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Rice dishes in rice bowl
Its' origin
Oyako-domburi
(Rice with egg and chicken in a rice bowl)
This dish appeared in the 19th century as a result of the quick eye of the restaurant owner where "shyamo-nabe" was served. It was the restaurant where famous people gathered and they used "shyamo-nabe" as a snack food while drinking sake. Some visitors poured raw eggs over the unfinished chicken put it all on rice and ate ignoring the fact that it was impolite to put any snack on rice. The explanation was simple: it was very delicious like that.
But the restaurant could not agree to the loss of reputation. Therefore the new dish suggested by the clients began to be sold only by the delivery to a customer. So oyako-domburi spread in Tokyo and then all over the country.
Unaju
(Rice with grilled eel)
Since old times it is a custom with the Japanese to eat hot eel-unagi during the hottest summer period, when they are sweating. That helps them refresh themselves. Here is a story of origin of this tradition. One hot summer day of the Edo period an owner of unagi tavern complained to the famous scientist Hiragi Gennai (1729-1780) that because of the heat his tavern bore losses. The scientist advised that he should write a large advertisement with the text "Today is the Ox Day, the day of eating unagi!" and hang it out at the entry. It is said there was no end to visitors after that. As the advertisement contained text about "Doyo Ushi no Hi" (the Ox day of the hottest period) the Japanese continued to eat and still eat this dish at the same day. With approaching of this day the chefs grill unagi (stringing eel on skewers and frying it on coals pouring with sweet sauce tare) at the entrance of fish bars and loudly call for visitors to enter.
Katsu-Don
(Rice with pork cutlet in a rice bowl)
The history of katsu-don began in the era of Taise (1912-1926) when one small restaurant, located near "Waseda" university began serving cutlets with sauce. Then the idea of using raw egg in that dish was born. It brought success and the new dish, called katsu-don, became one of the most popular dishes in the country.
Gyu-Don
(Rice with beef in a rice bowl)
It is known that the Japanese avoided consuming meat following the doctrine of Buddhism. It was before the Edo period (1603-1867). But gradually meat appeared on the tables of the Japanese. One of the first dishes that got popular among ordinary people was gyu-nabe - meat boiled in a special broth. The remaining gyu-nabe was poured over rice and eaten. So a new dish - rice with beef in a rice bowl - appeared. It might be said that the history of consuming meat by the Japanese coincides chronologically with the one of gyu-don.
Tendon
(Rice with tempura in a rice bowl)
Tempura has always been a popular dish in Japan. Very often it was sold by street sellers from their trucks. Not to be absent from the working places they had to eat right near their trucks. Tempura with rice became "fast food" for them. That was how the dish ten-don appeared.
Ten-don with shrimps is very popular with young women as a low-caloric dish.
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