I was at the train station on my way home when my mom sent me a text about dinner — everyone else was out, and it seemed like it was just going to be the two of us.
What are you in the mood for? We can go out for dinner!
It didn’t take long for me to reply — we decided to go to one of my favorite restaurants in Shinjuku for fresh tonkatsu, or Japanese pork cutlet. I hadn’t had one in a while but was craving it after seeing an ad for it in our mailbox. “Served with fresh spring cabbage!” the newsletter read. It seems that the season for it has come around again.
I wondered why it’s always paired with cabbage. It’s not just pork cutlets at restaurants; a lot of fried foods tend to be served with raw cabbage, even when made at home. I asked my mom, but she wasn’t sure, so I did a bit of digging.
Apparently, the pork cutlet was brought into Japan during the Meiji Era, in 1899 by a restaurant called Rengatei…
