Japanese Foodways

3.00 credits · Undergraduate

This course examines the historical origins, geographical evolution, and glocalization of contemporary Japanese cuisine around the world. Student learning is organized around lectures, discussions, experiential exercises, and events. This course draws on interdisciplinary perspectives to explore the uniquely Japanese cultural relationship between food and its representation in media. Students learn about the role of the state in shaping these foodways, the culture of craftsmanship in the culinary sphere, the supply chains that allow Japan to import a majority of its food, as well as their ecological limits of this demand, the pathways that have spread sushi, ramen, izakaya, and teppanyaki culture around the world, and the subsequent questions of authenticity that emerge in these global spaces. (Format: Lecture 3 hour) (Exclusion: GENV 1991 Japanese Foodways).