The Japanese Identity Cooked and Dressed in
Shokugeki no Soma: How Food, Food Preparation,
and Eating Construct National Identity
Priscilla Man 10461469
University of Amsterdam
MA Television and Cross-media Culture 4 September 2017
Dr. J.C. Hermes 17202 words
Table of contents
Introduction...3
Chapter 1: How is national identity constructed in anime?...5
National identity and manga...6
National history in manga...8
International relationship in manga...10
Shift from manga to anime and popular culture...12
Anime and globalization...15
Chapter 2: Which unique qualities are assigned to food in Shokugeki no Soma?...17
Food and national memory/identity...18
Shokugeki no Soma and (different) food reactions...21
Food and power relations...23
Food as the body and the body as food...25
Chapter 3: How does Shokugeki no Soma addresses national identities competitively and challenges what it consider being the unique qualities of Japanese cuisine?...28
Stereotypes and cuisines...29
Transformative nature of Japanese cuisine and culture...36
Conclusion...38
Introduction
Japan has always fascinated me since I began watching anime twelve years ago. The
imaginary world, which was nothing like in Disney movies, visualized dreams on my screen. It did not matter what subject the anime was about, it had always these beautiful aesthetics with characters, which were also magical. I also found the characteristics of anime more interesting than Disney’s animation: the black thick outlines, big eyes and hair which did not know the law of physics played all a role in this fantastic world of anime. Seeing all these different series, I always wondered how it would feel to be physically in the country Japan. When I visited the first time, three years ago, it was just like in the anime series I have seen. I could not believe how accurate the streets were as they were drawn on television. The
atmosphere in Tokyo was just like how I imagined it to be: just as magical like in anime. I was honestly shocked how accurate the drawn images from my screen were with what I saw with my own eyes: anime has the power to serve as a mirror of reality. The world of anime is brought to life in Japan, and Japan is brought to life in anime. What I also like about anime is the fact that is does not hold onto traditions: women and girls can be the heroines of the story and men and boys can also be the submissive types. Director Hayao Miyazaki has created numerous of movies that star female heroines who are breaking with the traditional gender structures. This is a relief after seeing almost every Disney princess being supressed during my childhood. Anime tells stories in a different way than Western media products. That is the reason why I have chosen this cultural product. Anime has the tools to narrate every story in any kind of setting and still makes it enjoyable. This is through the uses of more symbols, colours and references than Western ones to create a deeper meaning and a larger world. Magic and monsters are no rare sight in anime, as reality and fantasy are becoming one reality with many layers to discover, explore and discuss.
The reason why I chose for Shokugeki no Soma (2015) is because it combines two of my passions into one object: anime and food. Television cooking programs are my favourite to watch beside anime. The way that dishes are being prepared, cooked and presented are
fascinating to watch. The dish begins from zero and “suddenly” appears in its full glory on my screen. The food looks delicious and seduces you to take a bite, although you cannot grab it from the studio onto the couch at home. The sexual references in these shows are something I noticed in the last year. The focus has shifted from creating a home cooked meal for your family into creating a food fantasy. This fantasy is accompanied with the cook seducing you
with his voice, body gestures and movements while cooking. The ingredients are poured into cups and bowls in a slow motion shot and the knife is cutting through ingredients slowly as well. Their movements are emphasised and accompanied with sensual music. All of these are meant to arouse the appetite of the viewer. However, the viewer can never know how such a dish tastes or even smells.
Shokugeki no Soma bridges this gap because of its animation. It visualises the texture, smell, and taste through the use of language, metaphors, and references. With linking its texture, smell etcetera to metaphors and such, the connotations can make you “taste” the dish. This is only possible because it is anime, since animation can make everything come alive. The special thing about Shokugeki no Soma is that it makes excessively use of “food porn”: turning food into porn. This made me think about the two sides of Japanese society. It is conservative in terms of culture: the wife stays at home and cares for the children, does chores and cooks for her husband and children. Husbands are expected to work and care for their family. However, there are various cultural aspects, which show the wild side of Japan. Such as hentai (pornographic manga and anime) which is available in every bookstore and how pornographic magazines are easily reachable for kids in convenience stores for example. There are also a lot of figures in regular with daring and curvy bodies and somehow their panties are always visible. It strikes me how sexualised things are just out in the open in the conservative, brave and quiet Japan. While here in the West, anything sexual is not easy to see and get and has some sort of taboo construct in Western culture.
