The Asian dish that took the Seattle area by storm as a regional fast food may be more American than you think. In the early 1970s, Japanese teriyaki restaurants became a fast food sensation in the Seattle area quickly becoming a well-known and treasured meal by local Seattelites.
Teriyaki is a well known Japanese dish in Seattle that was popularized from Japanese immigrant's Toshi Kasahara's original teriyaki shop, Toshi's Teriyaki. His fast casual style and delicious flame-grilled sweet chicken became a roaring success as multiple teriyaki shops quickly opened up chasing Toshi's success. At one point there were 83 teriyaki shops in Seattle alone. Teriyaki's popularity caused a surge in the demand for the well-known Japanese dish, causing shops like ours, Nori Teriyaki Mukilteo, to become one of the five Mukilteo teriyaki restaurants that reside in the area. We owe our success to the original creators of the dish and to them we give our utmost respect and gratitude.
However, upon further research into the origins and history of teriyaki, we quickly found that teriyaki chicken actually does not come from Japan. In Japan, you'll be hard-pressed to find teriyaki restaurants solely focused on teriyaki. According to some food historians, teriyaki is actually from Hawaii. Though, it's not quite so straightforward.
To clarify, teriyaki is known in Japan as a method/style of cooking and marinating meats. It is similar to other culinary styles like sukiyaki and yakitori. These three different styles of cooking are used for marinating and cooking certain meats. Teriyaki is used to grill or broil meats marinated in a sauce blend of sugar, mirin, soy sauce, salt, garlic, sake, and cornstarch.
As it was a style of cooking rather than specifically catered to a sauce/dish, it's not quite found as often in Japan as it is here in the Seattle area. So when Japanese immigrants came to Hawaii, they transformed the cooking style into a specific sauce and dish. In the Hawaiian-American version, originally pineapple juice was used (as it was abundant in Hawaii) and blended with soy sauce. This eventually came over to Seattle and pineapple juice is commonly used in sauce blends in the Seattle teriyaki restaurant industry today.
Ultimately, while teriyaki is of Japanese descent and a traditional method of preparing and cooking meats, the origins of the classic teriyaki dish that we know and consume today is Japanese-American. It is the by-product of American colonization, immigration patterns, and cultural collaboration.
Teriyaki's origins were a bit more interesting and surprising than we expected, but nonetheless we are grateful for it's popularity and proud that it's Asian-American just like we are. If you're looking for food to go Mukilteo, consider your favorite Japanese-American fast food with Nori Teriyaki Mukilteo. Check out our takeout menu and a Mukilteo restaurant that does teriyaki delivery.
