Yōshoku

In Japanese cuisine, yōshoku (洋食, western food) refers to a style of Western-influenced cooking which originated during the Meiji Restoration. These are primarily Japanized forms of European dishes, often featuring Western names, and usually written in katakana.

History

At the beginning of the Meiji Restoration(1868 to 1912), national seclusion was eliminated, and the Meiji Emperor declared Western ideas helpful for Japan's future progress. As part of the reforms, the Emperor lifted the ban on red meat and promoted Western cuisine, which was viewed as the cause of the Westerner's greater physical size. Yōshoku thus relies on meat as an ingredient, unlike the typical Japanese cuisine at the time. In the past, the term yōshoku was for Western cuisine, regardless of the country of origin (as opposed to French, English, Italian etc.), but people became aware of differences between European cuisines and yōshoku due to the opening of many European restaurants serving more authentically European (non-japanized) food in the 1980s.