Gyudon

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Drivein Gyudon (at Honshu Shikoku contact bridge, Awaji service area)

Sukiya is a major gyudon chain in Japan.

Gyūdon (牛丼), often literally translated into English as beef bowl, is a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with soy sauce and mirin. It also often includes shirataki. A very popular food in Japan, it is commonly served with beni shoga (pickled ginger), shichimi, and a side dish of miso soup. Gyū means "cow" or "beef", and don is short for donburi, the Japanese word for "bowl".

Gyūdon can be found in many Japanese restaurants and some fast food chains specialize exclusively in the dish. The largest gyūdon chains in Japan are Yoshinoya and Sukiya. Another large chain, Matsuya, sells gyūdon under the name gyūmeshi (牛めし).

As a consequence of the fear of mad cow disease and a ban on imports of American beef, Yoshinoya and most competitors were forced to terminate gyudon sales in Japan on February 11, 2004. The Japanese Diet voted to resume beef imports from the United States in early May 2005 but the ban was reinstated in January of 2006 just as the beef began arriving in Japan. As the issue continues to be discussed between the American and Japanese governments, gyudon vendors and customers continue to wait for a resolution. As of September 2006, the ban has been lifted.^[1]

Yoshinoya moved its business to a similar dish made with pork instead of beef, which it named butadon (豚丼). Sukiya continued to serve gyūdon (using Australian beef) and also added a dish, tondon, equivalent to Yoshinoya's butadon, to its menu. (Buta and ton are both Japanese words for pig or pork, written with the same kanji, 豚. See tonkatsu, tonjiru)