Question regarding Japanese yakisoba (fried noodles)?

I have been cooking Japanese cuisine for years. I am not a chef. Just a vegetarian and I can't get many Japanese foods at restaurants because katsuo dashi is such an important ingredient. As you know, traditional dashi with kombu and kezurikatsuo, which is fine if you are not a vegetarian. However, because I am, I make kombudashi instead and use it throughout my Japanese recipes.





Here is my question, I made yakisoba, which I make all the time when I have guests because it is such a favorite. I use Bulldog brand tonkatsu sauce (which many many Japanese people do). It is a very popular vegetable %26amp; fruit sauce in Japan. However, it doesn't actually have the word "yakisoba sauce" on the bottle. This doesn't matter and I can assure you my yakisoba is authentic. Well this asian guy (not even Japanese) who is a friend of one of the people I invited to my house (I never invited him). Well, this asian guy starts saying my yakisoba is not authentic because I used tonkatsu. I tried to explain to him, you can use it on more than tonkatsu (breaded deep-fried pork cutlet). He just kept saying throughout the meal that it is not authentic.


What should I say to people when they try to say my Japanese meals are not authentic when I know they are? I realize I am not Japanese, but that does not automatically mean if I make something, then it is not authentic. It is authentic if I have did my research and included the right ingredients cooked the right way.|||Yakisoba sauce is basically just made from a combination of tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, dashi, soy sauce and honey. This combination is very similar and close to the Bulldog brand tonkatsu sauce, so it wouldn't make much of a difference and is fine as long as you enjoy the flavour and taste.





Here is my favourite Yakisoba Recipe


http://japan-australia.blogspot.com/2011鈥?/a>|||You should have asked him what's authentic then. He probably doesn't know either. Yakisoba simply means fried noodle, and I think each household and restaurant has their own recipe for the sauce, and as long as you're using authentic soba noodles, I'd say it's authentic. I've eaten at restaurants who use spaghetti noodles, ramen noodles, and stir fried them with veges and sauce and call it yakisoba.|||Hey there,





That person is just entitled to his own opinion. Some people say things out loud not knowing their offending the people in front of them. He probably has had yakisoba in a different way and was not sure what to make of your cooking, or just being rude and trying to put you down. Idk why people act like that, especially when they are guests at your place.





You don't need to invite people like that anyways. You want positive company not negative bickory company. Your doing fine, don't let anyone's personal opinions get to you.





Besides idk what is traditional anymore anyways people and countries sometimes like to change up the food, so not everything has to be exactly the same or supposedly traditional. Japanese are especially known for trying new things all the time. Its called fusion. That's very common there and all over the world.





Hope you feel better. :)|||There are more than just one style of yakisoba available. Some okonomiyaki places do dump tonkatsu sauce on their yakisobas. If you run into him again, ask him if he could tell you the difference between yokote yakisoba, okinawa stye yakisoba and hiroshima style yakisoba. If he couldn't tell you the characteristics of at least one of the yakisoba styles I mentioned, ignore him. If he could answer immediately, ask him for advise on how to make your yakisoba taste more authentic because that guy's definitely hardcore. Personally, I think there's a pretty good chance that he couldn't even answer this question. :)



Added:

By the way, yakisoba doesn't even need a dedicated sauce. The ingredients used and the tastes could vary. Of course, there are certain tracks you must follow and you can't venture too far off the course. "Chinese" dishes like lemon chicken and crab rangoon are examples of ethnic dishes that went way too far off the track.