American vs. Japanese Food Customs   Term Paper ID:37729 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: This paper discusses the differences between American and Japanese food-related customs emphasizing fast food ...... More...

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Paper Abstract: This paper discusses the differences between American and Japanese food-related customs, emphasizing fast food, slow food, community, and respect. The special relationship of food to a culture. Paper Introduction: American vs Japanese Food Customs Few things are more intimate or more telling than a culture\'srelationship with food Not only does the food people eat affect the waythey think of themselves and others as Braudel points out theEuropeans have the saying Tell me what you eat and I will tell you whoyou are Ohnuki-Tierney Parry notes A man is what he eats Not only is his bodily substance created out of food but so is his moraldisposition Ohnuki-Tierney A country\'s food and Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Not only does the food people eat affect the waythey think of themselves and others, as Braudel (1973) points out, theEuropeans have the saying "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you whoyou are" (Ohnuki-Tierney 3). Thecross-cultural differences between Japanese and American foods and food-related customs provide an interesting comparison, particularly since thetwo cultures have adopted some measure of each other's food-relatedcustoms. A country's food and eating customs arean integral part of its culture that enable its people to maintain theircommunity; conveying respect for the foods and food traditions of a countryis as essential as respecting the people's religion, ethnicity, or anyother aspect of their culture. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5 11261135Hume, Nancy G. ReferencesBeck, Ulrich; Sznaider, Natan; Winter, Rainer. Traphagan and Brown identify the hidden attraction of fastfood restaurants: Indeed, eating and social patterns within such establishments suggest that they provide opportunities for intergenerational commensality, conviviality, and intimacy that are less evident in some of the traditional Japanese fast-food establishments, where snacks and meals likewise are quickly served and quickly consumed (119)Interestingly, however, this shift does not indicate an adoption ofAmerican values or Westernization but instead signals the strength of "sucheating venues...used in ways that are consistent with patterns longestablished in Japanese culture" (Traphagan & Brown, 119). Another hallmark of American fast food is the super-size mentality; portions are much larger than in the past and arecontributing to weight gain and health problems in Americans (BritishMedical Association). http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1 2496785Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. "You Are What You Eat: The Social Economy of the Slow Food Movement." Review of the Social Economy, 62.3, 2 4: 3 7+. An analysis of theircultures with regard to food demonstrates how meaningful food is inidentifying the character of a people and how differences in food culturemust be bridged with sensitivity, as they represent a people's culturalidentity. American vs. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993. The answer does not liein the quality of the food itself but in the food culture that itrepresents. Global America? "When Minerva eats out in America, she usually takes most of the meal home with her in a 'doggy bag.'" Student BMJ, April 2 3: 13 . Slow food establishmentssuch as local establishments similar to the Italian trattoria or Frenchbistros perform an important cultural function; they represent a venuewhere people of all classes can mingle and interact in the context ofeating-bringing them together into community and mutual respect while stillpreserving their distinctions (Pietrykowski 3 7). Spices are rarely used in Japanese food,and the juxtaposition of "barely perceptible" flavors is the keynote,rather than the heavy, "in your face" flavors popular in American foods(Hume 37). As the food cultures ofJapan and America continue to meet and interact, elements of each will becommunicated to the other; this is the essence of cultural exchange, andthe end result is a sharing of cultural esthetics and a deeperunderstanding of the context of food in each culture. Specific foods and drinks arerepresentative of national identity and often relate to some aspect of thelocal geography (Pietrykowski 3 7), just as grapes for true champagne canonly be grown in the Champagne province of France. Schlosser exposes the decline of the American diet andshows how its influence has altered the much more healthful traditionalJapanese diet of rice, fish, vegetables, and soy products, as McDonald'sand other fast food franchises have opened in Japan (242). Japanese still eat their vegetables, poultry, fish, and freshfruit. Keith. The Cultural Consequences of Globalization. The slow foodmovement is not simply interested in slowing down the pace of foodconsumption but in preserving the ethnicity, regional affiliation, andvalues that it communicates (Pietrykowski 3 7). Rice as Self: Japanese Identities through Time. