An Exploration of American Culture Through the Preparation of Japanese Food: My Observations

So, a while ago my dad asked me if I had gained any cultural insights onto my own culture after living in a totally different one or if I was still obsessing over the fact that the Japanese have no ovens.

(On the contrary, I have a right to be obsessed. Since my forte is baking, the lack of ovens shows that I cannot win over more followers and friends through baked goods. This makes it harder for me to gather souls, but I digress.)

I’m still fascinated by the fact that you can’t really bake big (read: Sarah-sized) batches of cookies in Japan. This probably shows the difference between consumerism in Japan (you can’t expect a whole Japanese family to devour 38 or so cookies in one night when they’re still fresh [though in my family, they’re gone like a snap. I now wonder whether I’m just that good or if we are being influenced by the American consumerism culture….] or even in a week or so.) The portions are extremely small here along with the fact that fresh food is bought every day for the daily meals instead of hoarding food to feed you for weeks like in American culture (and just to put this out there—I’m not really sure if this buy everything at once to feed you and your family for two or three weeks occurs elsewhere, so I’m generalizing.)

But back to the main subject!

I’m learning more about my culture through admonitions that Okaasan gives me when we’re cooking, than I have ever experienced in my twenty-so years of existence. And it’s kinda baffling to realize. Every single time I chop or cut something, I always hear the same thing: 「ちょっとうす、ちょっとうす」, which means “a little thinner, a little thinner.” I also hear a lot of what translates to “you’re cutting too much, just stop now and mince it.” While stirring, I am constantly being told to just do slow, little strokes so that the food doesn’t jump out of the pan (and to be fair, my dad tells me to do that as well…).

Let me tell you now: this advice goes against just about everything I’ve been taught and use for cooking.

The above statement also lets you know how many mistakes I have made so far (about once every six seconds or so).

And then today as I was mincing carrots, it hit me.  The Japanese care so much about presentation, that they even do it while preparing their meals. And let me tell you, this revelation shocked me.

I am one of the many followers of Julia Child and, like her, was raised to believe that while the final presentation of the food matters, if you make a mistake in the kitchen, no one will know (Note: I am also a learned follower of my father’s school of art of show cooking, which allows for your guests to be amazed by your cooking prowess in the kitchen [also getting them to help you with the dishes after the meal *wink*] but I realize now that the kitchen still gets pretty messy but you focus your guests’ attention on what you are cooking at the current moment). 

 

(You don't have to watch it all, just the first twenty-five seconds or so, to see what I'm talking about...)

The Japanese don’t do this. Ever. Every single aspect of the cooking process has to be neat and tidy. This revelation came around when Okaasan explained to me why I should cut less and immediately put it into the preferred holding bowl to make the cutting board “look pretty.”

I would like to state here that while I am a Japanese Language and Culture major, I’m sure that there are libraries filled with information that I do not know and that could totally take these theories and smash them into little bits. If you have a hold of any of these, please send them my way because I would really like to become enlightened. This is just from the knowledge I have now and what I have observed. I could be totally wrong on all parts and I am not an expert. Just putting this out there.

My hypothesis goes something like this: The American culture just doesn’t care how something is made, just as long as it looks pretty and benefits them somehow in the end (this explains many things from fast food to Julia Child to Walmart). The Japanese actually care about how it looks while it is being made. That is why there are so many food shops with glass windows so you can see your stuff being made and why the Japanese take such precision to everything. Because it matters to them that there was a sense of perfection in every aspect of a piece.

My secondary hypothesis is that this (my first hypothesis) is all (or at least a major part) because of space. Japan is an itty-bitty, cramped island where you all need to get along. Arguing with each other and maybe even starting a civil war is bound to end in bloodshed, death, and not enough people to continue on. There are not enough resources for all the people, which is why presentation and minimalism is very important. Prices are expensive because just about all the resources are imported into Japan (and even more so with the Fukushima crisis). But in America, we have so much land we’re putting good farmland under concrete. We destroy forests to put in shopping malls because we want to shop for things that make our life more comfortable (though I’m not saying that we alone do this—most every country that has enough time in their daily lives for free time and pleasure does this) and if we don’t get along with people? We can always move a town, county, or state away. The fact is, America is so large, we don’t need to all get along and focus on minimalism like the Japanese because we have all the space we could possibly want.

My sub-hypothesis is that this is also a factor to why Japan is so nationalistic—there’s not enough room for more people to move in, and not enough resources to share among the people already here—that’s why Japan is so inclusive and such (at least I feel this was the case in the beginning of Japanese history. I don’t feel up on politics and current history to speculate if that is still true today).

So yes, this is what the secrets of cooking have revealed to me so far. And I still can’t manage to get the hang instantly of using a Japanese knife (which is different at cutting than the ones I use in America).

‘Till the next time! Finals are coming up, but that means that break is as well!