Papers by Katarzyna Cwiertka
Consuming Korean Tradition in Early and Late Modernity, 2010
People must eat, even during wartime, preferably three times a day, civilians and soldiers, and o... more People must eat, even during wartime, preferably three times a day, civilians and soldiers, and of course children. How eating happens on and off the battlefield and amid wartime and postwar food storages is the focus of this compelling collection of essays, which also addresses the implications of wartime food practices for the outcome of wars, as well as postwar state building, culture, and society. The book exemplifies the promise of food studies, which the editor boldly states in the following terms: 'We hope to elevate the study of the everyday dimension of wartime from the fringes of scholarship to a position of considerable importance for the understanding of the human past'. In this regard, the book appears to succeed, even while drawing into relief some of the challenges inherent in presenting food, as an exemplar of the everyday, as history. The editor, the most prolific publisher on food in East Asia of the past decade and the field's most visible pioneer, introduces the book with a light touch, and ultimately lets each contribution speak for itself. The exception is a division of the material into two parts, 'Supplying nutrition,' and 'The complexity of eating', which brings into view important 'thematic connections'. These include 'the tension between the state's effort to regulate and distribute the available food supplies and the market forces escaping this control' (p. 5) and 'the link between retaining political power and the ability to feed people with limited resources' (p. 5). Other connections and links among the essays include 'the theme of feeding troops' (p. 6) and the value of personal diaries for reconstructing food history, for food's most meaningful aspects often escape the public documentary record. Among the key terms in play-food, war, mid 20th-century, and East Asia-only war acquires explicit definition within the study, through reference to the notion of 'total war'. Cwiertka rightly notes that the concept lacks 'a definition … that commands general consensus' (p. 3) and yet also rightly insists on its relevance, given the case studies in question, each of which demonstrates the lack of any clear boundary between combatant and non-combatant. The book also points to, in ways left only implicit, a need to think creatively about the other key terms-food, mid 20th-century, and East Asia-which the chapters help us do. East Asia is a productive focus, even if at times we need to break down the units into which scholarship and politics conventionally divide it. The governments of China, Korea, and Japan (and we add the United States
This multidisciplinary book analyses the contradictory coexistence of consumerism and environment... more This multidisciplinary book analyses the contradictory coexistence of consumerism and environmentalism in contemporary Japan. It focuses on the dilemma that the diffusion of the concepts of sustainability and recycling has posed for everyday consumption practices, and on how these concepts have affected, and were affected by, the production and consumption of art. Special attention is paid to the changes in consumption practices and environmental consciousness among the Japanese public that have occurred since the 1990s and in the aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters of March 2011.
Writing Food History, 2013
Japanstudien, 2001
In this paper I will focus on the early history of Meidi-ya, a leading shipping and trading compa... more In this paper I will focus on the early history of Meidi-ya, a leading shipping and trading company in modern Ja pan that specialized in merchandizing luxury Western foods and liquors. Established in 1885, Meidi-ya provided an important means for the spread of Western food culture among the Japanese upper and upper-middle classes, and played a pioneering role in introducing modern promotional strategies to Japanese retailing business. From around the turn of the century, the company expanded its role from that of an importer of foreign products to that of a retailer of domestically produced foods. A few years later, it also became involved in food processing. By entering these new domains, Meidi-ya began to play an increasingly important role in the domestication of Western food in Japan. By analyzing Meidi-ya's marketing strategies, I will elucidate its role in the introduction and popularization of Western food in Japan, and the modernization of Japanese retailing and food processing. However, my aim is not to focus solely and simply on food. By examining changing consumption habits and the various socioeconomic processes involved, I will also discuss the role of enterprises like Meidiya in producing new class identities and status sensibilities in Japan.
A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan
... claiming that a specific geographic site is a cultural and historical origin point, in this c... more ... claiming that a specific geographic site is a cultural and historical origin point, in this case for certain vegetables, is fraught with problems ... food as an important medium for the understanding of the workings of society, but also confirms the importance of food and cuisine in social ...
