Japanese Food: What Is Itamemono?

There are many styles of cooking Japanese food. Some cooking methods come from traditional recipes, while other methods of cooking Japanese food come from other influences. One such example is itamemono, or stir-fry.

Itamemono was not a concept developed in Japan; the technique of stir-frying comes from China. However, it has been a popular style of cooking Japanese food since the 1950s. There are many stir-fried Japanese foods, including chanpurū, a dish that comes from Okinawa. Chanpurū is a stir-fry dish that consists of vegetables, tofu, meat, or seafood. Some chanpurū also calls for an egg thrown into the mix.

The most well-known chanpurū is gōyā chanpurū, a chanpurū dish that uses sweet melon (gōyā) as one of the ingredients.

Another stir-fry dish is kinpira gobo, a Japanese dish that consists of root vegetables that are stir-fried and braised in a sweet sauce.