My case study anime series Shokugeki no Soma combines the two things, porno and food, and reimagined these in a globalised cooking arena. Shokugeki no Soma revolves around the Japanese boy who works at the restaurant of his father. Together, they cook and serve their customers. He has learned the art of cooking from his dad. One day, his dad decides to close the restaurant to take a trip around the world and sends Soma to the Totsuki Tea House Culinary Academy, an elite cooking school located in Tokyo where only the “chosen ones” can complete their education and step into the world of gourmet food and fame. Soma first hesitates, because he thinks he can already cook, but soon realises that the school is not what it seems. The teachers are very strict and the regime is quite hard as the percentage of the students who eventually graduates is only ten percent. The series follow his adventures as he makes new friend, rivals, and new dishes.
The pornographic aspect comes through the food reactions in the series. These are reactions from people who eat a delicious dish. When a dish is too delicious to handle, their clothes
disappear or explodes from their bodies, leaving the body naked. The intimate parts are still covered, but the suggestion of them being there (bare naked) is there. The dish they ate is deconstructed and “interacts” with the body. The body reacts on this sensation and trembles with excitement. Most characters that go through a food reaction moans, indicating that the experience is just like a sexual experience. The connection between food, “food porn”, Japanese animation, identity and globalization is discussed in this paper.
The main question is: “How is Shokugeki no Soma a cultural battlefield for the construction of national identity in its depiction and representation of food, food preparations, and eating?” To answer this question, I will look at the first season of Shokugeki no Soma, which consists of 24 episodes. The reason why I pick the first season and not the second season is because the first season shows the road to “success” of Soma. The first season consists of encounters with different cuisines, characters and dishes that help Soma with his cooking.
The thesis is divided into three chapters that contribute answers to the main question. In the first chapter I will address how national identity is constructed in anime with the use of historical analyses and theory about national identity and globalization. In the second chapter I will examine which unique qualities Shokugeki no Soma gives to food and how this
constructs national identity in relation to culinary nationalism, using the method of close analysis. In the last chapter I will look how the anime addresses the different national
identities competitively and challenges what it considers to be the unique qualities of Japanese cuisine with the use of stereotypes and close analysis to pinpoint these identities. I will
conclude that the Japanese national identity uses other national identities to create and strengthen its own.
This research contributes to the debate how globalized anime can be seen as a construction of national identity in relation to food.
Chapter 1: How is national identity constructed in anime?
Before I can argue how an anime series like Shokugeki no Soma is a cultural battlefield for the construction of national identity, I need to go back into history to explain how anime
constructs national identity. This chapter will explain how anime is a platform for establishing national identity in popular culture. First, I will explain what national identity is and how manga became a tool for Japan to establish their identity. Manga was being used as a medium
for rewriting existing historic stories after Japan faces defeat in war. Its status in Asia degraded but it was soon reclaimed due to the popularity of anime outside Japan. The mediated national identity was not only exclusive for its own people anymore, but was seen by everyone. Anime (Japanese animation that comes from manga) became the Japanese export product and due to globalization, it began to change from a genre that developed Japanese identity for Japan into an international genre where Japan is imagined for an international audience.
National identity and manga
National identity is crucial to my analysis of Shokugeki no Soma. It is best understood as a process. Smith suggests in his article about national identity that it consists of “the
maintenance of continuous reproduction of the pattern of values, symbols, memories, myths, and traditions that compose the distinctive heritage of nations, and the identifications of individuals with that particular heritage and those values, symbols, memories, myths and traditions” (30). A way to continuously reproduce these structures is through media. Sasaki agrees by saying that national identity is a “human construct, evident only when sufficient people believe in some version of collective identity for it to be a social reality, embodies in and transmitted through institutions, laws, customs, beliefs and practices” (75). Manga and anime are examples of these structures. They became the quintessential Japanese cultural products to spread these stories abroad and they ultimately established an important role within global popular culture. In this chapter I will discuss Japanese national identity historically and in relation to globalization to depict the changes in manga and anime and what it means for its origins’ national identity.
“Land of the Rising Sun” Japan lost its high status in Asia due to the loss in the Second World War. Because of this, the country has found difficulties into establishing an own “Japanese” identity in Asia where other countries did prosper after the war. Japan was de-industrialized so they could not form a potentially military treat in the future by the West. Japan became a mess economically and socially as the economy fell with their loss and the survivors of the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not helped by their own society. This grim image of Japan was a total contrast with the glorious image of the Japanese empire before the war.
