Japanese culinary traditions: Okonomiyaki and Katsudon

Japanese cuisine offers diverse savory dishes, such as okonomiyaki and katsudon, which differ significantly from Western pancake or rice bowl preparations.

Okonomiyaki is a savory, thick pancake where ingredients are mixed directly into the batter rather than used as a topping. A common version, particularly popular in the Kansai region, uses finely chopped cabbage, eggs, flour, and dashi broth to create an umami flavor. This mixture is often topped with sliced pork and served with okonomiyaki sauce and Kewpie mayonnaise.

Katsudon is a traditional donburi (rice bowl) dish consisting of crispy tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlets) simmered in a sweet and salty sauce made of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin, combined with onions and lightly beaten eggs. Due to the linguistic similarity between “katsu” and the Japanese verb “to win,” the dish is traditionally eaten by students before exams as a symbol of good luck.