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As the city\u2019s reconstruction gathered momentum, food stalls and other cheap eateries sprang up around town, selling issen yoshoku.<\/em> Many of these street stalls were concentrated in the downtown Shintenchi area, where the Okonomimura complex now stands. They began adding whatever ingredients were available \u2013 such as cabbage, eggs, ramen or soba noodles and locally caught seafood \u2013 to make issen yoshoku a more substantial dish that could sustain the local people as they rebuilt their lives, and their city.<\/p>\n This new pick-and-mix approach to the ingredients is how the dish earned its more appropriate name: okonomiyaki, which means \u201cwhatever you like, grilled\u201d. By the late 1950s, it had become popular among all social classes and age groups, a cherished symbol of the local people\u2019s resilience and vitality.<\/p>\n