The relationship between Japan and the other countries in Asia, specifically Taiwan and China, is the focus of Kushner’s work on the connection between nationality and nostalgia, how national memories were manipulated by the government using media and politics. He states that their histories are used to “influence debates about national character and thus domestic politics” (794). China interfered with the domestic politics from Japan saying that the Yasukuni Shrine was an appropriation of the “wrong side” of Japan. The Yasukuni Shrine is an imperial shrine founded by Emperor Meiji who builds it as a dedication to everyone who died for the glory of the Empire of Japan. They are written on a list. But amongst the children, men, and women are also war criminals from the Second World War. These are criminals who are acting against peace, by murdering innocent people and raiding poor villages for example. This led to the interference of China, saying that the symbolism of this shrine was also a symbolism for the approval of Japan’s role in the Second World War. However, Japan did not take responsibility for its part in the war as the Prime Minister
Koizumi Junichiro visited the shrine every year from 2001 to 2006 while he was in duty. With the interference of another country in the memorial of Japanese history, Japan realized that it was no longer “the sole economic powerhouse in (…) Asia” and “(…) its leaders and
population have grown anxious about its international positions” (798-799).
The controversy around the Yasukuni Shrine became the main topic of Japanese comic books in the 1990s, called manga. These comic black and white books were a “cheap and easily digested treatment of serious subjects” (789). It could discuss heavy subjects in a light mannered and sometimes humoristic way. That is also the reason why these little books became a popular medium. “In Japan, manga account for approximately 25 per cent of the publishing industry’s profits (…)” and “in 2002, Japanese publishers released more than 9,800 manga, 27 different titles a day” (798). Manga is a uniting intellectual power for all the individuals in Japan. In the early 1990s there were “right-wing-orientated magazines that contained nationalist manga focused on recent history and international relations” (799).
Manga was not used as merely entertainment anymore, but to mediate political issues. Therefore, “manga had joined the debate on Asian nationalism and Japan’s imperial history: they reconstructed historical memory to fit the shifting understanding of the nation’s needs” (799). The narratives in manga retell existing historical narratives in a way that is favourable for Japan. It needed to rewrite their actual history into something glorious like in the Imperial Era where the country had a lot of power and wealth in Asia. The national identity of Japan
was not that of a country that got defeated in the Second World War, but of a country with an own unique culture and prominent status. The little silly books became two things: a
foundation of national history and a foundation about Japan’s standing in the world. These two constructions will be exampled by a couple of manga later in this chapter.
National history in manga
The first construction is about national history. The narratives about the national history can be found in manga that focus on historical figures who were warriors for Japan in the past: ninjas and samurai. Ninjas are secretive agents who were send on assassination and espionage missions. Samurai fought for the Emperor with their swords and lives. I highlight these two warriors to analyse how these are portrait as national heroes with references to the past. These stories of these heroes are retold in the anime Naruto (2002) and Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (1996) with references to the past. They carry out the legacy of Japanese history in a new narrative and show Japan should be remembered as a heroic nation.
Naruto (2002) is the first example of an anime that allows for displaying the brave actions of ninjas to the public. Naruto Uzumaki is a young boy and ninja who in Konoha, a peaceful village. He aims to be the next Hokage when he becomes older, that is the strongest ninja and the leader of the village. However, times are changing when one of his friend and teammate is abducted and turns to the dark side. He becomes a criminal rather than ninja who tries to keep the peace in Konoha. Naruto vows with his life that he will take Sasuke Uchiha back to Konoha and to restore peace. This anime visualizes the era of great Japanese ninjas. There are various clans with a variety of special oculus powers, like the Sharingan, Byakygan and Rinnegan. These are names of unique eyes with their own respective powers that are inherited by each clan member.
The powers of the Sharingan are related to the Shinto religion. This is the Japanese ethnic religion that revolves around ceremonial practices to create a connection between the contemporary Japan and its ancient past. Izanagi and Izanami are one of the many eye techniques of the Sharingan, where the caster uses illusion to create a world with infinite loops to trap the target. The real Izanagi and Izanami were husband and wife who created the land of Japan after being summoned by ancient gods. They are the Asian equivalent of the bible figures Adam and Eve. When Izanami dies from the birth of the fire god, Izanagi wants to rescue her from the land of the dead but fails. When he goes back to the land of the living,
the sun goddess and moon god are born from his eyes and the storm god from his nose. Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi and Susanoo are their names and they are also the names from the eye techniques of the Sharingan. Naruto educates its readers about Japanese religion and their stories. Not only religion is covered, but also folklore. Jiraiya is a great ninja of Konoha and the mentor of Naruto. His name comes from Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya). This classic tale revolves around ninja Jiraiya, who can transform into a giant toad with ninja techniques, which is also the same in Naruto. The series decomposes the otherwise mysterious ninjas into likeable characters in an emotional and sensational story that acts to preserve peace and destroy any evil. It borrows heroes and aspects of Japanese culture to reimagine ninjas into national heroes.
