"What is Around the World Curry?"
When I serve customers at the restaurant, I often get questions like this. I am very happy that people are interested in our curry.
The conclusion is that it is "curry created with a motif of the history or culture of a certain country", but that alone is not enough to describe it, and some people may be wondering what original curry is.
So!
In this blog, I would like to briefly look back on the history of Japanese curry and provide an easy-to-understand explanation of the World Tour Curry served at the spicy restaurant Izon.
A quick review of the history of curry in Japan
"Curry" is Japan's national dish.
Many people become familiar with the taste of curry roux made by food manufacturers from an early age, eat curry at school lunches, eat curry as a camp meal during outdoor activities, eat Nissin curry noodles as a midnight snack while studying for exams, and continue to be familiar with "curry" in various forms even after they become adults.
Japan is not a spice-producing country, so if you think about it objectively, it's a very strange phenomenon.
There is a historical inevitability to how things turned out, so let's take a quick look back at it.
In the early Meiji period, the British "C&B curry powder" was introduced to Japan.
Around 1870, during the early Meiji period, "C&B curry powder," commonly known as curry powder, was introduced to Japan from England.
What made curry popular among the general public was its introduction into military meals. The incidence of beriberi was greatly reduced by eating curry, which contains a lot of meat and vegetables. Curry was also promoted as a nutritionally excellent food.
At that time, every Saturday was curry day, but now in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, every Friday is curry day.
Curry, a new dish that began to spread in Japan as a nutritious food for the military, later spread to the general public as well.
Rice curry, which is made by simply pouring roux over rice, was a hit with both popular Western-style restaurants looking to increase turnover and customers who wanted to eat quickly, and became one of Japan's three great Western dishes, alongside pork cutlets and croquettes, and was a popular menu item among the general public.
The vegetable combination of "onions, potatoes, and carrots" seems to have become established around this time, and all of these vegetables were Western vegetables that had not been cultivated widely in Japan until then.
With the lifting of the ban on eating meat in 1871, it became established in urban areas of Japan from the Meiji period through to the Taisho period as a Western dish introduced from England.
"C&B Curry Powder" counterfeiting incident
The year was 1931, about 60 years after curry powder was introduced to Japan.
An incident occurred in which a company was arrested for filling empty cans of "C&B Curry Powder," which had continued to reign as the top quality curry powder, with domestically produced blended spices and selling them.
However, since the change in contents went unnoticed for a long time, this incident increased the reputation of domestically blended curry powder.
The companies that sold domestic curry powder back then were the predecessors of the current House Foods, S&B, and Hachi Foods. It has a long history.
Postwar curry
During World War II, curry was considered unacceptable as an English culture, so it was forgotten about for a time. However, after the war, soldiers returning home from the war began making the curry they had learned to make in the military when they returned home.
Until then, curry was only available in urban areas, but it spread to every household in rural areas. Curry was also included in school lunches after the war.
Then in the 1950s, various manufacturers began releasing solid curry roux, which revolutionized the curry world.
Solid roux, which allows you to easily make curry by simply simmering meat and vegetables and adding the roux, has gained tremendous support from households and has become established as a mother's dish all over Japan.
1978: Founding of "Curry House Coco Ichibanya"
Japan's largest curry chain restaurant, commonly known as CoCoIchi, was founded in 1978.
Since its founding, CoCo Ichibanya has partnered with House Foods to develop curry roux, and has steadily gained popularity as a curry specialty store.
By implementing a franchise and employee goodwill system, the company had 80 stores in 1987, 500 stores in 1998, and 1,000 stores in Japan by 2004. In 2005, the company expanded overseas, and as of 2024, it has grown to have 214 stores overseas.
It is amazing that Japanese curry, which was introduced to Japan not as an Indian dish but as an English dish and has developed in its own unique way, is now accepted in countries all over the world.
Current Curry Market Share
Let's take a look at curry roux shares.
House Foods has the largest market share, with a whopping 60.9 percent. Even though there are so many curry rouxes lined up on supermarket shelves, 60% of home-made curry is made with House Foods.
Let's take a look at the number of curry restaurants.
The number one in number of stores is Coco Ichibanya, with 1,457 stores. In second place is Hinoya Curry, with 88 stores. It's an overwhelming difference. In fact, Coco Ichibanya became a subsidiary of House Foods in 2015, so House Foods is also the number one in the share of curry restaurants.
