🚀 go-pugleaf

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