Omurice, what's the big deal?

Alright, we've all seen those oval shaped yellow blobs with words written on top using ketchup being served in maid cafés in anime shows. But what exactly are those yellow blobs, and why are they such a big deal? Put on your bibs as you'll be drooling the whole way through.

Omurice (オムライス) is an example of youshoku (洋食), a fusion of Japanese cuisine and Western-influenced cooking, originating from the times of the Meiji Restoration. As the name suggests, omurice consists of friend rice literally wrapped in an omelette, and usually topped off with ketchup. Omurice is said to have originated around the turn of the 20th century at a western style restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district known as Renga-tei, inspired by a form of sushi. Being a popular dish in Japan, it's often cooked at home and served at many diners and izakaya restaurants in Japan



The dish typically consists of chicken rice, which is essentially rice that has been pan-fried with ketchup and chicken, wrapped in a thin sheet of fried egg. There is a great variety of different ingredients which can be used to flavour the rice, including various meats and vegetables, or many different spices. When it comes to omurice, the possibilities are somewhat endless, including curry and hayashi beef sauce omurice.

Alright, so we now have the gist of things, and know what omurice is, but what connection does it have with maid cafés and anime? The most recent reference to omurice was in Hanasaku Iroha, where Ohana serves her mother omurice and expresses in ketchup her disappointment that she missed Parents' Day at school, and where Minko served Tohru omurice with "love" written in ketchup.

It's quite obvious to see that omurice is a rather simple dish, but with so many different variations to the dish, and having the ability to pretty much write anything one desires using ketchup, it opens new doors to the art of customization. This is one of the many things which attract people to maid cafés, and it definitely shows in popular culture. The maid will draw or write something on the dish before serving it to you, whatever you want. And who can forget Misaki's heart-piercing touching words she wrote on top of the omurice she served to Takumi?

Check out how it's done at a proper maid café.

Well, that basically rounds things up as far as omurice goes. For those interested in testing out their omurice-making culinary skills, a recipe for traditional omurice can be found here.