[ Panels by World Area Main Menu ]
[ View the Timetable of Panels ]
(Non) Consumption of Food in Japan – Past and Present
Organizer and Chair: Stephanie Assmann, Tohoku University, Japan
Discussant: Theodore C. Bestor, Harvard University
Everybody eats: Food is essential in order to survive, but food also serves as an identity marker and reveals social phenomena such as gender roles and social (in)equality. This panel offers some thoughts on food in Japanese society from both a historical and an anthropological angle. The papers view food not only as mere nourishment, but explore various consumption patterns related to food. By highlighting the symbolic role of food to be consumed - or, indeed, not to be consumed -, the panelists hope to show how food has been tied up to larger societal concerns from the 17th to the 20th century.
Rath examines cuisine as an aesthetics of non-consumption during the Tokugawa period, focusing on food that was not meant to be eaten but rather became an object of aesthetic and intellectual appreciation. Kraemer then investigates how non-consumption of meat during the Tokugawa period was established as a valid representation of 'the Japanese' while analyzing the role of China and the West as Japan’s ‘unforgettable other’. Fukutomi and Assmann look at consumption of food in contemporary Japanese society. Fukutomi addresses the localization of rāmen as an imported food in Japan and examines the phenomenon of virtual consumption of rāmen in internet blogs. Finally, Assmann discusses the topic of slow food as a way of rethinking conventional consumption habits through the rediscovery and careful preparation of local foods that are at risk of dying out.
The Art of Not Eating: Cuisine in Early Modern Japan
Eric C. Rath, University of Kansas
Every morning, following a custom that began before the mid‑sixteenth century and lasted until 1869, the emperor sat down to a breakfast he never ate. This breakfast was prepared especially for him by a court purveyor, Kawabata Dōki, hereditary head of a confectionery business in operation since at least 1512. The breakfast, called oasa in the language of the court, was enclosed in three special boxes and hand‑carried through the "Dōki gateway" into the palace by the head of the Kawabata Dōki household. Kawabata Dōki's daily ministrations were so famous that they became a tourist attraction in the Edo period and the story about them was later included in World War II textbooks as an example of popular loyalty to the emperor. Despite this, the emperor never touched his food.
The emperors uneaten breakfast might be considered an odd episode in Japanese history, but it actually speaks to the importance of conspicuous nonconsumption in elite foodways in early modern Japan (1600‑1868). This presentation introduces this and other instances of non‑eating in Japanese foodways to argue that non‑consumption and inedible dishes were the defining features of cuisine in the early modern period.
Vegetarian Self vs. Carnivorous Other: National Consciousness and Discourses on Food Consumption in the Tokugawa Period
Hans Martin Kramer, Harvard University
Historically, food issues have loomed large in the construction of a sense of belonging in groups, even for building a national identity. In Japan, the notion of a distinct entity of "Japanese food" (washoku) even found its way into the lexicon. Differences in consumption patterns have been ignored in order to create this assumed national homogeneity. While the definition of washoku has changed over time, eating meat, particularly that of mammals, has long been regarded as a practice which is not part of the traditional Japanese diet, i.e. falls outside of the perimeter of washoku.
This paper examines how not eating meat was established as a valid representation of `the Japanese' in various writings on food during the early formative period of washoku, i.e. the Tokugawa period (17th‑19th century). By doing so, a better understanding is gained of how representations of dietary practices became part of a discourse of self‑assertion in early modern Japan. Until the 19th century, China used to be the main referent for contrast in the flourishing Japanese national consciousness. Accordingly, the Japanese diet was defined as such in contrast to Chinese food practices.
The structure of defining one's self in contrast to an other has remained constant through the transformation of society, while at the same time the referent has changed from China to the West.
Reifying Rāmen: Gender and Food in Online Communities
Satomi Fukutomi, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
In this online ethnographic work, I pose the following, “What are the gendered aspects of rāmen that can be found in online (non face-to-face) communities?” Rāmen, a Chinese-originated and Japanese localized bowl of soup-noodle, has occupied a space of intersection in Japanese culture since its first popularity flourished in the early 1900s. Since then the popularity of rāmen has increased resulting in ‘communities’ of fans. Today, these fans create or join online rāmen communities not only to discuss and exchange ideas and information, but also to feel a sense of bonding. In this study, I analyze online communities of rāmen fans with a focus on gender to understand the ways in which they reify the food. Because Japanese rāmen became a kind of street food, and later was consumed as a cheap and high caloric food for working class men, it was labeled men’s food. In the past decade, however, rāmen shops have targeted female consumers. Both non face-to-face communities and the growing number of female consumers might have an impact on the reification of rāmen.
Slow – Slower – Slowest: The Slow Food Movement in Japan
Stephanie Assmann, Tohoku University, Japan
The Slow Food Movement originated in Italy in 1986 and became a non-profit organization in 1989 which is presently active in 45 countries. Its members meet in so-called convivia to cook and enjoy culinary specialties together. The aims of the movement are to preserve local foods and wines, to ensure a high quality of food, and to rediscover a refined sense of taste. Slow Food Japan was founded in 1998, and articles about slow food are featured in the magazine Sotokoto, the Japanese version of the Italian Slow Food magazine.
As a backlash against the homogenization of food, slow food is not merely the opposite of fast food. Moreover, slow food has been associated with slow life: The movement articulates a need to reduce the pace of life, and to improve the quality of life through an increased awareness of food.
I will focus on two research questions. 1. I argue that the Slow Food Movement is part of a recent tendency in Japan to preserve unique traditions such as regional food specialties and traditional clothing. Is the movement likely to be only a temporary phenomenon or does it express a deeper need to rethink conventional eating and lifestyle habits?
2. Meanwhile, Japan is dominated by fast food chains, but remains a country with a highly refined food culture that is centered on regional and seasonal foods. How much of a difference can the Slow Food Movement make in a society with such a refined food culture?