Foodlingo: Okonomiyaki

Marjan Ippel regularly introduces a new or recently reintroduced term in the food scene, the so-called foodlingo. No foodie can do without it. After all, ‘what (not) to speak’ is at least as important in food as ‘what (not) to eat’.

This time: Okonomiyaki

It is claimed that okonomiyaki was once a light pancake made from shredded cabbage that formed part of the strict sports diet of the Japanese samurai warrior. But it is also claimed that this nutritious pancake was the staple food of the Japanese mountain people.

Japanese pizza

Fortunately, there is more certainty about its origin: the city of Osaka. Although this ‘Japanese pizza’ is now available throughout Japan in regional varieties and sizes.

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Teppan griddle

A light pancake, pizza, omelet—or whatever else it is nicknamed—the modern okonomiyaki is not necessarily any of these. Shredded cabbage, together with flour and egg, usually still forms the base of this cake cooked with metal spatulas on a teppan griddle. But what is mixed into and placed on top of it ranges from local mountain-potato purée to fish, meat and chicken livers.

Yet that was always implicit in the name, which translates from Japanese as: ‘grilled whatever you want’.

Okonomiyaki is said to have once been part of the sports diet of the Japanese samurai warrior.

But if the samurai or mountain dweller ever ate this crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside cake, they surely did not use the garnishes that now determine its appearance and flavour. From wild stripes of Kewpie mayonnaise to a Worcestershire-like sauce, (fried) noodles, corn, nori powder, fried eggs and bonito flakes. The latter are shaved so thinly that, thanks to the heat of the pancake , they flutter as if they were alive.

Raw oysters

Okonomiyaki comes in several styles. In Hiroshima, for example, the ingredients are added to the griddle layer by layer. In Osaka, all the ingredients are mixed into the batter at once and then fried. Negiyaki is the Japanese version of the scallion pancake we know from Taiwan. Without a shred of cabbage. And Hinase contains no cabbage either, but does contain raw oysters. Just to name a few varieties.

Sauerkraut

Following the example of America’s trendsetting cities, a new Japanese eatery regularly opens its noren curtain here too, with okonomiyaki as one of the staples on the menu. And by no means are only Japanese ingredients used in it. You can even find lamb, pork belly and sauerkraut on top.

Anything goes: grilled whatever you want.

Want to make it yourself? Contributing editor Emma de Thouars has the perfect recipe for you.

Eat okonomiyaki at

FG Foodlabs, Katshoek 41 Rotterdam
Ishii Okonomiyaki, Kostverlorenhof 58 Amstelveen
Boven Jan, Hoogstraatje 3-5 Groningen
Japanese Pancake World, Tweede Egelantiersdwarsstraat 24A Amsterdam
Taka (above toko Dun Yong), Stormsteeg 9/Zeedijk 83 Amsterdam