Sept. 1 - Intersections of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Cuisines

[cgao]

How did foodways develop through cross-border exchanges within premodern East Asia? 

 

 

Assignments 

• Ken Hom, “Chinese Food Culture: Influences from Within and Without,” The Asia Dialogue (May 5, 2015).
• James Farrer, “Globalizing Asian Cuisines: From Eating for Strength to Culinary Cosmopolitanism-A Long History of Culinary Globalization," in Education about Asia 16 no. 3 (Winter 2011): 33-37. 
• Interview with Q. Edward Wang. 
• Optional: Q. Edward Wang, “‘Bridging’ Food Cultures in the World,” in Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 144-165.

 

 

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[Jennifer Smith]

I was a little unsure of what to expect from the first video (and am a little uncertain of how to draft this first response). I appreciated the definitions of key terms and the inclusion of brief descriptions of some of the dynasties in China. The lecture and readings were also my first encounter with the term "glocalization." I found Farrer's description of the Westernization of Japananese cuisine to be portrayed less negatively than in articles I had read for other NCTA/TEA activities. In general, I was surprised by the number of times that KFC came up in the articles. I wasn't surprised by the number of times McDonalds was mentioned.

I appreciated the explanation of the food commonalities of East Asian cuisine. I hadn't stopped to think about the different types of rice. As I reviewed the information about rice I thought about how examining rice as a plant could be a good classification activity in a middle school science class. Students could examine the life cycle of the plant, explore the plant parts (identifying similarities/differences), the nutritional value of the different types of rice, etc.

I also found the video and article information about chopsticks to be very interesting. Chopsticks could also be used for an interesting science lesson as students explore the structure and function of different types of eating utensils. Students could also create a timeline of different types of eating utensils. My students would be interested in exploring the benefits and drawbacks of reusable versus disposable chopsticks.

[Bin He]

"We eat who we are."  

Just like in our video, we can see the changes in rice, tea, and other foods in different countries, and we can also see that they are affected by other factors (climate, geography). On the other hand, food also changes the trajectory of human activities—for example, the Tea Horse Road in China and Asia. Tea and salt are necessities for people in high-altitude areas, and people will explore a passage for this, even if it is to traverse complex terrain. This ancient tea-horse road has also become a trade channel established artificially in human history because of the demand for food. In history, food is also a symbol of kingship. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the government began to treat salt production as a government-specific industry and prohibited private salt production. To a large extent, the attributes of food have surpassed its material meaning. I think this is why this topic is worthy of our time to study again.

[Amy Stamm]

Bin He and Jennifer, thanks for your thoughts. Your idea that food changes the trajectory of human activities, Bin He, is important. Jennifer, thanks for your great ideas about student projects.

The readings and video pointed to so many ways that food touches other things to create meaning. The author Ken Hom’s point that “the Chinese are neither nationalistic nor xenophobic when it comes to food or techniques” made me think about how terms of insiderness and outsiderness shift as we talk about different aspects of culture and society. It could be a good project to think about what a particular society is xenophobic about and what it isn’t, and consider what those attitudes or fears say about where power derives and flows. At the same time, Q. Edward Wang shows us that the same objects, chopsticks, can indicate cultural sophistication, uncouthness or unhygienic communalism, backwardness, exemplariness, etc. as they meet different interlocutors. Hom’s characterization of different periods in China’s history in terms of their relationships to food and eating habits illustrated how different factors are conceptually brought together during different periods to create new possibilities. For example, he wrote about the Tang Dynasty as a period less of innovation than of “consolidation and integration of new foods into the culinary tradition,” and the work during the Song Dynasty to crystalize “Chinese cuisine” into its distinctive form. This is an interesting way of thinking about the lurch and chug of incorporating indigenous and foreign ingredients into food preparation and eating practices because it calls attention to the specific processes by which countries make use of new ingredients and, through practice, repetition, innovation, and recombination, form what become new dishes that take a central place within a given cuisine. Catherine Gao adds to this framework by describing the larger technological, political, and cultural developments of different dynasties in China, and how these developments asserted influences on the food, foods, and foodways that grew to prominence during different periods. Connected to these developments, Horn argued that ceating a national cuisine requires “applying a well—defined set of attitudes about food and its place in society to an abundant and varied supply of ingredients.” Asking students to draw a connection between what is considered a national cuisine and the set of attitudes that define it would point to some interesting revelations. Another interesting intersection that Hom points out is class – how Chinese national cuisine became defined along class lines, aligned with the elite classes who had access to a much wider variety of ingredients than the laboring classes. This seems to also point to the incorporation of foreign ingredients and influences into the cuisine, as elites would have been much more likely to travel and trade.

 

[Angela Lee]

I really appreciated this week's lecture and readings in terms of setting the stage for our understanding of the East Asian food cultures. I was struck by the commonalities of the food cultures across China, Korea and Japan, though not surprised knowing the geographic proximity of the 3 countries, and the trading ties that bound them together.  What didn't occur to me was the commonality of how they adopted foods that were not indigenous to the region, such as chilis for pickling and making spices, which is originally from South America.  I am surprised at how much a part of it became part of food cultures, in places like Sichuan, where we would not have Sichuan spicy cuisine without the interactions that provided the hot peppers to the region in the first place! 

This would be a mutual exchange though, especially in the area of rice, where I think of all the places that have rice embedded into their food pathways when the connection is only a few hundred years ago.  For example, the rice and bean dishes of the Caribbean, made possible by the rice that was brought to the Americas from Afroeurasia when the globe was connected in the 1500s.  If we look at food commodity exchanges, then we can argue that globalization came much earlier than the 20th century.  