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2 2.Traphagan John W.; Brown, L. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995. Food does nourish, but according to Fischler (1988), "italso signifies" (Pietrykowski 3 7). The advent of a new food paradigm-"slow food"-promises to shiftAmerican food culture into a new direction. In his now-famous book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser explains how the fast food paradigm arose inAmerica from its humble beginnings with Carl Karcher's hot dog cart tobecome a food culture centered around the car-McDonald's and other drive-ins included (15). Parry (1985) notes, "A man is what he eats.Not only is his bodily substance created out of food, but so is his moraldisposition" (Ohnuki-Tierney 3). These differences also suggest cultural differences, since theJapanese favor simplicity in art, design, and other areas of their lives,while the American lifestyle and consumer preferences have evolved togreater complexity. Debevec, Liza. As Marianne Lien points out, a study of "'the social life of food' asit moves across geographical and symbolic boundaries" emphasizes theability of food to "make connections," and it is these connections thatrender the culture of food significant in engendering community and respect(Debevec 618). Slow food is the antithesis offast food such as that from McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and otherfranchises that are now common both in America and Japan. Americans most often use drive-thru windows andeat in their cars, or-if they do eat inside the restaurant-eat rapidly,often taking home the remainder of their meal in a "doggy bag" (BritishMedical Association). Furthermore, "People have a strongattachment to their own cuisine and, conversely, an aversion to thefoodways of others, including their table manners" (Ohnuki-Tierney 3). "Fast food and intergenerational commensality in Japan: new styles and old patterns." Ethnology, 41.2, Spring 2 2: 119-134. Japanese food-andculture in general-demonstrates a preference for simplicity that is lackingin American cuisine and culture. Japanese Aesthetics and Culture: A Reader. "The Politics of Food." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 11.3, 2 5: 618+. Analysis of Japanese and American food cultures have much to do, then,with how they view themselves and how they interact; it is not all justabout the food itself. Liverpool, England: Liverpool University Press, 2 3. Americans, by contrast, eat huge quantities of fast food, but not inthe same manner as the Japanese, who use the experience to achievecamaraderie and community. Japanese Food Customs Few things are more intimate or more telling than a culture'srelationship with food. http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC- Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T 2&prodId=IPS&docId=A99373838&source=ga le&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=uphoenixcustom&version=1. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1 173 927British Medical Association. Ohnuki-Tierney explains that "A people's cuisine, or a particularfood, often marks the boundary between the collective self and the other,for example, as a basis of discrimination against other peoples," and thisis certainly the case between Japan and America (3). Whereas the Japanesetraditionally favor food that has been crafted to achieve perfection inform and flavor, Americans will eat mass-produced "food" that is so full offlavor enhancers, stabilizers, and highly processed ingredients that it isdevoid of actual nutritive value and virtually indistinguishable fromplastic. http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC- Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T 2&prodId=IPS&docId=A9345749 &source=ga le&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=uphoenixcustom&version=1. In fact, "The syncretic nature of Japanese culturerests less on a concept of overall unity or one rooted in an underlyingobjective reality, as in the West, than on harmony and form but in such away that the relation between the elements is more important than a clear-cut identity" (Beck, Sznaider, & Winter 114). http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1 1491126Pietrykowski, Bruce. Why would theJapanese be willing to forsake their traditional diet of raw, largelynatural and unprocessed foods for one that is mass-produced, eminentlyunhealthful, and anything but fresh and natural? A marked difference between Japanese food and American food exists inthe disparity between their levels of complexity. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5 76 795Schlosser, Eric. While "The taste of natural ingredients, not tamperedwith by sauces, is the ideal of Japanese cuisine; and the fineness of aman's palate is often tested by his ability to distinguish betweenvirtually tasteless dishes of the same species," in America the flavors aredeliberately made quite distinctive (Hume 37). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.