KFC or Karaage for Japanese Christmas? Choose Sawako Okochi's Fried Chicken
Cook up a quirky Japanese🎄 tradition
Hello friends! I’m early this week with fun facts and an idea for your consideration.
First several quick notes:
Totes arrived and preorders are en route! Phew! Some inventory remains, if you like to order for January delivery. (The fulfillment center needs a vacation.)
Friday, 12/22, is the last day for the 25% discount for my upcoming Milk Street Kitchen cooking class: when you register here enter this code: BANHMI25
For a spirted read, check out Eric Kim’s NYT story on Korean American church feasts and generational shifts. [gift link]
Speaking of Asian celebrations, whether you are religious or secular about Christmas, it’s a holiday that conjures up meals of roasted or baked foods. My parents are devout Catholics and my dad was into French food nearly as much as he was into Vietnamese cuisine. Our Christmas routine centered on attending Christmas Even Mass and settling into to a réveillon dinner (“réveillon” means awakening in French and the feast was traditionally eaten after midnight).
Mom’s menu often featured roasted goose or game hens filled with chestnut and sticky rice stuffing. Sides included buttery chestnuts simmered in chicken broth and cilantro. Dessert was a homemade bûche de Noël yule log. Dad fueled the meal with champagne and red wine.
Our family embrace of Christmas with western ideas isn’t anomalous. If you’ve visited Vietnam’s major cities during the holiday season, you’ve experienced lots of twinkling lights, Christmas trees, and maybe a nativity scene.
Vietnam’s Christmas-y spirit seems ironic because it’s a tropical country with many Buddhists and home kitchens devoid of full-size ovens. Its interactions with the West, particularly through the French colonial experience, influenced local Christmas traditions — which are often party-like, with public gatherings around Catholic churches and cathedrals. Nowadays, with globalism and consumerism, even the Communist government’s official tourism website hypes Christmas. (Below, photo : giaitriviet.net)
But, what if your holiday traditions are not strongly determined by Christianity or colonialism? What if it didn’t require hours of effort or the oven?
I pondered that when making the karaage fried chicken recipe from Love Japan, a cookbook by Sawako (“Sawa”) Okochi and Aaron Israel, the chefs and owners of Shalom Japan in Brooklyn. Their unique blending of Japanese-Jewish-American foodways (shaved bonito cured lox! matzoh ball ramen! okonomi-latkes) were captured in a terrific book co-authored with Gabriella Gershenson.
The karaage recipe in Love Japan appealed to me because:
I’ve not had great karaage at restaurants and am always looking for the inside track.
Sawa’s recipe is based on one by her mother. (A chef’s mom is likely the source of many pro tips.)
Her karaage is simple but loaded with solid details — the keys to excellent food.
Sawa’s karaage was bonkers good, the best I’ve made and eaten, which is why I’m spotlighting it today. Additionally, the recipe headnote included this:
“In Japan, fried chicken is also a Christmas food, thanks to a successful campaign launched by Kentucky Fried Chicken in the 1970s, which linked the holiday to eating buckets of KFC. A typical Japanese Christmas meal might include fried chicken, strawberry shortcake, and a bottle of bubbly for adults, or sparkling juice for the kids. Instead of buying the fried chicken, my mom made it from scratch.” — Sawa
Hmm, fast food, bubbly, and layer cake for Christmas? What’s up with that? I had many questions as my husband and I gobbled up the crunchy, gingery chicken and washed it down with crémant. My enquiring mind needed answers. First I researched.
Why Celebrate Christmas with KFC?
Deep-fried food is super popular and readily available in Japan. Many people know and love tempura but may be unfamiliar with karaage, which is not battered. When well prepared, the crunchy, lightly coated pieces of succulent boneless chicken are deeply seasoned mainly by ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sake. The two-or-three biters are prepared at home, restaurants, and convenience stores like Lawson (the 7-Eleven of Japan).
Fried chicken is everyday food. Why have fried chicken at Christmas?
Turns out, it’s a relatively new thing. Starting in the late 1960s, Japanese families began hosting annual Christmas parties for kids, serving them mostly sweets promoted by local shops. Around the same time, an executive at Mitsubishi (their interests go beyond cars!) started pondering American-style fried chicken and talking to Colonel Harlan Sanders.
In 1970, as a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC debuted in Japan. It was the first American fast food chain in the country. When Colonel Sanders (Kahneru Oji-san in Japanese) tasted KFC in Japan, he reportedly said, “Why do I have to come to Japan to get the real Kentucky Fried Chicken?”
Despite producing spot-on KFC, the Japanese KFC wasn’t doing great sales. Store manager Takeshi Okawara needed to rev things up.
Responding to a local school’s invitation to do a Christmas party for kids, Okawara dressed up as Santa Claus and danced around with a bucket of KFC. He and the chicken were a hit. More invites followed and he saw a marketing opportunity to position KFC as a western Christmas tradition. KFC’s parent company, Yum! Brands, says the marketing campaign idea came after a tourist said that KFC’s chicken would be a great sub for traditional holiday turkey.
Whatever the actual origin story, the marketing/reinvention worked in a country that had few pre-existing Christmas traditions. KFC in Japan aggressively expanded and in 1974, launched a national “Kentucky for Christmas” promotion (vintage ads above) to sell a bucket of fried chicken with a bottle of wine. They mainly targeted adults. 1 It succeeded, and now KFC defines Christmas celebrations for many people in Japan.
