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We may not have travelled every part of the world, but our beloved Indian cuisine is doing so since time immemorial. Indian cuisine is mostly known for its sapid gravies and curries, and it is a hit across the world. Many of you might think of it as a bit of an exaggeration, but there is one country who got inspired by this delicacy and made it their national dish too. Japan's national dish is ‘Japanese curry rice’. We know many of you squinted to check whether we have written sushi or soba. But you read it just right. Here's how that happened.
Japanese cuisine is well known for its rich and wide range of food. Their liking towards curry makes sense since curries are a beautiful synergy of various ingredients, the best example of an 'umami' dish. Curry is believed to have been discovered by the Japanese during the Meiji period (1868–1912). At this time the British Raj in India was at its peak and during that period Britishers grew fond of Indian cuisine. They would also pack some curry and set off on long voyages, the legends say. The British voyagers also added vegetables and chunks of meat, in the curry to make it more suitable for their palate.
According to a legend, curry caught the eyes of Japan after a British shipwreck near the coastal region of Japan. Sailors who were safe from the catastrophe swept ashore with their rations, which included curry powder as well. The Japanese Navy who were guarding the country’s coast got their hands on some of these instant packets and soon got hooked on to them. Since most of the ingredients present in the curry were considered exotic, it made them enjoy the curry with an even greater zeal. Even today the Japanese Navy keeps up its tradition of ‘Curry Fridays’, where Raisu Kar (rice curry) is served as a staple food on Friday in all navy canteens.
Image Credits: Ria Baidya
The British weren’t the only one who introduced curry to them but one of our freedom fighters, Rash Behari Bose also played a huge role. When Bose had to leave India after his attempted assassination of the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge. He took shelter in Japan and at that time he fell in love with his Japanese translator named Toshiko Sohma. They eventually got married but this did not last long. In 1925, at the age of 28, Toshiko died due to tuberculosis. After throwing himself into work for two years, grief-stricken Bose decided to partner with his father-in-law to set up a small restaurant above the bakery that would sell Indian-style curry and rice, which was one of the favorite dishes of his late wife. The curiosity of the natives made the restaurant quite popular, and ‘Bose of Nakamuraya’ (Nakamuraya-bakery name) became a household name in Tokyo and his ‘Indo-Karii’ (Indian curry) became the symbol of ‘love and nationality’.
Japanese cuisine has an eye for piquant dishes and the country making rice curry as their national dish is one of the fine examples.
