Twirl Back in Time to Learn About Japanese Spaghetti Napolitan History

Discover one of Japan’s most favorite pasta dishes.

Pasta in Japan is a must. Well, practically every food from all cuisines in Japan is a must. Why? Because international cuisines have been reimagined to the Japanese palate which makes almost everything taste even better. And the one pasta you must taste is the country’s most popular. Learn all about the Japanese Spaghetti Napolitan history and how it is a local creation inspired by Americans and named after an Italian city:

Spaghetti Napolitan Inspiration

Spaghetti Napolitan, also locally written as “naporitan” and not to be mistaken as Neapolitan, is a common menu item in cafes across Japan. The dish is considered quick cafe food rather than an elegant Italian dish, after all, it was inspired by Americans even if the pasta has an Italian name.

Napolitan is a tomato-ketchup based pasta influenced by the post-World War II era when certain ingredients were far more expensive and cooks used what was provided by the military food rations.

Before you gross out at the thought of using ketchup as pasta sauce, note that Japanese ketchup is less vinegary and slightly sweeter than American ketchup. And using ketchup as a base with sautéed onions and bell peppers adds to the pasta’s natural sweetness. Plus, the ketchup acts as both a tomato puree and a tomato paste wrapping itself around each strand of the pasta.

Japanese Spaghetti Napolitan History

Origins

Today’s most popular Japanese pasta was created in the post-World War II era in August 1945. General Douglas MacArthur landed in Yokohama and immediately went from the airport to check into the Hotel New Grand, an elegant hotel overlooking the harbor in an area untouched by the war. MacArthur used the hotel as his headquarters for 3 days and shortly after it was converted as the residence for US officers.

The head chef, Shigetada Irie, trained until the hotel’s first head chef who was a Swiss using classical French and Italian methods of cooking. Chef Irie created a pasta dish for the General and his men inspired by the spaghetti with ketchup meal which was a part of US military rations in the area.

While many accounts say Chef Irie used ketchup, he, in fact, used canned tomato puree which was regarded an expensive and scarce at the time, but as this was a luxury five-star hotel serving the General, he had access to such ingredients.

Aside from tomato puree, the recipe included sautéed garlic, bacon, canned mushrooms, and chopped vegetables. Chef Irie left the pasta for hours after cooking which formed an udon-like texture in the pasta that is suitable and preferred for Japanese taste preferences.

Even though the dish was inspired by the American military, Chef Irie named it after the Italian city of Naples to further elevate the presentation of the pasta. Hence, Spaghetti Napolitan.

Today, Hotel New Grand still serves Chef Irie’s versions of Spaghetti Napolitan without a trace of ketchup.

Popularity and Recreations

From the start, Spaghetti Napolitan gained such popularity in the area that other restaurants copied the dish. However, since canned tomato puree and fresh tomatoes were such a costly premium, cooks used the widely available ketchup.

Do note, however, that in the 1960s in Japan, ketchup was still considered a high-quality condiment. In spite of the condiment as a military ration, it was certainly not an ingredient to be looked down on at the time.

As the dish gained traction around the country, cafes added their own touches to the recipe like with slices of wiener sauces as a cheap form of protein.

Today, you can find Spaghetti Napolitan in practically every Western-style cafe in Japan. In fact, the ketchup-based versions cooked at these cafes are probably closer to what the US military ate as part of their rations and what initially inspired Chef Irie.