Tianjin rice in Japan, with crab meat and crab yellow and mustard juice on the rice (West Japan Shimbun)
There is a common rice bowl in Japan called "Tianjin rice", which japanese people generally think of as Chinese food, but in fact, this is a dish born in Japan. Recently, a reporter from the West Japan News in China went to Tianjin on a special occasion, and he heard that there was a real "Tianjin meal" in Tianjin and hoped to experience it for himself. An excerpt from the article is provided below.
Tianjin is a port city with a population of about 15 million people. I asked passers-by in front of Tianjin Railway Station, "Do you know Tianjin rice?" Everyone replied, "Do you mean Tianjin cuisine?" I took out the picture of tianjin rice, and they nodded and said, "It turns out that you said rice bowl." Another female college student said to me, "Do you ask about the characters in Dragon Ball?" "I learned that there are many people in China who have learned about the concept of "Tianjin rice" through popular Anime in Japan.
Reporter waited at the door for more than 1 hour (West Japan Shimbun)
Just when I was worried that I couldn't find the real "Tianjin rice", someone said to me: "I know a delicious restaurant that sells Tianjin rice!" After asking him for the address, I hurried to the store. It seemed to be a very popular restaurant for young people, and I waited in line for more than an hour to sit in. The top of the menu is printed with "Tianjin rice 28 yuan", and it is also specially marked with text: Tianjin people cook their own rice≠ Japanese tianjin rice.
"Tianjin Rice" Eaten in Tianjin (West Japan Shimbun)
"You've been waiting! Tianjin rice is coming! "The rice bowl brought to me was a curry-flavored fried rice with vegetables, served with thick cut steak, shrimp and boiled eggs. The taste is very delicious, but it is completely different from Japanese Tianjin rice. I talked to the owner, Li Qifeng, who had been to Japan 3 years ago and had just learned about Tianjin rice in Japan. "I decided at that time that I must make Tianjin rice that only Tianjin people make, and this year I have a hard time opening a store."
Hotel Menu (West Japan Shimbun)
As for the origin of Tianjin rice, I consulted Fumiyoshi Yokota, a special professor at the Tsuji Gakuen Cuisine and Confectionery School, who is familiar with Chinese food culture. Tianjin rice was basically born in Tokyo and Osaka at the same time, he said. At the end of World War II, a Chinese opened a Chinese restaurant in Osaka, Taisho-hyun. His hometown is in Shandong, not far from Tianjin, and he uses Tianjin's rice bowl as a reference to make "Tianjin rice" with barracuda crab, an ingredient that is easily available in Tianjin and Osaka.
At about the same time, the Japanese owner of a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo, Lai Lai Xuan, also wanted to make a "meal that can be eaten quickly", and he used crab meat and crab yellow to cover the rice with crab meat and crab juice, and launched this Japanese rice bowl with the Chinese name. In the mid-20th century, Tianjin was the second largest city after Shanghai, famous for its seafood cuisine, and was the representative port city of China, so this rice bowl was named "Tianjin Rice".
This is what I learned, the old and new "Tianjin rice" between China and Japan. Either way, it is a dish born from the collision of food cultures between the two countries. (Text/X-barrel)