As you can see from the above, it is House Foods that is leading the Japanese curry scene with an overwhelming lead over other companies, and it is no exaggeration to say that the curry world revolves around House Foods.
A company that has been selling domestically produced blended spices since the dawn of curry in Japan has become the strongest curry roux manufacturer and curry chain.
Osaka's spice curry boom
What is spice curry?
If we take a quick look at the history of curry in Japan, we can see that the popularity of curry is closely related to solid curry roux. The familiar curry that everyone knows is the flavor of House Foods roux.
A genre known as Osaka spice curry emerged as a counterculture.
It is said that Kashmir, founded in 1992, is the origin of this chain, and various stores influenced by it opened between 2000 and 2010. Depending on when they opened, they are called second generation or third generation.
What is spice curry? I see a lot of discussions about this, but I think it's fine to just say it's "curry made freely by the chef."
Curry that is free from the constraints of curry roux.
You can make curry however you like, without being bound by traditional cooking methods , using spices freely.
Since "C&B Curry Powder" was imported during the Meiji period, Japan has striven to recreate this secret blend by developing domestically produced curry powder, which it then made into a secret recipe, and using this as a base to develop curry flakes and curry roux.
While curry roux and curry powder are convenient, the base flavor and aroma is decided once you use them, so you can only add ingredients by adding sauce, instant coffee, or spices.
However, without using curry roux or curry powder, chefs can make curry however they like, down to the smallest details of flavor, such as the amount of oil, viscosity, salt content, color, spice combination and aroma.
This is a free-form curry that dares to deviate from the established recipes that use curry roux and curry powder.
I think the spice curry boom in Osaka was a counterculture to the history of Japanese spice blends dating back to the Meiji era, with individual restaurant owners not sticking to traditional spice blends supporting curry made freely.
Authentic spice dishes that will give you hints
So how do you make your own curry?
The answer is simple: instead of using solid roux and spice blends, the cook can mix their own spices and make curry.
A good reference point here is authentic curry from India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
In these countries, it is not common to use dozens of spices in one dish. Recipes tend to be very simple, using just a few spices and salt as the only seasoning.
And unlike Japanese curry rice, the curry is structured like a Japanese set meal.
Simple spice dishes are made with a variety of ingredients, and curry, soup and side dishes are served on one plate, taking into consideration sourness, sweetness, bitterness, umami, saltiness and ease of eating. These dishes are called thali or meals.
The way to eat it over there is to knead it with your hands.
I believe Osaka spice curry was born by taking inspiration from this Indian curry recipe and fusing it with Japan's traditional curry culture, which can be considered a type of bukkake rice or rice bowl dish.
Curry distribution map
How to read the table
The diagram above shows that any curry found in Japan is bound to be found somewhere in this table.
The horizontal axis represents how industrially the curry is made.
Japanese curry is closely related to the development of solid roux and blended spices. Roux and canned blended spices are made in food manufacturers' factories, so when these are used or when the curry roux itself is produced in a factory, the coordinates are on the left side, whereas when the curry is handmade using the owner's own blended spices, the coordinates are on the right side.
The vertical axis shows the composition of the curry. The further down you go, the more basic it becomes. In other words, it's curry that everyone knows.
The roux is poured over the rice and you can add your favorite toppings.
CoCo Ichibanya was the one that introduced this style to Japan, so I think it will be easier to understand if you understand that CoCo Ichibanya serves the most basic curry.
On the other hand, the higher you go, the more innovative the curry is and the more newly formulated it is.
If we were to propose a new way of eating curry that has never been seen before in Japanese curry, the coordinates would be positioned at the top.
There are many different types of curry somewhere in this table.
CoCoIchi's curry is located at the bottom left.
The most industrial and most conventional is CoCoIchi.
CoCo Ichibanya, which fully follows Japan's curry culture that has continued since blended spices arrived from the UK and industrially produces curry and distributes it worldwide, can be said to be the most industrial of all, as it believes in standardized taste.
In terms of composition, it follows the Japanese tradition that dates back to the Taisho era of pouring curry roux over rice. The way of eating curry by adding toppings of your choice is also thought to have originated at CoCo Ichibanya. When they first started adding toppings, it was probably accepted as a novel idea. Over time, the concept of toppings spread throughout society, and became the standard for Japanese curry, or what we might call "beta."
