Photo/Illutration Kaoru Ichii, right, with Lina Annab, Jordan’s ambassador to Japan (Provided by Kaoru Ichii)

HIROSHIMA--The “okonomiyaki” Japanese pancake, a specialty of this western city, has been served 8,000 kilometers away in Jordan as a symbol of hopes for peace.

“I hope it will become Jordan’s soul food,” said Kaoru Ichii, who traveled to the country in autumn to serve up his signature dish tailored to local tastes.

Ichii’s journey began when Lina Annab, Jordan’s ambassador to Japan, visited his okonomiyaki restaurant, Icchan, in the city’s Higashi Ward on Aug. 6 last year.

The diplomat attended the Peace Memorial Ceremony earlier in the day to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. She has attended the ceremony every year since taking the post in 2019.

After eating seafood okonomiyaki at Icchan, she asked Ichii if he would be interested in visiting Jordan.

However, Ichii, 68, whose restaurant is listed in Michelin Guide’s Hiroshima edition, was skeptical about the seriousness of her invitation.

When the Jordanian Embassy contacted him later, however, he realized the ambassador’s offer was genuine.

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A piece of “okonomiyaki” Japanese pancake made with pasta and chicken (Shohei Okada)

Annab learned about Ichii from a documentary on the history of okonomiyaki, which is said to have contributed to the reconstruction of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing.

Ichii decided to visit Jordan after learning that employees of Otafuku Sauce Co., a leading okonomiyaki sauce maker based in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward, would join him on the trip.

But first, he had to develop a Jordan-style okonomiyaki.

In Hiroshima, okonomiyaki is typically cooked with layers of batter, cabbage, bean sprouts, Chinese-style noodles and pork.

Muslims, who account for more than 90 percent of Jordan’s population, are prohibited from eating pork or pork-derived ingredients.

Ichii used chicken instead of pork. He also replaced wheat-based noodles with pasta because it is easier to procure in Jordan.

He completed the recipe through trial and error, using pasta of different thicknesses and chicken of varying sizes.

Ichii, his subordinate and two Otafuku Sauce employees stayed in Jordan for two weeks from Oct. 20 to serve the okonomiyaki.

When they set up a stall to cook okonomiyaki with an iron griddle in a corner of a shopping mall in Amman, the capital, it was immediately surrounded by people.

Ichii sold 450 servings of okonomiyaki in a matter of hours.

The locals loved the dish, particularly the sweet and tasty flavor of the cabbage. It is rare to steam the vegetable in Jordan.

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Kaoru Ichii, far right, cooks “okonomiyaki” Japanese pancake on a street in Amman. (Provided by Kaoru Ichii)

Jordan, located east of Israel, has been seriously affected by conflicts in the region.

At least 2 million Palestinian refugees live in Jordan, as well as more than 600,000 Syrian refugees.

“What happened in Hiroshima was a sign of the absence of peace,” Annab said in an online interview with The Asahi Shimbun. “Therefore, we are all calling for (peace in our region).”

She also spoke about how people in Hiroshima worked hard to rebuild their city.

“Maybe they think their story is limited to Hiroshima, but it’s not. They have inspired the whole world, including Jordan,” Annab said.

Ichii thinks the postwar reconstruction of Hiroshima is inseparable from okonomiyaki, which he says has a “hidden power.”

He gave the iron griddle to people in Jordan as a gift in hopes they will use local ingredients and cook okonomiyaki.

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