Samurai are the second historical figures who are reimagined as Japans greatest heroes. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan takes place in the Meiji era (1868-1912). Himura Kenshin is a samurai who wanders around Japan after the Japanese Revolution. During that time, he was known as an assassin called Battousai. He vowed that he would never kill again. Resenting his kills and sins; he now provides the weak his help, leaving his dark past behind him. One day he stumbles upon a dojo and meets the young girl and heir Kaoru Kamiya. Someone who claims to infamous Battousai is threatening her. However, Himura helps her defeating the imposter and decides to stay at the dojo. The anime represents the Meiji era like it used to be: fashion, architecture, music and social structures are all the same as in the past. The historical character Kido Takayoshi inspired Himura. He helped during the Meiji Restoration, which was to restore the power of the Emperor of Japan. His contribution to restoring the national glory is seen later in the series as Himura manages to help the government with defeating the opposition. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan uses historical references and events to educate the readers of manga about the national history of Japan.
By reutilizing historic stories and characters in contemporary media, manga has been a source of national identity. The readers are all sharing the same past and its values and ideals. With its growing popularity in Japan, the government has the power to mediate the “correct” national history and therefore establishes a national identity that is desirable. Not only history and cultural lessons are conveyed through these books. Also, international relations and the standing of Japan in the world are mediated which is another construction to establish a national identity.
International relationship in manga
Hiromi Mizuno analyses two anime series called Space Battleship (1977) and Silent Service (1995) in relation to the cold war and post-cold war desires of Japan. He concludes that these series are works need to be seen as a history of Japan “and not as an embodiment or a
representation of some unchanging “authentic” Japanese culture (…) but as a site of a
constant construction of national identity (…)” (121). Remond argues in his article that “(…) many anime series depict mecha jocks and kimono dolls facing off against wicked tyrants or evil space aliens – i.e. symbolically refighting World War II, only in a situation where Japan finally gets to be on the winning side” (185). Mizuno and Remond see a construction that narrates great narratives about Japan as a country. It emphasizes Japan as country against other “evil countries” who want to invade the Asian country. This is the second construction, where Japanese position in the world is mediated as “a country that is wanted by the rest of the world”. It constructs a narrative about desire and power where the West and the East (which only consists of Japan and no other existing countries) are battling against each other with the victory always going to the East. This construction is based on a “us against the others”, which highlights the greatness of Japan as a nation and its importance in the world. Two anime will be analysed to show how its narrative conducts the second construction: Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) and Ghost in the Shell (1995). The old historic stories about Japan losing the war are retold in a new futuristic setting. These stories show how the West and the East are displayed with the latter as the champion of the world.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a futuristic story where Japan battles against its enemies. This is set in a futuristic Tokyo, after an apocalypse in 2015, where humans are fighting against supernatural creatures, called the Angels. Pilots can only save special selected children, who pilot enormous fighting robots called Eva’s humankind. Shinji Ikari is one of the chosen ones and ultimately saves the world from the monsters. By setting the nearly destructed world in the city Tokyo, it puts Japan as the central point of the world. The names used in these manga are mostly from the Bible. The monsters are called Angels, the robots are called Eva (a derivation from Eve) and the first Angel is called Adam. It reconstructs
characteristics of the Western faith as destructive mechanisms since these led to the
apocalypse. This coherently leads that all “evil” is from the West and even though the robots are “Western”, the kids who have the power over them, is not. The names give the anime a context of West versus East. It does not put the Americans and the Japanese literally against
each other, but it depicts that the monstrous creatures are Western and “bad” people who want to invade and destroy Japan.
Another story set in the future revolves around female cyborg Motoko Kusanagi. She is the leader of Section 9, an anti-terrorist department of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission. Ghost in the Shell (1995) is set in a hi-tech Tokyo where humans, bodies, daily life and technology are intertwined. Motoko and her team are searching for The Puppet Master, a hacker who hacks the soul of people and ultimately takes control of them. This anime confronts the dangerous outcomes where technology is so advanced that there is no room for biology. Motoko still has her brains, but not her biological body, so it raises
questions about how she should identify herself and the vague border between technology and humanity. While she and her team are looking for The Puppet Master, the Master himself is also targeting her. She is an interesting object for him to expand his mind over the whole network and eventually control everybody. The Puppet Master crime is stripping other
people’s identity to use it for his own good. It wants to make everyone equal with him pulling on the strings (hence the name Puppet Master). Even though The Puppet Master is an
anonymous and faceless enemy, it is mentioned that he or she came from the United States of America to steal Japan’s technology.
