum!

6.  Meanwhile, the cook fries up some soba noodles with some seasonings and yummy sauce.

 7.  And last, he fries an egg, which will form the bottom of the stack. 

The Okonomiyaki is served with some yummy savory sweet sauce, and it is eaten with chopsticks.  Neatness does not count!

We liked our dinner so much that the next day right before heading back to Tokyo, we ate Okonomiyaki again for lunch at Hiroshima Station!  This time they cooked it behind a counter and then served it up to us on hot griddle at our table.

I'm so glad that my children were willing to try this Hiroshima specialty.

Here's something to think about - What dish would you recommend to a visitor to the United States?  How would you try to convince that visitor to try your favorite food?  Can you think of any foods or dishes that are a specialty of... Boston.... New England... your extended family?