Cuisines in Japan have an ideological dimension that cannot be ignored. In 2013, ‘traditional Japanese dietary cultures’ (washoku) was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Washoku’s predecessor was “national people’s cuisine,” an attempt during World War II to create a uniform diet for all citizens. Japan’s Cuisines reveals the great diversity of Japanese cuisine and explains how Japan’s modern food culture arose through the direction of private and public institutions. Readers discover how tea came to be portrayed as the origin of Japanese cuisine, how lunch became a gourmet meal, and how regions on Japan’s periphery are reasserting their distinct food cultures. From wartime foodstuffs to modern diets, this fascinating book shows how the cuisine from the land of the rising sun shapes national, local, and personal identity.
Americans are familiarizing themselves with Japanese food, thanks especially sushi's wild popularity and ready availability. This timely book satisfies the new interest and taste for Japanese food, providing a host of knowledge on the foodstuffs, cooking styles, utensils, aesthetics, meals, etiquette, nutrition, and much more. Students and general readers are offered a holistic framing of the food in historical and cultural contexts. Recipes for both the novice and sophisticated cook complement the narrative. Japan's unique attitude toward food extends from the religious to the seasonal. This book offers a contextual framework for the Japanese food culture and relates Japan's history and geography to food. An exhaustive description of ingredients, beverages, sweets, and food sources is a boon to anyone exploring Japanese cuisine in the kitchen. The Japanese style of cooking, typical meals, holiday fare, and rituals—so different from Americans'—are engagingly presented and accessible to a wide audience. A timeline, glossary, resource guide, and illustrations make this a one-stop reference for Japanese food culture.
Itadakimasu! The Food Culture of Japan is designed as a first- or second-year college course in Japanese culture for students who have little to no background in the Japanese language, culture, literature, or history. Unlike any other culture text, Itadakimasu! offers a unique approach to learning about culture through a country’s cuisine. This account takes students on an exciting journey into the world of Japanese food culture, both past and present, exploring themes such as regional specialties, annual festivals, traditional foodways, prominent tea masters, culinary expressions, restaurant menus, dining etiquette, mealtime customs, and culinary aesthetics. Itadakimasu! also addresses current events in the food industry and agribusiness, health and nutrition, dieting trends, fast food, and international and Western influences. Enhancing this wealth of cultural material are autobiographical essays written by guest contributors and varied literary excerpts featuring food themes across different genres in literature spanning many centuries. Each of the readings is supplemented by general comprehension questions followed by more probing queries calling on critical and analytical thinking to methodically guide students from a cursory understanding of a new culture to reflections on their own experiences and other world cultures. Resources also highlight food-centric films so that students can witness what they are learning about in an authentic cultural context. Furthermore, teachers and students alike can enjoy food tasting labs in the classroom, fostering yet another authentic experience for the students. With the intention of reaching a broad audience of students majoring or minoring in Japanese or Asian Studies, or students learning English as a Foreign Language or English for Specific Purposes, Itadakimasu! could also be useful for composition and conversation courses and the Writing Across the Curriculum series or as a supplement for 'Four Skills' Japanese language courses and introductory Japanese literature offerings. Above all, its multifaceted design with a broad spectrum of self-contained sections welcomes individual teaching styles and preferences. Itadakimasu! paints an appetizing image of Japan’s society with just a dash of culture, a pinch of language, and a taste of literature to tempt the palate of students new to the study of Japan. Meant to enhance the regular curriculum, this innovative approach to learning about Japan suggests that the culinary world can lend an insightful view into a country’s culture. Historical and contemporary foodways are universal elements common to all cultures, making the subject matter inherently relatable.
Finalist for the 2016 IACP Awards: Literary Food Writing An innovative new take on the travel guide, Rice, Noodle, Fish decodes Japan's extraordinary food culture through a mix of in-depth narrative and insider advice, along with 195 color photographs. In this 5000-mile journey through the noodle shops, tempura temples, and teahouses of Japan, Matt Goulding, co-creator of the enormously popular Eat This, Not That! book series, navigates the intersection between food, history, and culture, creating one of the most ambitious and complete books ever written about Japanese culinary culture from the Western perspective. Written in the same evocative voice that drives the award-winning magazine Roads & Kingdoms, Rice, Noodle, Fish explores Japan's most intriguing culinary disciplines in seven key regions, from the kaiseki tradition of Kyoto and the sushi masters of Tokyo to the street food of Osaka and the ramen culture of Fukuoka. You won't find hotel recommendations or bus schedules; you will find a brilliant narrative that interweaves immersive food journalism with intimate portraits of the cities and the people who shape Japan's food culture. This is not your typical guidebook. Rice, Noodle, Fish is a rare blend of inspiration and information, perfect for the intrepid and armchair traveler alike. Combining literary storytelling, indispensable insider information, and world-class design and photography, the end result is the first ever guidebook for the new age of culinary tourism.
