Spanning nearly six hundred years of Japanese food culture, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present considers the production, consumption, and circulation of Japanese foods from the mid-fifteenth century to the present day in contexts that are political, economic, cultural, social, and religious. Diverse contributors--including anthropologists, historians, sociologists, a tea master, and a chef--address a range of issues such as medieval banquet cuisine, the tea ceremony, table manners, cookbooks in modern times, food during the U.S. occupation period, eating and dining out during wartimes, the role of heirloom vegetables in the revitalization of rural areas, children's lunches, and the gentrification of blue-collar foods. Framed by two reoccurring themes--food in relation to place and food in relation to status--the collection considers the complicated relationships between the globalization of foodways and the integrity of national identity through eating habits. Focusing on the consumption of Western foods, heirloom foods, once-taboo foods, and contemporary Japanese cuisines, Japanese Foodways, Past and Present shows how Japanese concerns for and consumption of food has relevance and resonance with other foodways around the world. Contributors are Stephanie Assmann, Gary Soka Cadwallader, Katarzyna Cwiertka, Satomi Fukutomi, Shoko Higashiyotsuyanagi, Joseph R. Justice, Michael Kinski, Barak Kushner, Bridget Love, Joji Nozawa, Tomoko Onabe, Eric C. Rath, Akira Shimizu, George Solt, David E. Wells, and Miho Yasuhara.

Table of Contents:
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS   vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS   ix INTRODUCTION   1 Eric C. Rath and Stephanie Assmann PART 1   Early Modern Japan 1 Honzen Dining: The Poetry of Formal Meals in Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan   19 ERIC C. RATH 2 "How to Eat the Ten Thousand Things": Table Manners in the Edo Period   42 MICHAEL KINSKI 3. "Stones for the Belly": Kaiseki Cuisine for Tea during the Early Edo Period   68 GARY SOKA CADWALLADER AND JOSEPH R. JUSTICE 4 Meat-eating in the Kojimachi District of Edo   92 AKIRA SHIMIZU 5 Wine-drinking Culture in Seventeeth-century Japan: The Role of Dutch Merchants   108 JOJI NOZAWA PART II   Modern Japan 6  The History of Domestic Cookbooks in Modern Japan   129 SHOKO HIGASHIYOTSU YANAGI 7 Imperial Cuisines in Taisho Foodways   145 BARAK KUSHNER 8 Beyond HUnger: Grocery Shopping, Cooking, and Eating in 1940s Japan   166 KATARZYNA CWIERTKA AND MIHO YASUHARA 9 Ramen and U.S. Occupation Policy   186 GEORGE SOLT 10 Bento: Boxed Love, Eaten by the Eye   201 TOMOKO ONABE PART III Contemporary Japan 11 Mountain Vegetables and the Politics of Local Flavor in Japan   221 BRIDGET LOVE 12 Reinventing Culinary Heritage in Northern Japan: Slow Food and Traditional Vegetables   243 STEPHANIE ASSMANN 13 Ramen Connoisseurs: Class, Gender, and the Internet   257 SATOMI FUKUTOMI 14 Irretrievably in Love with Japanese Cuisine   275 DAVID E. WELLS CONTRIBUTORS   285 INDEX   289 List of Illustrations 1 A three-tray honezen meal from Ryori kondateshu   22 2 Snipe in (eggplant) jars from Shichi no zen jukyu kon no maki   32 3 A supervisory housewife and a servant from Shiroto ryori nenju sozai no shikata zen   135 4 An old housewife and two servants from Sozai ryori no okeiko   137 5 A young housewife in a kitchen from Katei yoshoku ryoriho   139 6 A housewife and maid discussing kitchen tasks from Renovating Kitchens   151 7 Members of a neighborhood farm group preparing steamed buns   222 8 Local female farmers work part-time at company headquarters   230 9 A female farmers' group from Yuda's Makino district   232 10 The three basic types of Japanese knives   276 11 Cutting a carrot into a plum blossom   277 12 Peeling daikon   278 13 Tempura   283