This construction exhibits Japan as an internationally super power that acts as the centre of the world. With the stories set in the future, it strongly suggests that Japan is the only country that can survive at extreme conditions. These narratives, especially the one from Ghost in the Shell, are maybe to happen in the far, far future. Even though the stories were published in 1995, nowadays the border between technology and humans is decreasing. Technology is becoming more and more advanced, taking over human processes and
questioning what the limitations and possibilities are. The fact that it was already visualised in 1995, way before there was even internet for the mass, shows how Japan distinguishes itself as a technological power and thus establishes its international status.
Manga was first used as merely entertainment, but has shifted from silly little books to a politics medium to tell changed and alternative stories. It is used to mediate Japanese national identity in two ways. The first one uses national history. Historical figures, like the ninja and samurai, are used to show how heroic and great Japanese history is. The second way puts an own Japanese twist to the status of Japan in the world. It is Japan against the others in the
world, where the others are envious of the technology from the Land of the Rising Sun. Because manga is such a popular medium, it serves as a platform to exhibit the glory and desires of Japan. The continuous reproduction of the same narratives with the same memories and symbols helps the individuals to connect to each other and establish a national identity. The Japanese are sharing the same past, future, tradition and culture.
Shift from manga to anime and popular culture
Lam talks in his article about how manga and anime (Japanese animation that is inspired from manga) did end up promoting Japanese pop culture abroad. Foreign Minister Aso Taro proposed in April 2006 that it should prioritize these products, he basically “adopted Japanese pop culture as a diplomatic tool” by saying: “What is important is to be able to induce other countries to listen to Japan. If the use of pop culture or various sub-cultures can be useful in this process, we certainly should make the most of them” (351). The government of Japan has accepted manga and anime as export products to dominate other countries popular culture because of its power to mediate alternative stories. It is being used to establish and maintain an important position in the world after the disastrous wars in the past and economic
stagnation.
Dalliot-Bul concludes that the traditional image of Japan as a “work-oriented
‘enterprise society’ has been gradually replaced with that of ‘Cool Japan’” (247). The country is linked with the associations of the hippest and most innovative country as “cool implies youthfulness, authenticity, trendiness, and creativity” (Valaskivi 492). The popularity of manga and anime abroad has changed the image of Japan outside Japan. This power is called “soft power”, different that the traditional power constructions where military or economic resources are used rather than culinary ones (248). With the use of cultural media products, the endowed Japanese national identity is not harshly indoctrinated. It is through the use of leisure products like books and television series that the national identity has the chance to seep into daily life. Douglas McGray agrees, “Japan is reinventing superpower through the export of cultural goods and styles that have become not only conspicuous proof of Japan’s international relevance, but also a powerful commercial force” (47). The brand-new image of Japan started with manga and anime as the Japanese export product to mediate its national identity overseas. Anime can also convey national identity like manga, but has its own unique aesthetics in which its power goes further than manga. Anime distinguishes itself from other
forms of media by its aesthetics and overall by the way it creates different worlds with different laws and situations that are unknown to us. Western series and movies follows for example processes which are “already known” in real life. The next quote of Susan Napier explains how life-action and animation are different from each other:
“For example, if I throw a ball, I expect it to follow a reasonable trajectory, say, from one end of the room to another, and then to bounce back. In animation, however, we might throw a ball and anything could happen. The ball might triple in size; turn from blue to red, or burst into a bouquet of flowers. Animation challenges our expectations of what is “normal” or “real.” Bringing up material that may seem more appropriately housed in dreams or the unconscious (…)” (73).
Within animation, there is also a huge difference between Western animation and Japanese animation. The best way to explain these two is by two equivalent animation studios: Walt Disney Studio and Studio Ghibli. Disney follows the framework from the original story, and adds the “Disney-touch”. It concentrates on the other cultural expressions to make it more American. It reinforces the “Americanness” of the characters and surrounding instead of appreciating other cultures. The overall product becomes “typical American” while Japanese animation does leave other cultures in their value. This is seen at the stories of Studio Ghibli, where they “do not simply decontextualize foreign countries and cultures to reinforce a national identity” (472-473). Therefore, only in Japanese animation there is “an intriguing opportunity to explore these other territories in ways that are both aesthetically pleasurable and emotionally and intellectually engaging”, concludes Napier (71-78). Anime is not static, but rather flexible. And because of that, the narratives can be more surreal and address more complex themes than manga.
Napier mentions Spirited Away (2001), a story where little girl Chihiro is on a trip with her parents. Ultimately her parents are transformed into pigs after feasting upon the food of the gods. To revert her parents back into humans, Chihiro is forced to work for the witch who can break the curse. She needs to work in a bathhouse and meets mystical creatures. These are monsters but also ghost at the same time. The world of Spirited Away houses elements from different folklore tales, Western and Eastern. It demonstrates how anime has the power to narrate complex, odd and irregular stories. To show what kind of other themes
and stories anime can tell, I will briefly summarize Clannad (2007) and Full Metal Alchemist (2003) to argue that it is due to the nature of anime where national identity is also becoming more complex, fluid and dynamic than manga.
