All About Japan’s Favorite Winter Dish.
When winter hits, it’s all about soups, stews, and hot comfort food. In Japan, there is one dish that you can find anywhere to instantly warm you up. Learn the oden history, its regional variations, and all about the dish.
All About Oden
Oden is a nabemono, or a one-pot hot pot dish that is commonly eaten during winter months but also found all year round as an anytime comfort food. You can find oden everywhere in Japan, from specialty restaurants to izakayas to convenience stores to food carts and even to vending machines.
While there are regional variations of the dish, generally oden has boiled eggs, daikon (radish), konnyaku (konjac), fishcakes, and tofu. All of that is slowly simmered for 2 to 4 hours in a light, soy-flavored dashi broth made from kombu (seaweed) and katsubushi (bonito flakes).
Oden History
Oden originated in the 14th century during the Muromachi period (1336 to 1573. It was not exactly like the oden bowls of today.
Back then, the dish was a skewered grilled tofu topped with a miso sauce. It was first called “dengaku” named after the professional dancers who used sticks to perform. Later, it was shortened to “den” with the honorific “o”, hence “oden”.
In the Edo period (1603 to 1868), more ingredients like konnyaku, fishcakes, eggplant, and taro were added which were all simmered in a kombu broth. The dish was served with miso paste and with a glass or carafe of warm sake from street food stalls which further increased oden’s popularity.
It was during the Meiji period (1868 to 1912) that oden became the dish as it is known today – notably as it was served in its soy-flavored soup broth. The popularity of the dish went beyond Tokyo and over to Kansai and around the country.
From street stalls and train stations, the dish was later served in convenience stores in 1979. Today, you can enjoy a little bowl of comfort practically anywhere.
Regional Variations of Oden
The Kanto version of oden features the original light soy and dashi broth. It is often served with a little slather of mustard. Kansai has a bolder and stronger soy-flavored broth.
In Nagoya, oden is prepared in a miso broth and served with a soy sauce for dipping. Up in Aomori, grated ginger is added to the miso soup before it is poured over the oden.
The oden of Shizouka, located between Kanto and Kansai, has a dark soy sauce and beef stock broth, with potatoes, and all the ingredients are skewered.
And down in Okinawa, the broth features the pig’s feet using the island famous pork.
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