To explain this using a graph, when CoCoIachi was introduced it was at the top of the vertical axis, and over time it dropped to the bottom.
I wondered if toppings were first introduced on pizza, so I did some research. Coco Ichibanya was founded in 1978, and Domino's Pizza was the first pizza delivery service to appear in 1985, so Coco Ichibanya was seven years earlier. Coco Ichibanya was also the originator of the topping culture in Japan.
What is the spice level of Osaka curry?
Now, let's sort that out.
If CoCo Ichibanya is the most traditional and most conventional, where do the spice curry restaurants that emerged in Osaka as a counterculture fit in?
First of all, the restaurants that were popular at the beginning of the spice curry boom were probably recognized by the public as a new type of curry that was positioned at the far right on the horizontal axis and at the very top on the vertical axis, in other words, at the polar opposite of CoCo Ichibanya.
We have provisionally named this curry from the early days of spice curry Spice Curry A.
At first it is recognized as something new, but as time goes on and it becomes more widely known, it drops to the bottom, and the next generation curry restaurant, Spice Curry B, appears in the top right. This process is repeated.
Just as CoCo Ichibanya's new ideas became standard as they became more widely known, spice curry also became recognized as standard as it became more widely known.
It is important to note that the newness of the curry's composition has nothing to do with whether the curry is good or bad. The newness of the composition is merely an impression that is given by the general public.
What's really amazing is that new products become standard over time. This means that they don't get old and disappear, but instead establish a solid position in the market.
So what is "spice curry"?
Let’s go back to the starting diagram.
It might be easier to understand if you think of all curry restaurants across the country as belonging somewhere within this yellow frame. As the coordinate position changes over time, some restaurants will want to stay on the right track, while others will want to always pursue innovation and stand out.
With an emphasis on efficiency, a company may ask a food manufacturer to develop an original roux or have a factory produce curry soup on an OEM basis.
There are countless curry restaurants and the restaurant owners have various philosophies, so it is not possible to categorize what constitutes spice curry and what constitutes "typical" curry.
I think "spice curry" is a word similar to "cute girl" or "handsome guy." Different people have different images in their minds, but the meaning is generally conveyed.
So, when asked, "What is spice curry? " I think it's fine to say it's "curry made freely by the chef."
The difference between restaurant-style spice curry and home-made spice curry
In 2013, a book titled "More Delicious! How to Make Spice Curry" was published by Mizuno Hitoshi, and spice curry began to be promoted as something that could be made at home, thanks to recipes proposed by food manufacturers and spice wholesalers.
As a result, there is already a basic recipe for spice curry, and spice curry, which was only available in the city of Osaka in the early days, is now made in homes all over the country. Many ready-made curry products bearing the name spice curry are also sold, making it a very familiar food.
Hmm? I feel like I've read that somewhere before... Yes, that's right. It's similar to the story I wrote about postwar curry, where Japanese soldiers who returned to the countryside made curry using a military recipe. This is the episode that led to curry becoming popular all over the country.
We live in an age where you can buy ingredients online, and it may seem like there's no difference between store-bought spice curry and homemade spice curry anymore, but there is actually a crucial difference.
It is an attitude that continues to question whether this is a counterculture to existing curry.
When making curry at home, you don't need to worry about that, just make the curry you like.
Curry restaurants without any philosophy will be weeded out
This table appears frequently, and within this roughly drawn yellow circle, you can see that a large number of curry restaurants are crammed together.
So, where should we position ourselves to survive in this situation?
Even if you do something similar near CoCo Ichibanya, you won't attract many people's attention.
Because CoCoIchi is overwhelmingly strong.
House Foods is the legitimate successor to the Japanese curry culture that has continued since the Meiji era, and is also very popular overseas. It is also the company with the largest market share in home-use roux. There is no way for individual stores to compete with House Foods in a similar way. The only way is to sell it cheaply or to completely copy it and have people enjoy it as a parody.
So you have to move away from that.
I have to find a new curry.
This means that you have to buy your own spices, roast them, and mix them yourself, but if you use a recipe from the Internet, it will end up being the same spicy curry that is made in ordinary households all over the country.
