Some friends of mine asked me what my favorite Japanese food is.

This is a tough question, because Japan is my home, so most Japanese food is tasty to me. When I thought about it really hard, two foods stood out: my mother’s home made Japanese curry and Okonomiyaki.

Homemade curry is very special for me, because it is so connected to my childhood memories. Because my brothers and I ate like pigs when we were kids, my mother needed to make curry in an extra large pot. My mother always made it with onions, pork, potatoes, carrots, and Japanese curry paste. She would serve it over rice, and sometimes (if we were lucky) she would add a sliced boiled egg.

Okonomiyaki is my other all-time favorite food. It is a Japanese savory pancake that contains a variety of ingredients such as cabbage and pork. Okonomiyaki is fried in a pan just like a pancake and then topped with Okonomi sauce (like Worcestershire sauce but sweeter), bonito flakes, and Japanese mayonnaise. Some of my American friends love
Okonomiyaki, and we often have Okonomiyaki parties at home.

I love Japanese curry and Okonomiyaki because they not only remind me of my family in Japan, but both recipes are also great for sharing with friends. I am living far from my family, but through cooking and eating with my friends here, I feel at home in this foreign country.