In the mid 15th century, Japan had the first contact with the Occident, which left an important impact in the Japanese culinary history. In 1549, San Francisco de Xavier arrived for the first time in Japan with his missionary of the Society of Jesus and subsequently the merchantships from Portugal reached there. They introduced many products, for instance, spices like Cayenne pepper, pumpkin, sweet potato, common bean, peanut or tobacco. Among several recipes that they left, there was also Tempura that eventually became one of the emblems of Japanese cuisine. Its name is probably derived from the Portuguese word “tempero” that signifies seasoning or “tempora”, certain days on which fish was to be eaten instead of meat