Whenever two cultures come into contact, there’s a sharing of language on both sides. This is why we all know the word “head honcho,” which was imported from the Japanese 班長 hancho (meaning neighborhood or squad leader) during the Allied Occupation. It’s also fun to observe what happens to food when two cultures bump into each other: the creation of hybrid dishes that are totally new, and usually delicious. There are many examples of this intercultural food blending, including Tex-Mex cuisine, California Roll sushi and Teriyaki McBurgers from McDonald’s. When you go to a 洋食店 yohshoku-ten or “Western restaurant” in Japan, you might encounter some blended foods you’ve never seen before, like korokke (Japan’s take on French croquettes, delightful with Bull-dog sauce), Napolitan spaghetti (a pasta dish that can be made with simple ingredients including ketchup and Tabasco sauce), katsu (fried pork cutlet), nikujaga (a meat-and-potato stew, famous for sounding like the lead singer of a certain rock band) and various Japanese doria and gratin dishes. Few places represent the coming together of multiple cultures as much as Okinawa, and one food that can be seen as a bridge between East and West is Taco Rice, a popular dish of flavored ground beef, cheese, tomatoes and lettuce eaten over white rice. I had some last night, and it was wonderful.
I’m a fan of “hybrid” dishes like Okinawan Taco Rice.
