"okonomiyaki" news and stories

Everyone likes sushi.  Non-foodies of all races happily dig into spicy tuna, cooked eel cutlets on rice, and ubiquitous American variations like the California roll.  Quick lunch during work?  Pop over to a nearby deli and get a mini-bento box of salmon maki for $6.95.  Got a date?  Coyly feed your lover sea scallops over a large lacquered bowl of chirashi zushi.  By and large, sushi is now an American tradition-as imports go, it's topped their cars.

But what do our cohorts across the Pacific pond think of this?  According to my dear half-Japanese friend Yukari Rymar, it's terrific; she even likes the new sushi we've created here, said California roll implied.  However, all this joy does come with a dark side: Yukari bemoans American ignorance of what she calls "real, down home Japanese cooking."

  "If you ask any American if they like Japanese food, they'll say they love sushi," says Yukari.  "Which is great.  I like sushi too.  But sushi isn't what Japanese people are making everyday at home."