Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake made from a wheat flour batter mixed with cabbage and other ingredients, cooked on a flat griddle known as a teppan. Its name combines okonomi, meaning how you like, and yaki, meaning grilled, reflecting the dish's customizable nature. It became popular across Japan after the Second World War, with two major regional styles: the Kansai or Osaka style, where ingredients are mixed into the batter before cooking, and the Hiroshima style, where ingredients such as sliced pork, seafood and vegetables are layered rather than mixed. In Hiroshima the dish took on particular significance after the 1945 atomic bombing, when it offered surviving residents an inexpensive way to eat, and the city today has more than two thousand restaurants dedicated to it.