Last update September 22, 2025

Japanese Food - Nabe Ryōri -

Nabe Ryōri

なべりょうり, 鍋料理

Table-Top One-Pot Cuisine

Nabe is a generic term for a pan, pot, or casserole; and when people say tonight’s dinner is Nabe, they don’t eat a pot, of course. They mean Nabe Ryori, by abbreviating the word “Ryori” (cooking). Roughly speaking, Nabe Ryori is a simplified form of cooking by boiling various ingredients in one pot. It’s a communal way for a group of people to share boiling-hot food from the same pot while engaging in cooperative cooking over a portable heater placed on the table. They spend hours together, picking up cooked food from the pot and adding new ingredients to refill it, while enjoying each other’s company and engaging in conversations. Sometimes, a so-called Nabe Bugyo (Samurai Official in charge of Nabe), a comical moniker given to someone particular about Nabe cooking details, may want to be bossy, and that’s a fun part, too. The best way is to let the Bugyo lead the cooking, and you can be a Machi Musume, or Waiting Town Girl. It’s a pun of the word “Machi”, which means “town” and “wait” in Japanese if you don’t get it. When all the prepared ingredients have been consumed, the final session is to boil rice or noodles (generally, Udon) in the remaining broth.

Nabe Ryōri cooking while Machi Musume waiting.	Steaming Nabe Ryōri almost ready to eat.	Nabe Ryōri ingredients served for group cooking.
Piled up ingredients for Chanko Nabe (a typical cuisine for Sumo wrestlers).	Chanko Nabe being cooked.	Home Nabe Ryōri with Tsumire (minced meat dumpling) and vegetables.

Nabe Ryōri cooking while Machi Musume waiting.

Steaming Nabe Ryōri almost ready to eat.

Nabe Ryōri ingredients served for group cooking.

Piled up ingredients for Chanko Nabe (a typical cuisine for Sumo wrestlers).

Chanko Nabe being cooked.

Home Nabe Ryōri with Tsumire (minced meat dumpling) and vegetables.