It sure seems like Americans would like it.

For several decades, beef teriyaki has been one of the most popular menu items at Japanese restaurants in the U.S. It’s flavorful and hearty, and doesn’t use any ingredients with tastes or textures that would startle the average American diner. What can be surprising for American beef teriyaki fans, though is when they come to Japan and find out that the dish doesn’t really exist here. Sure, Japan has beef, and Japan has teriyaki, but the latter isn’t used as a seasoning for the former in the sauce’s country of origin.

Of course, this sort of situation, where one country mistakenly thinks something is a staple food in another culture but it really isn’t, isn’t something that only happens in America. As a matter of fact, J-pop mega star Ado recently took to Twitter to ask her followers if something that’s widely seen by Japanese people as an archetypal example of yoshoku (“Western cuisine”) is something that she’d be able to find in the U.S.

To clarify, Ado isn’t asking about hamburgers, as it’s common knowledge that there are burger joints all across the U.S. Instead, she’s talking about a patty made of ground meat, onion, egg, and breadcrumbs that’s eaten with a knife and fork. A hamburger steak, as hamburg is also sometimes called, can be accompanied by rice or bread, but the bread is always a thick slice or a dinner roll served on the side, not a bun, and hamburger steak isn’t eaten as a sandwich.

▼ A Japanese hamburger steak/hamburg

Hamburger steak is extremely easy to find in Japan. Pretty much every casual chain diner like Denny’s or Gusto has it on the menu, and even some beef bowl chains, like Matsuya, offer hamburger steak set meals. Then there are all the restaurants that specifically specialize in hamburger steak.

But as many commenters quickly explained in their replies to Ado, hamburger steaks aren’t nearly as big a thing in the U.S. as they are in Japan.

“I don’t think I’ve ever [eaten] a hamburg steak outside of Japan…America doesn’t have them super often.”
“There are some in Little Tokyo, although I don’t remember exactly where,”
“I don’t think I’ve seen them at a restaurant.”
“Some Japanese restaurants in major cities have them.”
“Only in Japanese Restaurants.”

The closest analogy in American cuisine, others offered, is Salisbury steak. However, many pointed out that Salisbury steak isn’t an exact match, as it’s often covered in a gravy unlike any sauce used for hamburger steak in Japan, and sometimes topped with sliced mushrooms as well, or may have things like diced mushroom or bell pepper within the patty itself. One commenter boiled the differences down to “We do have Salisbury steaks, which are smaller, and worse.”

Others theorized that America’s version of the hamburger steak is meatloaf, but that has a different texture and flavor, as it’s baked while hamburger steak is flat-grilled, often being finished on a hot iron plate at the table as it’s served. Some commenters also mentioned loco moco, the patty for which bears a strong resemblance to Japanese hamburger steak, but it’s more of a local Hawaiian food than something you’ll regularly find across America’s other 49 states (and, incidentally, is said to have been originally popularized by a Japanese-American chef).

Considering that Japan loves both hamburger streaks and hamburgers, and sees both as culinary imports, Ado might be surprised to find out that America’s tastes are so overwhelmingly tipped towards hamburgers that a hamburg will be hard to find. As alluded to by a couple of commenters, though, in a case of food ideas ping-ponging back and forth between cultures, hamburger steaks are starting to establish fanbases among American restaurant-goers who see them as a kind of Japanese food, so maybe they’ll actually become a more common part of the American diet in years to come, and maybe even Japan’s hamburger steak sushi will one day catch on over on the other side of the Pacific.

Source: Twitter/@ado1024imokenp
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Follow Casey on Twitter as he continues to lament the closing of the Butchers hamburger steak restaurant in Jiyugaoka.