Nabemono (鍋物, なべ物, nabe cooking pot + mono things, stuffs, kinds) or simply called Nabe, is a term referring to all varieties of Japanese steamboat dishes, also known as one pot dishes. The pots are traditionally made of clay (土鍋,　donabe) which can keep warm for a while after being taken off the fire or cast thick iron (鉄鍋, tetsunabe) which evenly distributes heat and is preferable for sukiyaki. The pots are usually placed in the center of dining tables, shared by multiple people. Most nabemono are stews and soups served during the colder seasons. In modern Japan, nabemono are kept hot at the dining table by portable stoves. The dish is frequently cooked at the table, and the dinners can pick the cooked ingredients they want from the pot. It is either eaten with broth or with a dip. Further ingredients can also be successively added to the pot. Eating together from a shared pot is considered as an important feature of nabemono; East Asian people believe that eating from one pot makes for closer relationships. The Japanese thus say, Nabe(w)o kakomu (鍋を囲む、"sitting around the pot") implying that sharing nabemono will create warm relations between the diners who eat together from the shared pot.