 

[Gabriel Valdez]

Part of this got me on previously explored tangents in particular the origiations of noodles https://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/uncover-the-history-of-pasta/ , https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/4-000-year-old-noodles-found-in-china and more recently the debate in Korea/China over https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20201217-how-kimchi-rekindled-a-decades-long-feud#:~:text=%22The%20biggest%20difference%20is%20that,it%20in%20its%20natural%20juices.&text=You%20have%20pickling%20and%20fermentation%20everywhere. One of the issues that we discuss over the year is trade/diffusion and in thinking about the two events that everyone refers to Columbian Exchange/Silk Roads as well as migration etc. I have used two of the videos that you included in my own class along with similar Ted Ed videos and other food related videos. 

[Ellen Davis]

It is amazing to see the various commonalities in regards to food culture across Asian cuisines, and the food exchange that has happened across the world. From rice (so many different kinds) to noodles (can be made with so many kinds of flours) to proteins to various vegetables and fruits to tea, I love to see so many things pop up in different parts of the world.

The concept of "glocalization" is also intriguing. A social studies/history teacher, I am particularly interested in tracing history across cultures, and culture across history. In "Globalizing Asian Cuisines," James Farrer writes that food globalization has been happening since ancient times, sometimes at a slow pace, and in some eras, at a much more rapid pace. Japan is an interesting example. After being impressed with western military practices, Japan's leadership sought to change the military diet in order to create western-style soldiers. While I was familiar with Japan's western military interest, I was unaware of the interest in dietary changes. Aside from exploration and colonization, there are other reasons for glocalization, a concept I hadn't fully considered previously.

[Julie Wakefield]

Thank you for this great introduction to many of the cultural foods from that region that are also popular here. I hope, come this spring, to have a tea ceremony or at least a tea tasting in class! 🙂  So, I am definitely interested in looking more into the different types of and diffusion of tea, chopsticks, and rice. I think these are topics the students could really get interested in. I remember from having visited China, Japan and South Korea that the discussion of who has the best rice is real (as the kids would say!). There are very strong opinions! I look for to learning more.

[Bill Hilt]

As a social studies teacher, I often highlight the concept of adoption and adaptation.  I teach relatively young students (5th and 6th grade,) so for many, they are only begining to think in such terms.  Food is such a great way to scaffold this concept becuse so many can relate in some way to cuisine.  They will be amazed to hear, as was presented in the video, there are over 500 different kinds of noodles, and tea was being used (eaten) in China 1,500 years before the pharoes were ruling in Egypt.  I think it will be fun to unwind some of the paths of influence various foods had while trveling over the silk routes.

I really liked what Ken Hom wrote about the "weaving back and forth...of the Chinese cuisine."  I like that metaphore for all the different ways food has influenced various peoples.  He went on to explain that the "Chinese are niether nationalistic nor xenophobic when it comes to food or techniques."  I believe this is a great benefit to all.

I would like to explore the 7 necessities with my students, and ask them if their list would contain similar items, and what may be different in their families and cultures.   

[Amy Stamm]

Bill, I like the framework of adoption and adaptation that you use to talk about this subject and the "weaving back and forth...of the Chinese cuisine" that you quote from Ken Horn. Our discussion last night illustrated how widely creative cross-cultural collaborations, and the results of immigration and immersion in dual countries can be when it comes to expanding food possibilities, like some of the restaurants some of you have worked or eaten in. I just read a review of a new restaurant in New York City called Kjun, which is a Korean-Cajun fusion restaurant. The founder is Korean and lived in New Orleans for several years, apprenticing in some prominant Cajun restaurants, and then set out to incorporate Cajun spices and preparations into Korean dishes and vice versa. I think that food is a great curricular topic for students because there are multiple entry points that create inclusion: the sensory experience, family history (and family history as tied to wider historical trends and contexts), global politics, environmental issues, etc. For example, Bill, I love the idea of your map of candy wrappers because it connects students with the pure fun of eating, the diversity of visual design across the globe, and geography. In terms of possible student projects, I was thinking about looking at trade tariffs' effects on the movement of food between the U.S. and China, say. Another idea I've been thinking about is having students looked at energy/global warming issues tied to importing and exporting specific foods. For example, we could look at rice or soybeans. Another idea I was thinking about was having students analyze some of the humor and cultural references in one of the Uncle Roger videos, which I think would be such a fun way to develop critical thinking skills in terms of creating a narrative film. Anyway, it was wonderful to meet you all last night and to hear your perspectives on some of these topics.

[Amy Stamm]

Hi everyone,

I found a link that seems perfect for this class: https://foodtank.com/news/2021/08/asian-pacific-islander-voices-books-on-food-and-culture/?vgo_ee=B%2F0G5e9jpcXu8yRyJmT5E2OydrNu0IfTHp%2FZjmnKcNs%3D

It is an annotated bibliography of 15 books about Asian Pacific Islanders and food. I could see a fun student project in which students would choose one of the books to review and then present their reviews to the rest of the class. They would have to used text-based evidence to show how the author has expanded their understanding of a particular piece of culinary or cultural history. If a class had more time, students could then choose a second book to read based on these presentations.

 

[Jennifer Smith]

In our meeting on Wednesday we discussed posting a picture of East Asian cuisine. I am not much of a photographer, but this weekend my children and I had steak bulgogi. 

 

Jennifer

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[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

Amy, that looks like a great website. I am not familir with all the books, but the ones I do know are well written. And your project sounds great -- maybe allowing for individual chapters would make the assignemnt more doable for some students.

[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

Jennifer, yum! Did you follow a recipe or improvise? And what kind of noodles did you use? 

[Jennifer Smith]

I followed a recipe and used udon noodles. 

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