This is me biting into a sweet, juicy piece of
Seattle teriyaki chicken.
-Mmmmmmm.
You've probably heard of the Philly cheesesteak
and Chicago's deep dish pizza,
but did you know that Seattle is known for its teriyaki?
Hi, I'm Yara.
And when I visited Seattle for the very first time, I mean,
before the coronavirus pandemic, it sometimes seemed
like there was a teriyaki shop on every block.
There's teriyaki restaurants everywhere.
Like literally we just came across five of them.
They all served some variation of this:
grilled sliced chicken thighs and a sweet teriyaki glaze
with rice and a simple salad.
All at an affordable price.
The dish's named after a Japanese cooking method
that involves a light glossy marinade,
but Seattle's teriyaki has
to become its own phenomenon.
- There's three things that represent Washington:
And today, many of the teriyaki shops
in Seattle are actually owned by Korean immigrants.
Asian Americans have played a huge part
in the food scene of Seattle and the U.S.
But after COVID, discrimination
against their community got even worse.
- Asian Americans becoming targets of discrimination.
- Chinese virus.
- Reject racism!
So, this video is a love letter
to Seattle's Asian American community.
It's a story of how a sweet and salty chicken and rice dish,
impacted by waves and waves of Asian immigration,
fundamentally transformed Seattle's food culture
and became an iconic part of this city.
What do you wanna tell people
about Seattle's teriyaki culture?
- I love teriyaki.
- You have it on every corner.
- They're everywhere.
- It's cheap, like everyone can eat it.
- It's kind of like the root of the area.
To learn more, I had to start
at the very beginning.
Meet Toshi Kasahara, the godfather of Seattle teriyaki.
- Hi, I'm Toshi.
- He's credited
with opening Seattle's first teriyaki shop
in 1976 after he immigrated from Japan.
One, two, yes.
Can you tell us a little bit about how teriyaki got started
in Seattle?
- I always wanted to have my own business and found
that American people like
chickens.
- This chicken rocks!
Yeah!
- What was it like opening up your first shop in 1976?
- '76.
First three months, not very busy.
We had a big write-up on Seattle Times.
All the sudden, business went up three, four times.
- Did you have like lines out the door? - Uh huh.
-Oh! How much were you selling like a teriyaki combo
for back then?
I think they loved
- How much does this cost today?
That's a lot of chicken for one serving.
- This sauce existed since.
- The recipe's a secret, I assume.
- It is.
- In Japan, teriyaki sauce is usually some combination of
soy sauce, sake, sweet rice wine and/or sugar.
But American teriyaki,
specifically Seattle teriyaki is a bit different.
Is there more sugar in the American version
than maybe the Japanese version?
- The American version may be little bit sweeter.
- It's usually thicker, like a syrup.
And it's often seasoned with ginger and garlic.
There's more teriyaki restaurants in Seattle
than there are some fast food chains, right?
McDonald's, Burger King.
And you essentially created this culture.
- I think it changed the way people eat.
- Although Toshi and the inspiration
for his original teriyaki recipe come from Japan,
today many teriyaki restaurants
in Seattle are actually owned by Korean immigrants,
who have incorporated parts
of their own culinary heritage into the menus.
And a lot of the shops we visited were owned
by Korean American women.
Women like Robi Seo,
whose family started the Happy Teriyaki chain in Seattle.
- I teach on YouTube videos how to cook.
Yep, that's me.
See all these, yeah.
- That's amazing.
Robi's mother, Jungja, was one of the pioneers
of Seattle's teriyaki scene.
She employed new Korean American immigrants
and trained them in the art of making teriyaki.
Eventually helping them start their own teriyaki businesses.
- She had six children, so she cooked every day
and she was quite a business woman.
She went in and
- Robi's mom was part
of a huge wave of Asian immigrants
who came to the U.S.
after the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed
in 1965.
The act ended long standing restrictions on immigration
from countries outside of Western Europe.
And between 1970 and 1990, the Korean American population
in Washington's King County grew from 712 people
to nearly 13,000.
Like many Korean immigrants, Robi's family got involved
with the local church.
They certainly weren't alone.
In the '90s, some 70% of Korean immigrants
to the U.S. were active church-goers
and Korean churches were places
where new immigrants could find community
and also possibly a job.
- Teriyaki was a very safe business.
Nobody really failed at that too much.
It's very easy, simple home-based cooking
because bulgogi
and hot and spicy pork was a very similar taste,
but we never called it teriyaki.
There was a lot of church members that we helped
and they come in and they will learn from inside out
how to clean chicken, how to grill chicken, and all that.
And they opened up another store.
- By giving new church members jobs,
Robi's mom set the stage
for Seattle's present day teriyaki culture.
Speaking to other teriyaki shop owners, it seems
like she was one
of the queens - Yeah.
- of the teriyaki scene.
- She just really loved to help people.
- She passed away in 1998,
but her legacy lives on
in the dozens
of Korean American owned teriyaki restaurants
that exist today.
How often do you eat teriyaki?
- More than I should admit.
- Way too much.
- Two times a week, maybe.
- Once, once a week.
- Several times a week.
- Every day.
- Once a month.
- My wife thinks it's like once a month,
but probably like once a week.
But who's teriyaki's biggest fan?
Probably this guy.
He's been eating teriyaki for over 20 years.
Meet Claiborne Bell, or as some people call him,
- Yaki, why is your nickname Yaki?
- Well I eat teriyaki a lot.
And I used to bring teriyaki with me to Bible study.
So, I would be in there eating like they just go
like calling me like, "So Yaki, what do you think?"
- And they still call you Yaki?
- This is what you get all the time?
- This has been their lunch special since 1992.
- Oh my God.
- I made that up,
but it's been a long time.
Every time I come in here, I get this exact same thing.
They could have the best menu in the world.
I wouldn't know.
This is what I eat.
- Do you go to other cities and find this?
- I don't.
I don't.
I actually don't eat teriyaki in other places.
- The story of teriyaki is rooted
in Asian American immigration to Seattle.
And the idea that the arrival of new cultures
and cuisines can change the identity of a city forever.
Toshi's loose interpretation of a Japanese dish
and waves of Korean immigration
created a staple food that came to define a city,
a staple not only of Seattle cuisine,
but also of American cuisine.
And one with a pretty hardcore following.
There are some reports
that Seattle's unique teriyaki culture is starting to disappear
and COVID is definitely having an impact
on the restaurant industry as a whole.
But it's also hard to imagine that something so affordable,
delicious, accessible, and iconic could just, you know.
- I don't think teriyaki will ever die.
You know, maybe they'll change, little bit of a facelift,
but I don't think it'll ever die.
- Teriyaki is part of Seattle's identity,
just like its Asian American population.
Without it and them, Seattle just wouldn't be Seattle.