The Korean Popular Culture Reader, 2013
Food and Foodways, 2005
... For the last 30 years, it has been his foremost ambition to get Europeans acquainted with Jap... more ... For the last 30 years, it has been his foremost ambition to get Europeans acquainted with Japanese cuisine, as well as to provide a home away from home for the resident Japanese citizens in the Netherlands. ... Furusato no aji o motomete: Nikkeijin shakai no shokubunka ...
European Journal of East Asian Studies, 2003
BRILL) announces that at its Annual General Meeting of shareholders (AGM), held today, all propos... more BRILL) announces that at its Annual General Meeting of shareholders (AGM), held today, all proposals were approved. The shareholders' advisory vote on the 2021 Remuneration report (agenda item 3.b) was positive; the shareholders adopted the financial statements for the 2021 financial year (agenda item 3.c) and approved the proposal of an allcash dividend of EUR 0,90 (agenda item 3.d). Record date is 30 May 2022 and dividend payment will be 31 May 2022. The proposals to grant discharge to the members of the Management Board and the Supervisory Board for the 2021 financial year (agenda items 4.a and 4.b) were approved.
IIAS Newsletter
Food assumes strategic significance in wartime, due to its basic role in strengthening the troops... more Food assumes strategic significance in wartime, due to its basic role in strengthening the troops and enabling the productivity of workers, but also in its potential effect on population morale. Hunger can undermine people's trust in their government and threaten public order. Measures implemented in wartime Japan to maximize the efficient use of food resources aimed at both, but their consequences went far beyond their intended goals. Militarization of nutrition in wartime Japan Katarzyna J. Cwiertka 'Zasshi "Rymyt" ni miru kindai nihon no heishoku no hatten: Rikugun to shu to suru dantai suiji no hensen'. KyMdM kenkyT joseikin kenkyT seika hMkokusho. Tokyo: Ajinomoto Shoku no Bunka Center.
Asian Studies Review, 2006
... cooking. The manufacture and storage of chang were for centuries a key concern of women, who ... more ... cooking. The manufacture and storage of chang were for centuries a key concern of women, who were responsible for the production and cooking of food (Cwiertka and Moriya, forthcoming). Two ... 14. Duus, Peter. 1995. The ...
Asian Anthropology, 2002
In this paper, I document the role played by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy in the dietary t... more In this paper, I document the role played by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy in the dietary transformation of modern Japan. I first describe the development of a new, multicultural diet in the Japanese armed forces during the first decades of the twentieth century. Then I identify the trajectory through which this new diet was popularized among the civilian population during the 1930s and the 1940s. Finally, I argue that the postwar transformation of Japanese foodways rested upon the foundation constructed by the diffusion of military dishes and the military's advice on nutrition during the wartime period. "War is probably the single most powerful instrument of dietary change in human experience" (Mintz 1996: 25). Food and War Social scientists generally agree that the ways in which people produce, cook, and consume their food, and the ways in which they perceive their foodways, change over time. As with other cultural transformations, the
Appetite, 1998
This article deals with the transition of Japanese food culture in the late nineteenth and the fi... more This article deals with the transition of Japanese food culture in the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. It explains the three main stages of this transition, namely the adoption of Western haute cuisine by the Japanese élite, the diffusion of Western ingredients, dishes and cookery techniques among the urban middle class, and the popularization of the new Japanese-Western hybrid cuisine by the military. This new cuisine began to acquire the status of culinary "tradition" from the 1950s onwards. Dietary changes in modern Japan were to a large extent a consequence of deliberate policies of the government. In the early stage, Westernization of the élite's diet was regarded as necessary in order to achieve a status of a "civilized" nation. Later, deliberate dietary reforms were undertaken with the aim of improving physical conditions of the population. These deliberate actions were directly influenced by the political circumstances in which Japan found itself in the period discussed.
Handbook of Eating and Drinking, 2020
This chapter outlines the trajectory of change that the packaging of food and drink in Japan unde... more This chapter outlines the trajectory of change that the packaging of food and drink in Japan underwent between the late nineteenth century and the present day. It argues that three developments lie at the root of this transformation: the Westernization of Japanese diet, the growing reliance on mass-produced (semi) processed food, and the shifting landscape of the food retailing. In addition, the impacts of the environmental legislation and the growing labor shortage are also signalled.
The Cultural Politics of Food, Taste, and Identity, 2021
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Papers by Katarzyna Cwiertka