The History of Sukiyaki & Our Valentine’s Dinner 2023
You may think of sukiyaki as a traditional Japanese dish. It’s interesting to know, so many of the dishes known as “traditional” became a part of Japanese cuisine due to influences from other parts of the world.
Consumption of beef and many other types of meat was forbidden in Japan for many years, from 675 to 1860s. In Buddhism, animals were believed to be reincarnations of ancestors. Eating animals was considered a sin and punishable, including death. Different emperors and shoguns reinforced many versions of the ban; the most extensive version banned the killing of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, eel, salamanders, and even insects like mosquitos!
The ban slowly faded as trade with America and the western world began and the meat-eating culture was reintroduced to Japan. Sukiyaki and other dishes containing meat became popular in Japan in the Meiji era, with restaurants serving meat and western influenced foods. This is how Japanese cuisine evolved as we know it today. It continues to evolve, just like how new American cuisine experiments and integrates new flavors of the world.
Sukiyaki may have originated in Kansai, the western region championed by Osaka. It is believed to have been started by farmers cooking their food on “suki”, translating to a shovel or plow, a metal flat object, initially using miso before soy sauce became more prevalent. Sukiyaki these days, generally means beef, but it was historically made with different proteins like fish, poultry, pork, and more.
Come enjoy our A5 wagyu sukiyaki dinner for Valentine’s Day this year. The amazing rich flavor of high-quality A5 beef from Japan melds in the hot pot with savory and sweet sauce, organic chrysanthemum greens from Hikari Farms, vegetables, tofu, konnyaku noodles, and more; it’s truly heavenly! We serve it with an onsen egg for dipping and a bowl of Koshihikari rice. Our Valentine’s dinner also includes a choice of beverages, a special collaboration appetizer of bluefin tuna by Sushi Salon of Oakland with our sashimi, and a dessert. $125 per person plus tax and gratuity. Reservation is available via Resy.
