Food and Cultural Identity

Anthropology of Food ANTH 2301 Food and Cultural Identity Maybe more than any other tradition, food crosses cultural boundaries more frequently and effortlessly. Food may occasionally be associated with specific culinary customs, like using chopsticks, or it might blend with already-existing culinary traditions to create new syncretic cuisines, like Tex-Mex cuisine, which originated from a fusion of Mexican and US Southwest culinary traditions. Similar to culture, food is exchanged within and across groups and changes with the times and environments. Food is flexible, but it is also closely associated with people's cultural identities, or how they identify and set themselves apart from other groups of people. The phrase "cuisine" refers to certain cultural customs of producing, eating, and consuming food as part of various cultural identities. The components of cuisine that are most closely associated with an individual's identity tend to change more slowly across all settings, even if urban regions tend to move and adapt food more regularly than rural places. Cultural anthropologist and Japanese academic Emiko Ohnuki Tierney (1993, 1995) investigates how rice is constructed socioculturally as a prominent symbol for the Japanese people in her studies on Japanese cuisine and identity. Ohnuki-Tierney explores the lengthy history of rice farming in Japan using evidence from governmental decrees, taxation papers, myths, rituals, woodblock prints, and poetry. Rice cultivation was first introduced from China during the Yamato era (250–710 CE). The Japanese farmed short-grain rice because they believed it to be the only pure kind of rice, while the Chinese favoured long-grain rice. In an attempt to set themselves apart from the Chinese, who likewise depended heavily on rice for sustenance, a number of beliefs linking short-grain rice to Japanese gods surfaced at this time in folktales and historical records. There are significant ties between Japanese land, Japanese short-grain rice, and the wealthy landowners of Japan. Over time, rice became a staple crop that the landowners used to pay taxes on. Agricultural life in Japan diminished by the early modern era (1603–1868) as the country grew more urbanised and subsequently industrialised. When people started living in cities instead of on the farm, rice started to have new connotations. A long-standing cultural memory that continuously linked being Japanese to consuming native Japanese rice made rice an increasingly hallowed emblem of Japanese identity. This was indicative of a cultural identity well ingrained in national history. The Japanese continued to utilise rice as a symbol for national identity when they opened up to trade with Western countries. They called themselves "rice-eaters," while referring to Westerners as "meat-eaters." Japan has prohibited the importation of any rice cultivated outside of the country for many years. This includes California export rice, which is mainly Japanese short-grain rice and costs a lot less. Japan experienced an unusually cold and rainy growing season in 1993, which resulted in a low-yielding rice crop. Through trade negotiations, US rice exporters were able to get Japan's approval for a limited amount of rice shipments. However, the majority of this rice was left unopened in storage. Japanese consumers claimed that it tasted bad and was full of contaminants. Japanese people now only eat roughly 160 grammes of rice a day on average, which is half of what they did forty years ago (Coleman 2017). They still have a strong cultural and symbolic bond with local Japanese rice, though. Even though it is now more often a minor side dish in a more varied meal, Japanese short-grain rice is still referred to as shushoku, "the main dish" (OhnukiTierney 1993, 16). Ohnuki-Tierney observes that rice is especially significant to the Japanese feeling of community: rice and rice products are essential to commensal activities in both daily Japanese life and ritual occasions. Every day, cooked white rice is served to the ancestral alcove of the family. Additionally, the female leader of the home serves rice as the sole item that is shared during meals; all other foods are provided in separate containers. As in the usual statement, "to eat from the same rice-cooking pan," which implies a strong sense of camaraderie emerging from sharing meals, rice stands for "we," i.e., whichever social group one belongs to. (1995, 229) The Japanese continue to have a strong cultural connection to rice, despite the fact that the meaning of rice has changed over time—from a comparison of short-grain Japanese and long-grain Chinese rice to a means of differentiating rice-eating Japanese from meat-eating Westerners, and finally to a gauge of the quality of rice grown in Japan against inferior imported rice. Eating Japanese rice nowadays is part of being Japanese. In Western civilizations, the connection between cuisine and cultural identity is easily observed. Aisles labelled "international foods" or "ethnic foods" are found in most grocery stores, and neighbourhoods in big cities frequently have a collection of eateries offering a variety of cuisines. The Adams Morgan neighbourhood of Washington, DC, is wellknown for its many dining options. The aromas of Vietnamese lemongrass beef soup (bún bò hu?) and Ethiopia's injera, a sour, fermented flatbread, would tempt someone strolling along the street. Consider the towns and cities that are close by. Where do you go to sample new delicacies and cuisines from across the world?