In 1975,Gourmet magazine published a series on traditional Japanese food —the first of its kind in a major American food magazine — written by a graduate of the prestigious Yanagihara School of classical cuisine in Tokyo. Today, the author of that groundbreaking series, Elizabeth Andoh, is recognized as the leading English-language authority on the subject. She shares her knowledge and passion for the food culture of Japan in WASHOKU, an authoritative, deeply personal tribute to one of the world's most distinctive culinary traditions. Andoh begins by setting forth the ethos of washoku (traditional Japanese food), exploring its nuanced approach to balancing flavor, applying technique, and considering aesthetics hand-in-hand with nutrition. With detailed descriptions of ingredients complemented by stunning full-color photography, the book's comprehensive chapter on the Japanese pantry is practically a book unto itself. The recipes for soups, rice dishes and noodles, meat and poultry, seafood, and desserts are models of clarity and precision, and the rich cultural context and practical notes that Andoh provides help readers master the rhythm and flow of the washoku kitchen. Much more than just a collection of recipes, WASHOKU is a journey through a cuisine that is rich in history and as handsome as it is healthful. Awards2006 IACP Award WinnerReviews“This extensive volume is clearly intended for the cook serious about Japanese food.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune“. . . scholarly, yet inspirational . . . a foodie might just sit back and read for sheer enjoyment and edification.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Branding Japanese Food is the first book in English on the use of food for the purpose of place branding in Japan. At the center of the narrative is the 2013 inscription of “Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year” on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The authors challenge the very definition of washoku as it was presented in the UNESCO nomination, and expose the multitude of contradictions and falsehoods used in the promotion of Japanese cuisine as part of the nation-branding agenda. Cwiertka and Yasuhara argue further that the manipulation of historical facts in the case of washoku is actually a continuation of similar practices employed for centuries in the branding of foods as iconic markers of tourist attractions. They draw parallels with gastronomic meibutsu (famous products) and edible omiyage (souvenirs), which since the early modern period have been persistently marketed through questionable connections with historical personages and events. Today, meibutsu and omiyage play a central role in the travel experience in Japan and comprise a major category in the practices of gift exchange. Few seem to mind that the stories surrounding these foods are hardly ever factual, despite the fact that the stories, rather than the food itself, constitute the primary attraction. The practice itself is derived from the intellectual exercise of evoking specific associations and sentiments by referring to imaginary landscapes, known as utamakura or meisho. At first restricted to poetry, this exercise was expanded to the visual arts, and by the early modern period familiarity with specific locations and the culinary associations they evoked had become a fixed component of public collective knowledge. The construction of the myths of meibutsu, omiyage, and washoku as described in this book not only enriches the understanding of Japanese culinary culture, but also highlights the dangers of tweaking history for branding purposes, and the even greater danger posed by historians remaining silent in the face of this irreversible reshaping of the past into a consumable product for public enjoyment.
Presents a collection of Japanese recipes; discusses the ingredients, techniques, and equipment required for home cooking; and relates the author's experiences living on a farm in Japan for the past twenty-three years.
The complete companion to Japanese culinary culture Whether it's rubbing your chopsticks together, handing money to a sushi chef or setting your foot directly on the floor when removing your shoes, we'll tell you exactly what not to do to avoid looking like an ignorant tourist. Brush up on restaurant etiquette, local customs and what ingredients to expect in Lonely Planet's Eat Japan. To help you feel prepared for the Japanese food scene we'll cover how, when and where to eat, etiquette dos and don'ts, and what classic regional specialties are a must try. You'll find the best places to eat in every region as well as what to order when you're there and how to eat it. If you are looking for an authentic and immersive foodie experience but don't know where to start, Eat Japan is your answer. In-depth background on local food and traditions Practical info on popular food neighborhoods The visually appealing layout will help first-time food lovers get the most from their trip About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You'll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, eBooks, and more.
This study is an unique approach to social and cultural history of Japan through the scope of food and food ways. In this book-length study of food markets in the early modern Japanese capital of Edo, Akira Shimizu draws a fascinating picture of early modern Japanese society where specialty foods—seasonal, regional, and hard-to-find delicacies that satisfied the palate of nation’s highest political authority, the shogun—served as a powerful nexus that connected different social groups. In the course of their daily lives, peasants, fisherfolks, and merchants, who made specialty food available at the market, were in constant negotiation with powerful wholesalers and government authorities in charge of procuring specialty foods of the highest qualities for the shogun’s Edo Castle. Utilizing a number of previously unused archival materials that reveals the lives of those at the bottom of the society, the book traces the production, supply, and handling of specialty foods and shows how ordinary people were empowered to assume control over the distribution of specialty food, eventually affecting their procurement for the shogunal kitchen. In doing so, they disrupted the existing market order on the shogunal requisition, and led to the reconfiguration of market relations.
