History of the famous Hiroshima dish okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki started out in the pre-war period as a dish called issen yoshoku (“Western food for a dime”) which was popular among the common people. Consisting of flour paste cooked with onions, dried shrimps, and condiment, it was seen as a kind of snack that could be eaten casually at confectionary shops and the like around town. Only after the war did it develop into something that could be eaten as a meal. In the sprawling Shintenchi district and elsewhere around the city, cheap food stalls and “okamisan” eateries (run by women on their own using part of a home) innovated by adding more solid ingredients such as cabbage, eggs, seafood, buckwheat noodles and wheat noodles to boost nutrition in those hard times, until today’s Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki came into being.
Some of the eateries have English menus available, so do go and try out the flavors.