National Tempura Day

National Tempura Day, observed January 7th, celebrates the Japanese cooking technique of lightly battering and deep-frying vegetables and seafood to achieve a delicate, crispy coating. Despite being closely associated with Japanese cuisine today, tempura's origins are believed to trace back to Portuguese missionaries and traders who introduced a similar frying technique to Nagasaki in the 16th century, tied to the Catholic practice of eating fried fish and vegetables during Lent, called "tempora" in Latin, from which the dish likely gets its name. Japanese cooks refined the technique over the following centuries, developing the light, airy batter and precise frying temperatures that distinguish tempura from other fried foods, and it became a prominent feature of Edo-period (17th to 19th century) street food culture in Tokyo. Common tempura ingredients include shrimp, sweet potato, eggplant, and mushrooms, typically served with a dipping sauce called tentsuyu. On National Tempura Day, people celebrate by dining at Japanese restaurants, cooking tempura at home, or trying new vegetable and seafood combinations with the classic light batter.