Tamagoyaki, Japanese rolled omelet, is a very popular menu in Japan. In Japan, eggs are not expensive food. So every family makes tamagoyaki for the meal.
Tamagoyaki is a popular menu in bento, lunch boxes. Tamagoyaki is a simple menu, so you can cook in the morning, even if it would be busy.
By the way, in Japan, there are two areas, Kanto and Kansai.Then each area has the original tamagoyaki. And they have different taste.
So in this article, I will compare the tamagoyaki on Kanto and Kansai.
First of all, I will compare the basic taste of Kanto and Kansai.
Basically the taste of Kanto's foods and Kansai's foods are different. Kanto's foods have a strong taste, and Kansai's taste is gentle.
I guess there is a difference in basic seasoning, for example soy sauce. In Kanto, the soy sauce has a strong taste and is called koikuchi-shoyu. But the soy sauce of Kansai is gentle, and it is called usukuchi-shoyu.
1-1．Kanto area
In Kanto areas, people have loved foods that are seasoned strongly.
The taste of Kanto's tamagoyaki is very sweet. And the sweet taste is strong.
Basically, the Kanto's taste is strong. The strong taste had started hundreds years ago.
According to historians, the seasoning started with general Tokugawa. He recommended having strong seasoning foods for hard work.
You know, salty foods are good for hard working. And the general that had planned to make the town of Edo thought strong tasted foods were better.
Then the tamagoyaki tasted strong. It was strongly sweet.
1-2．Kansai area
In Kansai areas, the taste of foods are gentle, basically. So it is very different to Kanto's taste.
Kansai's taste had started in the very old generation. It would be hundreds of years ago.
In the Kansai areas, there are many merchants, and they employ many kids. And they needed a lot of food.
By the way, with strong taste, people care and eat a lot of food. However, if the taste were gentle, people don't eat very much. Then seasoning gently, the foods can be saved.
In the old generation's Kansai merchants might save the foods by seasoning gently not to bankrupt with payment of foods.
Then tamagoyaki might have a gentle taste, too.
2．Seasoning
Next, let's compare the seasoning of tamagoyaki.
Actually, tamagoyaki is made from eggs. But adding the different seasoning, the tamagoyaki would have various tastes.
Then I will explain the difference of the adding.
2-１．Kanto area
In Kanto, tamagoyaki is tasted with sugar and soy sauce. So it is very sweet. And adding sugar, the tamagoyaki are a little burnt.
Then everyone of age can enjoy the taste, even kids that are only3 years old.
By the way, this sweet tamagoyaki is loved in east areas of Japan. For example, the people that live in Tohoku areas love the sweet taste.
2-3．Kansai area
In the Kansai area, tamagoyaki should be tasted with soup stock.
In Japanese dishes, the soup stock is very important. For example, miso soup is based on the soup stock of katsuobushi and kelp.
On cooking miso soup, you should make soup stock from katsuobushi and kelp, and mix the miso.
So, the tamagoyaki of Kansai is also based on soup stock.
By the way, the tamagoyaki of Kansai style is loved in western area in Japan.
Anyway, there are variations of tamagoyaki. And you can challenge them on traveling in Japan.
Then, if you feel interested in the taste of tamagoyaki, I recommend you to travel to some areas in Japan. Enjoy!