This is not a way to differentiate our products. We need to find a new way to make curry.
So I'm desperately thinking
- "If we're going to do something traditional, we need to add some new elements..."
- "This is a new idea, but won't it be consumed and forgotten?"
- "It's delicious, but... people might mistake it for something else..."
This is just one example, but curry restaurants operate under these dilemmas. To continue operating as a professional, taste is important, but philosophy is also important.
Popular stores that have been in business for many years always have their own unique ideas. The unique phenomenon of the store's ideas remaining loved and not fading over time will never happen if they are just copying something else.
Spice curry is said to have begun as a "counterculture against existing curry," and I believe that its original philosophy is its true essence, and the reason why curry as a content continues to be so appealing.
izon's Around the World Curry
Well, this introduction has gotten rather long, but I hope that you have a general understanding of the state of curry in Japan from the Meiji period to the present day.
In this situation, what kind of curry does izon serve? It is a style that calls for "Curry Around the World," choosing a country as the theme of the curry and creating a plate of curry based on the history and culture of the country.
"Delicious + Art" - Hope to eliminate discrimination and prejudice even a little
When you actually ask people from overseas about their home country, have you ever found that it was different from what you imagined?
It's the moment when the vague image you had of that country is overturned.
At that moment, I realized, "Oh, I didn't know anything."
Labeling something you don't know and pretending to understand it is exactly what prejudice is. When prejudice has a negative effect and manifests itself in actions such as treating people coldly or excluding them, it can lead to discrimination.
When Japanese people live their normal lives in Japan, they rarely have the chance to actually meet and talk with people from other countries. That's why we're working on World Curry with the hope that people can learn a little about other countries through curry and that discrimination and prejudice can be eliminated even a little.
Curry is a food for many people, but izon's spice curry aims to function as a piece of art that overturns perceptions by consuming foreign history and culture.
Curry with a story
The word "country" encompasses many different aspects: ethnicity, history, culture, religion, geography, climate, politics, industry, sports, and so on. The list goes on and on.
Choosing which aspect to choose as the theme for your curry is a very difficult question.
For example, if you were to make a curry with a Spanish theme, and you tried to express the favorite foods of famous soccer players, the tomato festival, the political situation, Gaudi, and the Basque Country in one dish of curry, it would just end up being a jumble of familiar images and it would be hard to understand what was going on.
To avoid this, we try to make curry that has a story behind it and is easy to understand.
If you were to make Spanish curry based on the topics mentioned above,
- Spice up the cuisine of countries that were once colonies
- Investigating the origins of the Tomato Festival and combining elements of local festivals
- Research Gaudi's life and make curry
could be considered as an approach.
A simple report explaining how the curry was developed is included with the menu, so that those who are interested can read it while they eat.
How to make Around the World Curry
Specifically, what are the steps to make it?
- Choose a country as the theme for your curry
- Fill your head with information about the country you have chosen as your theme.
- Find a topic you want to explore and deepen your understanding
- Fill your mind with information and wait for ideas to strike
- Plan the curry and side dishes in your head
- Purchase, cook and finish
That's how it is.
Having worked with many different countries in the past, I'm pretty used to it, but I still feel nervous when taking on a new country.
Taste balance
When I think about curry and side dishes, I value the balance of sweetness, bitterness, sourness, umami, saltiness, overall moisture content, texture, ease of eating, etc. The idea is that when you mix everything together, a new curry is born.
The concept of World Tour Curry is to turn a country's history and culture into curry, but it would be counterproductive if it ended up tasting bad, so of course we aim to make a delicious curry.
While weaving stories from in-depth topics, we will try to recreate as many techniques as possible that can be used in-house, such as fermentation, smoking, drying, freezing, salting, and pickling, and incorporate cooking methods and food combinations that are different from those in Japan into our curry.
Many people may be reluctant to mix the curry and side dishes together and eat them, but I encourage you to give it a try.
summary
In this blog, we have given a quick review of the history of curry powder from its introduction to Japan up to the present day, explained the difference between CoCoICHI and Spice Curry using graphs, and introduced izon's "Around the World Curry."
At the spicy restaurant Izon, we also offer half-sized portions of spiced international dishes, so we hope to introduce these to you if the opportunity arises.
