Anotated Bibliography

Sushi Migration: a look on the migration and evolution of sushi in interbreeding cultures

HUMN 309 Cross Cultural Design

Charlotte Chia-Ying Lee

Abstract:

Sushi, a popular Japanese cuisine over the world, is a result of food migration, and it is still evolving itself within Japanese culture. However, the more profound fact is its evolution outside of Japan, such as in North American. The myth (a type of speech according to Roland Bathers) of sushi not only explains the influences of globalization on Japanese cuisine, and the migration of sushi also suggests its easy-adoptability and ever-evolving nature. To serve as a support of Marshall McLuhan’s theory, this research will focus on three aspects. Starting with digging in to the history of sushi, of its traces back to the fourth century in China and then was adopted by the Japanese during the ninth century, and also includes its evolvement in North America in the 1900s. Second, the migration of such a food has been highly affected by globalization. I will explain further by using examples of fish trade (Bluefin tuna) and co-operated fisheries between the Japanese and the Europeans in recent years, and how this phenomenon ties to the evolvement of sushi in Japan. Third, discuss the concern of lost identity in sushi as a Japanese motif. With all these, we will have a clear understanding that Japanese sushi is itself a product of food migration, and enable us to foresee the possible future of unified food culture.

Annotated Bibliography:

Carroll, Walter. “Sushi: Globalization through Food Culture: Towards a Study of Global Food Network.” Kansai University Institutional Repository, 31 Mar. 2009. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.< http://www.icis.kansai-u.ac.jp/data/journal02-v1/31_Carroll.pdf >

Walter F. Carroll is a professor of sociology at Bridgewater State College. As an urban sociologist, Carroll’s interest of practices ranges form race, ethnicity, and diversity to the more recent focus of urban inequality, among Japanese cities. In this bibliography of his research paper, Carroll based his research on sushi, which originated from Japan, to analyze globalization through food culture. He briefly explained the slow acceptance of “raw fish” with the Americans and the economic influence over the food market. The most interesting part in his bibliography, though, is the quote he used from Bestor, which they (the Bestors) “discover[ed] – to [their] surprise – that some of the fresh seafood before [their] eyes was from the United States, Canada, or Southeast Asia (Carroll 452).” This adds a whole other level to the migration of food, which will be something worth analyzing in further studies.

Bestor, Theodore. “How Sushi Went Global.” Foreign Policy. November/December. 2000: 54-63. Print.

Theodore C. Bestor is a professor of anthropology and Japanese Studies at Harvard University, and has written widely on the culture and society of Japan. In this article, Bestor tied the global fish trade of Bluefin tuna with the migration of sushi. He pointed out that “North Americans tend to think of cultural influence as flowing from West to East…Japanese cultural motifs and materials…have increasingly saturated North American and indeed the entire world’s consumption and popular culture (Bestor 56).” Sushi, for sure, is one of the most recognizable cultural motifs of Japan. Tuna sashimi has become popular because it was seen as healthy and fresh, and the red tuna meat on white rice is like the symbol of the Japanese flag, which clearly defines its identity. However, it is important to note that Japan has no local tuna resource. Each year, the Japanese industry spends lots of money on importing tuna. They even cooperate with Europeans by hiring their workers and using their ocean resources to cultivate tunas. Therefore, I insist that tuna sashimi is itself a product of food migration in Japan.

Avey, Tori. “Discover the History of Sushi.” The History Kitchen. PBS Food, 5 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.

Tori Avey, the author of The History Kitchen column on PBS Food, wrote a clear historical background on sushi, and to my surprise, sushi originated from China: “A fourth century Chinese dictionary mentions salted fish being placed in cooked rice, causing it to undergo a fermentation process. This may be the first time the concept of sushi appeared in print (Avey).” This quote not only states the beginning of sushi (though it is nothing like the sushi of the present time), it also hints the later evolution of sushi. The more surprising thing comes next: “The concept of sushi was likely introduced to Japan in the ninth century, and became popular there as Buddhism spread (Avey),” in order to fulfill Buddhist dietary needs. These are exactly the influences caused by culture migration, not to mention the later influence of fast food culture and urbanization.

Olver, Lynne. “History notes – Asian American cuisine.” Food Timeline: food history research service. Personal Website, Lynne Olver, 2 Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.

Lynne Olver, a reference librarian with a passion on food history, created the Food Timeline. Starting with a single-page webwite, the Food Timeline has grown to more than fifty pages since 1999. Most of the contents were quotes from different books on the same topic. Olver organized the pieces of information in an understandable fashion with short explanations to guide viewers into the texts. Sushi is categorized under Asian- American cuisine. I think the title itself suggests the idea of culture migration already. I found the content of the quotes actually validated Avey’s article “Discover the History of Sushi” with greater details.

Tachibana, Rumiko. “’Processing’ Sushi / Cooked Japan: Why Sushi Became Canadian.” University of Victoria, 30 Dec. 2008. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.

In her thesis, Rumiko Tachibana has done a thorough research on the migration of sushi in North America: from Japan to United States and to Canada. When the first Japanese immigrants came to Canada during the early twentieth century, they remained eating pure Japanese style meals (Tachibana 53). However, the lack of materials after World War II forced them to incorporate Western food into their diet (Tachibana 54). She further explained the threat on Japanese identity through the localization of sushi. However, I don’t see it as a threat. Even though it is true that Asian immigrants helped the boom of the sushi industry in Canada (Tachibana 59), Japanese immigration is actually dropping. In fact, the Chinese and the Koreans, being the two biggest groups of Asian immigrants, have not yet accepted sushi as part of their daily diet like here in Vancouver. Sushi still remains its identity as Japanese cuisine.