🍱 Tempura
Tempura is a fried dish where flour is sprinkled onto ingredients such as seafood and vegetables, dipped in a liquid coating of egg mixed with flour, and fried in vegetable oil. In contrast to the Kyoto area where minced fish was called tempura, Edo's tempura indicates seafood fried in batter. Edo-style tempura uses fresh seafood and sesame oil, which one eats freshly fried, one after another. Its origin is reported to be the fritters of western European cuisine which were propagated by Portugal in the mid-16th century. However, there were restrictions to cooking that used a great deal in Japan at the time, and it wasn't until the Edo period when the production of canola oil increased that tempura was popularized. In Edo, which developed as a boom town in the Edo period, street stall businesses flourished as a way for commoners to eat out; tempura was one of these. The invention of small charcoal grills also pushed its popularity. The oil drainage was apparently poor, so it was stuck on skewers and served with grated daikon. In the latter half of the Edo period, a careful scrutiny of the frying method and ingredients led to the development of crisply fried tempura as haute cuisine. Tempura had also only been consumable as a street-stall food due to fire safety precautions, but ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurants) and tempura specialty shops spread from the Meiji period on, settling tempura's status as haute cuisine. After that, tempura chefs who lost their jobs in the Great Kanto Earthquake migrated all over Japan, and Edo-style tempura spread throughout the country. In modern times as well, tempura, like sushi, is popularized in a wide range of forms, from household side dishes for the masses to exquisite cuisine such as high-end tempura restaurants.