Sauerkraut Or Sardines? Hiroshima's Pancake Goes Global For G7 Summit

When Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hosts leaders of the Group of Seven richest nations in Hiroshima this week, restaurants in the city hope to put a local speciality on the map, with a choice of fillings to cater for foreign tastes.

A gateway to tourism on the western side of Japan's main island, Hiroshima's name is forever carved in history as the first city to suffer the horror of a nuclear attack nearly 78 years ago.

Kishida's parliamentary constituency covers part of Hiroshima, a city that is home to over one million people, and also around 800 restaurants specialising in okonomiyaki, a savoury pancake whose name means "cooked as you like".

The ingredients of the signature dish typically include noodles, cabbage, batter, and meat fried on a hot metal plate, but for the G7 the Oconomiyaki Academy, a local restaurant trade group, has dreamed up variations incorporating favourite foods from each nation.

"You could say that okonomiyaki is the number-one most popular soul food among people from Hiroshima," said Atsuki Kitaura, the city-wide manager of the Chinchikurin chain.

"We thought a lot of customers from various countries overseas would come here, so we wanted to offer various flavours of okonomiyaki to match their taste."

They include German sauerkraut, as well as a maple syrup-infused Canadian version, and a carbonara style to honour Italy. For American tastes there will be burger meat, while the French version contains cabbage, bean sprouts, bacon, cheese, okonomiyaki sauce and a fried egg, all wrapped in a crepe.

Some locals weren't so sure about the new foreign fillings, such as the British-themed version with fried sardines and topped with potato chips.

"If it's fish and chips with a Coke, that's ok," said office worker Shinya Otsuki. "But I don't think I can eat it served this way."