Akashiyaki
Akashiyaki is a small round dumpling from the city of Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The dumpling is made of an egg-rich batter and octopus dipped into dashi before eating. Modern style akashiyaki was first sold in the Taishō period by a yatai owner Seitarō Mukai.
Although takoyaki, another Japanese dumpling, is more popular in Japan, it is based on akashiyaki. Both are made with a takoyaki pan, a type of frying pan or cooktop with many hemispherical molds. Compared to takoyaki, akashiyaki has a softer, more eggy texture.
Akashiyaki is shown in the cyberpunk visual novel video game Snatcher. In the English release, however, it was changed to "Neo Kobe Pizza", a meal that fans of the game have gone through the effort of recreating.
History
Akashiyaki used to be known as tamagoyaki for a long time locally. However, around 1988, a city official renamed tamagoyaki to akashiyaki for the purpose of promoting the city of Akashi. The origin of the name comes from the decoration called Akashidama. Akashidama is a kind of artificial coral made by hardening egg whites with saltpeter, and it was used as decoration in kanzashi. From the end of the Edo period to the Taisho period, the production of akashidama was a thriving local industry in Akashi.It is said that people started making akashiyaki because there was a large amount of leftover egg yolk and wheat flour from the production of akashidama. In addition, Akashi city had abundant catches of octopus. People started mixing those ingredients together and created akashiyaki.