Rolled Harpy Egg Omelet Leftovers

 Guess who is still riding high after their triumph last week, Dungeon Meshi Maniacs?  That's right!  Your third favorite cooking slime. Me!  I glimpsed my nemesis and sent it into the way after.  But I'm not one to gloat after a victory, DMMs.  No, I did the classy thing and extended a hand to the rolled omelet and helped it up off the ground. The whole point of cooking is coming to an understanding with that which you fear.  So I cracked open a cold root brewski and learned about the history of the rolled omelet and now I pass what I learned onto you!

As you may have guessed, Tamagoyaki has a long and storied history.  Well, not so much storied.  There doesn't seem to be any history of who or when the dish was actually created.  We do know that it happened sometime in the 1600's.  How do we know that?  Well, apparently eating chicken and eggs was banned in Japan for a while! By how?  By this guy!

Stop furrowing your brows, DMMs! You know him.  That's Emperor Tenmu! Who else could it be?  He ruled Japan from 673-686 and during that time he decided that the eating of animals should stop.  See, the Emperor was big into Buddhism and agreed with their dietary habits.  So much so that he felt everyone should avoid eating animals but only during the Spring/Summer.  You can't ask someone to starve during the winter, DMMs.  Also, this decree did not extend to wild boar or deer.  The lower classes really love that stuff and the last thing you need on your hand as Emperor is an unhappy populace.  Now I'm not a historian, I'm barely a cook, so I've not been able to find how rigidly this decree was followed.  Or how long it lasted after Tenmu's death.  But some traditions they have a habit of lasting a little longer than necessary.  So it's pretty clear the rolled omelet wasn't invented until the Edo period....maybe. That's when a fluffy egg dish cooked in boiling dashi became popular with the peasants. 

While we don't have an exact point when the rolled omelet became a thing we do have a restaurant that's over 300 years old.  What is their speciality you may ask?  Oji Ogiya has been making Tamagoyaki since 1648!  You can seriously go and eat there to this day.  I love that, DMMs.  While I'm not a historian I love the idea of eating at a place that someone would have eaten at 3 centuries ago.  I like sitting and thinking of the people that passed this art down one generation from the next until they reach the moment that I'm sitting there.  It gives me a a small sense of unity with humanity.  I think that's why I've come to love art forms with long histories.  Interestingly enough one is the art of rakugo, a style of Japanese storytelling that has been passed down through the ages.  Why bring up rakugo?  First, Oji Ogiya itself shows up in the rakugo story Oji no Kitsune!  Second, is the world of rakugo is the setting for my favorite currently running manga, Akane-banashi.

You need to seriously give this one a read, DMMs.  There's not a lot of cooking in it, however. And so far no dungeons. But you never know where a crazy manga may go so fingers crossed!  That's it for the rolled omelet.  Be sure to give it a try yourself!  I'm certain you'll have a better time trying than I did.  And you'll be sharing an experience with so many people that have come before and after you! I'll see you next week.