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Professor
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney is a William F. Vilas Research
Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
An expert in the social, cultural, and symbolic anthropology
of Japan, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of 12 books in
English and Japanese, including “Illness and Culture
in Contemporary Japan: An Anthropological View”
(1984), “The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations
in Japanese History and Ritual” (1987), “Rice
as Self: Japanese Identities Through Time” (1993),
and “Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms:
the Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History”
(2002). Professor Ohnuki-Tierney has been awarded the
Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Humanities, and
Japan Foundation fellowships, and is a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1.
Background
2.
Significance of Rice and other Foods in Japan
3.
Concept of Nature and what is Natural in Japanese Foods
4.
Food Safety in Japan
5.
McDonald’s and Changing Table Manners in Japan
6. Globalism and
the Japan/United States Food Market
7. Concluding
Thoughts
Concept
of Nature and what is Natural in Japanese Foods
L: You mention in your book about nature as being culturalized—could
you explain what the concepts of nature and what is
natural as is relates to Japanese cuisine and in particular,
rice? Are these concepts different from the Western
perspective?
OT: I think every nature is culturalized. Except
the Japanese concept of nature doesn’t have the
wild nature. Americans really like wild nature when
in fact it’s not that wild. The Japanese don’t
have an appreciation for wild nature. In the case of
Japanese food, what is really stressed is freshness.
So the food is much more expensive, but at the same
time it’s fresh. In Japan, unlike in America in
which you buy food for the week, you buy on a daily
basis. I mentioned about the unripened fruit in American
supermarkets to some Japanese who were not terribly
wealthy, and they said to me that the Japanese consumers
would never tolerate that. And so if you go to any supermarket
[in Japan] food is very expensive but just gorgeous.
Everyone just buys for the evening, for the day, and
not for the week or month. But this is true in France
too—in Paris people buy food for the day—so
you see many men and women buying bread and other food
items in the late afternoon.
L: What about this concept of nature becoming natural?
For example, how food is manipulated to look natural,
such as fish, prepared in fancy restaurants, is served
a certain way so it still flaps its fins and is presented
as if it were still alive—
OT: Yes, but I think in case of freshness,
the Japanese consumer is much more educated, when it
comes to vegetables, and especially when it comes to
fish. I’m appalled to see browned tuna even in
fairly good stores! The Japanese are trained to look
at the eyes of the fish—so they can tell how fresh
it is.
L: Do you think there is a distinction with other foods
such as Chinese or Korean food?
OT: The distinction between Japanese and other
foods—the Japanese chefs are determined by their
ability to select the best raw materials rather than
their ability to cook. So Chinese and Korean and especially
French food, are all cooked. So that’s an important
distinction.
Next:
Food Safety in Japan
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