🚀 go-pugleaf

I wouldn't believe what you read on Benihana's site. Rocky Aoki (the
founder) was a former wrestler who came to America with same kind of
ambitious goals as many immigrants have seeking the American dream. Benihana
style cooking is not Japanese, but made to look like Japanese custom.
Traditionally, you would be scolded in Japan if you played with food like
that. Think of it Japanese culture pride it self on silence and solitude.
They certainly wouldn't appreciate clonking and banging as they eat. Oh,
that big steel cooking pan in front is not necessarily Japanese I don't
think. I'd seen something similar in their summer festivals called "matsuri"
where they cook Japanese style stir fried noodles and Japanese pancakes.
They are called Benihana of Tokyo, but I've never heard of Benihanas in
Tokyo.

See ya

"axlq in California" <axlq@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:c675l4$khg$6@blue.rahul.net...
> In article <4086fa56.20069027@news.dallas.sbcglobal.net>,
> Simon Belmont <123@abc.xyz> wrote:
> >21 Apr 2004 20:51:00, axlq@spamcop.net (axlq in California) wrote:
> >>The "Benihana" experience, at the time, was purely an American phenome-
> >>non. The concept of "performance cooking" has since caught on in Japan.
> >
> >[snip]
> >That would not be the first thing the ambitious japanese assimilate,
> >refine to perfection, and then represent as their own. (like  VCR's)
>
> Let me clarify what I wrote earlier:
>
> Benihana pioneered the "performance cooking" kind of venue, but
> it DOES have its origins in Japan, from a restaurant started by a
> Samurai descendant after WWII.  His son moved the the U.S. in the
> 1960s and started the Benihana chain, with the idea of combining
> food preparation with entertainment.
>
> This is described on Benihana's web site at
> http://www.benihana.com/benihana_history.asp
>
> I think it took a long while (like until the 1970) before this
> performance cooking became widely known and popular.  It WAS
> pioneered by Benihana, but the concept started in Japan, but didn't
> become popular in Japan until after Benihana popularized it in the
> United States.
>
> -A