Clannad is a love story between Tomoya Okazaki and Nagisa Furukawa. Tomoya finds high school very boring and often skips class with his friend Sunohara. However, when he meets Nagisa on his way to school, he becomes friends with her and this is the start of their romance. She wants to revive the drama club and he decides to help her. While they are busy with the activities to revive the club, they befriend more girls of the school. Tomoya discovers that each girl has her own fear and complications. He realizes that school is not that boring and decides to help each girl to overcome her problems. It uses animation in a way that the overall look of Clannad feels like a dream. The pastel colours, the soft rounding of the character, and the mellow music make the sad stories of the girls too sad to be “true”. There are suicide attempts, deaths, accidents and misfortunes: everything that can go wrong in a lifetime is shown in Clannad. But because it is an anime, it never feels heavy for the viewer. Instead, the aesthetics of anime are turning the negative things into positive ones. The rules and laws of the real world do not apply, that is the reason why the tragic events still result in miracles. It talks about the life in general with all its ups and downs and how the characters are coping with that.
Full Metal Alchemist revolves a world where magic is not something unfamiliar. In fact, almost every person in the series can perform alchemic techniques. Edward and Alphonse Elric are two brothers whose mother died. They want to resurrect her with a forbidden alchemic technique, which has never been successfully performed. The human transmutation fails and Edward loses his arm and leg while his younger brother Alphonse loses his whole body. However, Edward is just in time to transfer Alphonse’s soul onto a suit of armour with a blood seal. Roy Mustang offers Edward the position to be a state alchemist and this is where they begin their journey to get their original bodies back. The world where the series is set in, is a hybrid of the Middle Ages and science fiction. The architecture, clothing style and names are all from the past but people have mechanical body parts, which are clearly not something from that time.
Anime can combine non-existing elements into one world, such as in Full Metal Alchemist where it becomes “legit and authentic”. Anime can also tell stories where the surreal and the real world are intertwined and where some things cannot be explained without “magic” as in Clannad. The themes anime can cope with have a wide variety: it can go either
the dreamy side as Napier mentions, or it can go the other way. The dark side of humanity is also a huge team within anime. They can be very dark, mature and more serious as well. It usually has (non) existing creatures, talking animals, magic: it visualizes the imagination. Nothing is too outrageous, random or too big for anime. It escapes the conventions of daily life and thereby represents freedom to be anything it wants to be.
With and within animation, there are unlimited possibilities. The nature of anime is not static, but changeable. This is also the success of anime. Iwabuchi says, “(…) that it is simply the mukokuseki, the “odourless” nature of animation, that is responsible for its popularity” (456). The “odourless” nature means that animation is not attached to the real world. Stories, characters, objects and subjects can be from anywhere, they are most likely to be fitted in a dream where the possibilities are also unlimited. This is a big contrast with manga, where the stories primarily revolved around historic events and characters, but it is due to the nature of anime, which conveys the Japanese national identity. Uno agrees with saying that “the “Japaneseness” of Japanimation can only be recognized in its being actively a mukokuseki visual culture” (186).
Where manga is limited to paper pages and one volume (edition) per week, anime can narrate the Japanese national identity completer, bringing it to life in moving images, completed with sound and music and colours, providing an extra layer of meaning to the story.
Anime and globalization
The “blank space” of anime contests the current popular culture that can be filled with one’s imagination, is also the reason why anime can narrate the national identity better than manga these days. It is due the rise and intensification of globalization where national histories and identities “have become contested territories, as the citizens of an increasingly interdependent world attempt to define themselves vis-à-vis what many fears to be an oppressively
homogenous global culture dominated by the United States”, says Napier (468).
National identity and globalization may seem two separate concepts, but they are inherently connected to each other. Globalization has an impact the shared sets of values and beliefs of the first one. Masamichi Sasaki states that there is an interaction going on:
impact on how we see ourselves, as an individual, regional or as a nation-state. To some it “threatens these identities; to others, globalization enhances these identities (…)” (69-70). Endensor’s quote compiles the relationship of the two perfectly:
“Thus, globalization and national identity should not be conceived in binary terms but as two inextricably linked processes. Global processes might diminish a sense of national identity or reinforce it. However, as global cultural flows become more extensive, they facilitate the expansion of national identities and also provide cultural resources which can be
domesticated, enfolded within popular and everyday national cultures” (29).
