Okonomiyaki Academy, a local association in Hiroshima, Japan, is encouraging eateries to include special dishes in their menus to add flavor to the upcoming Group of Seven summit in May.

The academy was founded in April 2014 by Otafuku Holdings Co. and was appointed as the “ambassador” tasked with promoting Hiroshima’s cuisine in November 2022. The ingredients incorporated represent their food culture, including galettes for France, hamburgers for the United States, fish and chips for Britain, sausage, potatoes, and sour cabbage for Germany, carbonara pasta for Italy, and maple syrup for Canada.

In preparation for the event, the academy members conducted interviews with restaurants to gather information about food ingredients linked to different countries. Additionally, they gathered questionnaires from expats hailing from these countries. The recipes underwent a process of refinement through trial and error, with great care taken to meticulously attend to every aspect, and were ultimately finalized in January.