You might know tempura as a classic Japanese preparation of meats and vegetables, battered and deep-fried into that distinctly delicious dish you can find at all of your favorite restaurants. At Flo’s Japanese Restaurant in Bellevue, you can find tempura made out of shrimp, crab, calamari, and more. But what is the story behind tempura, exactly? The answer may surprise you.
If you’ve ever studied the Japanese language, you may have noticed that there’s something off about tempura. After all, the word cannot be properly written with the Japanese alphabet. This is because “tempura” is actually not a native Japanese word.
Tempura was actually introduced to Japan at some point in the sixteenth century, when missionaries from Portugal and Spain arrived in the country. Though the facts are obscured in history, it is thought that the name was derived from the Portuguese word “tempero”, which translates to “condiment” or “seasoning”. You can actually still find a dish similar to the Japanese tempura in Portugal, which goes under the name peixinhos da horta.