Schaeffer also points out the spreading of Western culture with the “the adaptation of English as the lingua franca around the world, and the associated decline of national languages, regional dialects, and indigenous languages” that are “seen (…) as another cultural expression of globalization” (3). This indicates that globalization is mostly casting a Western
homogenous gaze upon the world like Napier said before. Still, because of the open space in anime, the Japanese national identity can still be established, even if it uses other national identities. Moreover, it even uses other national identities excessively. This can be seen in the changing aesthetics of anime.
Lu notices that there has been “a clear trend of incorporating ‘Nibonjinbanare’, or non-Japanese cultural elements, into anime”. This can be in the context, narrative, names, and characters. It is all a mix of different races and names. Sometimes they are just “fantasy characters whose nationalities are hard to distinguish, either from their appearance or background, but they are by no means Japanese” (171). The stylistic aesthetics of anime has also been globalized to actually become a “(…) broader imaginary space of identification for people of various cultures” (176). She defines three changes. The first one is racial mixing and cultural blurring which neutralizes the origin of the characters. The characters can have blonde hair with purple eyes or black hair with silver eyes. Their appearances are somewhat unusual and quite unique. The second one is Occidentalised internationalization which is a reversal Orientalism by Edward Said. The original concept in 1979 discusses the clear division of the West and the East. It portrayed the East as barbarians that needed the help of the almighty West. However, in anime, it distorts the “other” and obscures the “other’s” voice by displaying their stereotypical depictions about the West. The third and last change is
self-Orientalized internationalization. It is the same as the second one, only it shows how anime orientalizes other Asian cultures. The modern anime series have one, two or all three changes incorporated. It makes anime more “global” and hard to pinpoint any cultural or even
Japanese characteristics. This means that anime looks like a performance on a world stage as a “global media form”. It conveys the Japanese national identity as so of “the uniformity and diversity in the repeated execution of anime’s convention” (Suan 67).
Yet, this stylistic aesthetics that are dynamic and fluid, are the perfect companion to establish Japanese national identity. Manga has shown how the Japanese can transform existing stories into favourable stories. Anime has even pushed these boundaries further with animation. The stories can now be brought to life and the themes are much broader than it used to be. The Japanese national identity does not lie in historic and technological stories anymore, but in the underlying everchanging dynamic structure. This genre has developed in relation to national identity (and popularity) to an international genre where Japan is imagined for an international audience. The national identity of Japan lies in their transformative culture as shown in the “odourless” nature and aesthetics of anime.
This power of anime is exactly what makes it such a strong medium to act as the preserver of Japanese culture. In the context of globalization, it has established new dynamics that broaden the powers of Japanese influence in global popular culture. My case study Shokugeki no Soma is the embodiment of the changing stylistic aesthetics due to globalization. It shows lot of different national identities and their respectively cuisines, from American to Italy and Chinese to Japanese. The anime uses the old narrative from manga which is the battlefield of war but replaces it with the kitchen, the warriors have been replaced with cooks and the swords with knifes to cook. It looks like each national identity put on the same level and there is no clear “winner”. It retells “the same old story” in a new context.
Chapter 2: Which unique qualities are assigned to food in Shokugeki no Soma?
There is one specific sub-genre within anime that retells historic stories about war and evil and good outside the traditional battlefield: the arena has been changed to the kitchen. Within this new arena, food is taking the lead. It is linked to culinary nationalism. Ferguson argues that culinary nationalism is a term “(…) where cuisine and nation collide” (102). She
proposes that recipes are the main pointers of identity. She says, “(…) recipes reach beyond practice to a vision of good food and good life associated with that food. By what recipes exclude as well as include, in they assume as much as what they specify, cookbooks define what is appropriate and what it not. They tell us what is French or Italian or Provençal or Tuscan, and what it not” (102). The cuisine is defined by recipes, which are linking dishes to places and therefore links taste, ingredients and such as “typical” for that place.
In this chapter I will argue that food, on the first glance, indicates a national (culinary) identity. Two anime, Yumeiro Patissiere (Dream-Colored Pastry Chef) (2009) and Yakitate!! Japan (Freshly Baked!! Ja-pan!) (2004), will be analyzed to portray how food establishes a Japanese national identity in anime. This is done through certain recipes and ingredients that are associated with culture. Another way how food is linked to national identity is by the use food reactions in anime. When a character tastes something or just takes one bite, a reaction occurs. The food reaction takes the eater to another place or even world where the dish “speaks to the heart”. It is like a mini narrative inside the narrative. The reaction portrays the message of the dish that conveys national identity. The dishes in Shokugeki no Soma do this too, but take food further than this. It plays with the notion that food is more than just food. Shokugeki no Soma structure looks a lot like contemporary television cooking shows that are reality television. It sets a group of candidates into a battlefield setting where each week one candidate goes home; reducing the group where eventually one goes home with the big prize and trophy. The aesthetics of these shows are “pornographic” in a sense that the food is sexualized. With this pornographic aesthetics shown in Shokugeki no Soma, I will argue that food and power are inherently connected.
