An award-winning Japanese fried chicken restaurant called Wakatori has triggered an online uproar after revealing that its frying oil base has been maintained since the restaurant opened 66 years ago, in 1960. The third-generation owner says the aged oil is what gives the chicken its distinctive flavor and complex aroma, helping the restaurant stand out from competitors.
After the disclosure spread on social media, many users argued that the practice was dangerous. Wakatori responded that it does not literally cook with the exact same oil from 1960. Instead, the kitchen uses a technique it compares to maintaining an old soup stock: every night the oil is carefully filtered, food particles and residue are removed, and only a small amount of the original base oil is preserved and blended into fresh oil.
Food experts, however, remain concerned. They say the soup-stock comparison is misleading because frying oil repeatedly used at high temperatures can produce harmful and potentially carcinogenic compounds, including trans fatty acids and acrylamide. They also warned that adding fresh oil each day does not fully prevent the long-term buildup of these substances.
The restaurant is being discussed alongside famous Japanese and Thai soup shops that keep decades-old broth bases, but specialists stress that oil is different from soup and should not be treated the same way.