Pre-orders are a must. For 2023, options include a 4,700 Yen (33 USD, tax included) menu of fried chicken, shrimp gratin, chocolate cake and a commemorative plate. There’s barbecue chicken and other items.
Families, friends and romantic couples enjoy fried chicken on Christmas Eve in Japan. Colonel Sanders signals Father Christmas to countless people there.
Q&A with Sawa Okochi
The history of Japanese Christmas fried chicken is loaded with cultural and commercial twists, turns and collisions. What has Christmas been like for Sawa, who in 1995, at age 18, moved from Hiroshima, Japan, to Denton, Texas, to attend university? After making cooking from Love Japan and contemplating Japanese Christmas, I emailed Sawa. Her responses below have been lightly condensed.
How was spending Christmas in Japan different from spending Christmas in America? Was there cultural shock for you and Aaron the first time you spent Christmas together?
In Japan, Christmas is not as religious a holiday as it is here in US. It was more like a fun day to spend with your boyfriend or girlfriend, friends, or families. I think when you’re a Japanese teenager or young adult, it is more focused on a date, where to go, etc. It seems more commercialized. Aaron is Jewish, so he doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but I liked getting a tree and decorating it, or going to see the illuminations, so when years ago he told me he didn't care to get a Christmas tree, I was a little bit disappointed. I started buying a very small christmas tree, maybe the year our son was born, like the desktop size. And now we get a mid-size one for our kids to decorate together. Aaron even asks when we are getting a tree. LOL.
Why did your mother decide to make karaage instead of buy KFC at Christmas? My mom liked cooking so we rarely got takeout. I can't say for the majority of Japanese people what they eat, but KFC does a major Christmas campaign and they are busy this time of the year.
Regarding Japan’s fried chicken and cake pairing, why is a strawberry and cream layer cake considered the “cake of cakes” in nationalistic Japan? The concept of strawberry shortcake is part American and part French.
Ichigo means strawberry. Below is what we wrote in the recipe headnote for strawberry shortcake.
Strawberry shortcake, or ichigo short, is the cake of cakes in Japan. No other comes even close. I’m not exactly sure why, but the combination of airy sponge cake, sweet and light chantilly (whipped cream), and tart and juicy strawberries that match the color of the Japanese flag have captured people’s hearts. It‘s been the most popular cake for birthdays and Christmas celebrations for a very long time. This classic recipe was adapted from a recipe by my friend, the pastry chef Ayako Watanabe, owner of Tough Cookies in Tokyo.
Why is the cake so popular at Christmas? What’s extra special about Ayako’s recipe?
Isn’t it nice to eat cake anytime of the year? People love the strawberry shortcake for the white and red colors. I love Ayako’s recipe because it works and it’s classic.
I need to carve out time for the strawberry shortcake. Right now, I have your tasty slice-and-bake matcha cookie dough in the freezer. To turn the cookies into ice cream sandwiches, what ice cream flavors do you suggest?
I would say matcha, that is if you like matcha on matcha. I feel like most any flavor would work, like vanilla, chocolate, rum & raisins, white chocolate, and so on.
RECIPES!
Food tastes loads better when you have context. Who thought fried chicken could have so many meanings in Japan? As you roll into Christmas and beyond, make Sawa’s karaage. It doesn’t have 11 secret herbs and spices but it has a purity of flavor and lots of crispiness. To be honest, I prefer it over KFC. There’s no need for commercial fried chicke when an easy recipe that’s true to Japan is available.
I’ve cooked two recipes from Sawa and Aaron's book and they’re both keepers:
🍗 Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken): Simplicity, balanced flavor, and succulent crunch are some of the virtues of Sawa’s recipe. Fry up a batch for Christmas or any time. Go to the recipe and video tips to craft a terrific karaage life! 😄
🔪 Slice-and-Bake Matcha Cookies: Go ahead and sneak in a cookie snack with these. They’re small, flavor packed and satisfying. They do oxidize over time and turn dark green-grey. Hard to tell in my goofy photo above. BUT, know that their malty, white chocolate flavor remains. You could put chopped white chocolate into the dough, perhaps? Hop to the recipe.
I hope you get a copy of Love Japan for that strawberry shortcake recipe and to explore the possibilities of Japanese and Jewish flavors in your kitchen. For a small volume, the book is loaded with valuable culinary and cultural insights.
Meanwhile, deck the Halls with Japanese fried chicken and green tea cookies!
More on KFC history in Japan:
Japanese Christmas celebrations and the first KFC promotion (KFC website)
Takeshi Okawara and launching KFC Christmas in Japan (2019 Business Insider, by Kate Taylor)
KFC in Japan (succinct video explainer by Cheddar)
Colonel Comes to Japan (vintage 1981 documentary by Enterprise)
“Loy Weston Brings Kentucky Fried Chicken to 1970s Japan” (2023 Japan Times article by Patrick Parr)
How Colonel Sanders Became Father Christmas in Japan (2014, Talking Points Memo article by Molly Osberg)
The Japanese beat the Colonel at his own game. Wow.
Thank you for explaining the history of KFC + XMAS. Living in Oceanside, we’ve had many Marine neighbors and friends who can attest to the tradition. The cookbook Love Japan certainly sounds intriguing. I notice that the karaage recipe is only fried once, is that because the pieces are smaller than other fried chicken recipes?
I grew up as an only child with divorced parents and didn’t have a traditional meal. My own family has fluctuated between tamales and mezze and everything in between. This year my Mexican MIL is hosting and ordering tamales. My contributions will be “the good chicharrones” and a Mexican inspired relish tray (jicama, radish, cucumber, limes, mango, Tajín).