Food and national memory/identity
Dishes and food reactions in anime display national memories and national identity. Duruz quotes Donna Gabaccia where she observes America and her immigrants, about their hard lives in a new country. Whenever they felt stressed or depressive, they would just eat comfort food they knew from back home, because it ensured feelings like safety and love. The food relates to the mother figure that protects you from any harm (57). Arnould and Price say that “(…) food (…) consumption practices (…) transmit cultural traditions, collective memories, and foster culturally prescribed skills related to self-reliance” (364). Thus, a food reaction
gives food an extra layer to connect the dish with a memory that is cultural contextualized. A dish’s ingredients, preparation and presentation are all linked to national identity.
The first anime Yumeiro Patissiere (Dream-Colored Pastry Chef) puts different countries against each other in a pastry competition. Its story revolves around the fourteen-year-old Ichigo Amano. She loves pastries and loves to eat them as well. Her favorite ones are cakes. One time, when she is eating cakes at the Sweets Festival, she meets Henri. He is a renowned pastry chef and notices her excellent taste pallet. He invites her to go to St. Marie Academy to pursue a career as pastry chef. Ichigo, while having no talents at all, finds it hard to find her way within school. However, with the help of her team consisting of the Three Sweet Princes: Makato Kashino, Satsuki Hanabusa, and Sennosuke Andou, she eventually grows into a fine pastry chef. Each campus of the St. Marie Academy in respectively other countries is competing against each other at the World Cake Grand Prix. The prize is that the winning team can go finish their education at the Paris campus in France. Team Ichigo from the Japan campus are taking the victory against the best of the best: they win from the French team.
The Japanese term “kawaii”, which translates into cute, is embedded into the
aesthetics of the show. The series uses slow piano tunes to accompany the soft pastel coloring scheme from the anime. Also, the characters, especially from team Japan, are cute. Even though Ichigo is a clumsy person at first, everyone soon loves her. She works hard and does not give up, no matter how hard the challenge is. She embodies the fighting will of Japan; it grows and becomes stronger after each disappointment and defeat. The dishes made enhance this Japanese trait: they use of traditional Japanese ingredients. The dishes served at the competition consist of Japanese ingredients such as anko (red bean paste), yuzu (citrus) and green tea powder. The mother who is the foundation of the Japanese family is the reason why they win the hearts of the judges. Even though they compete against the most feared team at the competition: they win using love. Ichigo replicates the warm feelings a mother puts into the bento for her child into her replication of the strawberry tart recipe from her grandma. When she was little, she fell in the forest and cried. Her grandma gave her a strawberry tart to cheer her up and since then Ichigo began to love pastries and aimed to be a pastry chef as well. The red strawberry tart, which stands for (motherly) love, is the ultimate nemesis against the dark Dijonaise au Chocolat from team France. Their leader, François, made it with the intention to tempt the judges with shady and dark intentions. Also, their outfits are a huge contrast with the cute pink attire from the Japanese: they are wearing bikini tops, which are
showing their cleavage. It enhances the seductiveness of the Dijonaise au Chocolat but eventually falls short because it does not fit into the frame of cuteness. Ichigo and her dish narrate the innocence Japanese identity as the better cuisine than the evil French.
The food reactions are not only limited to a dish’s ingredients, preparation and presentation to convey national identity. The food reaction can also make references to other cultural
products and events. Food finds itself between other popular cultural objects in a landscape of references and therefore is a tool to narrate stories that can be conveyed while they are being eaten.
The second anime Yakitate!! Japan makes use of references to indicate The Second World War in favor of Japan by using bread. It starts with the opening where a voice over tells that there is German bread, English bread, French bread. However, there is no national Japanese bread. This is where the young boy Azuma Kazuma appears. He is determined to develop the unique national bread for his country to exist and compete among the other ones, calling the bread “Japan”. This is a pun because “pan” means “bread” in Japanese. When he was six years old, his obsession for bread started when his sister complained that they should be having bread as breakfast instead of rice. However, their grandpa, who grows rice, only finds natto (Japanese sticky soybeans), miso soup (traditional Japanese soup) and rice as the ultimate breakfast. There is no need for an intervention of a staple from another country.
Food is used as a sign of culture. Allison talks in her article about how the Japanese lunchbox called bentos are served as an ideological state apparatus. She argues that under a code of pragmatics, “(…) Japanese cuisine carries other meaning that in Barthes’ terms are mythological” and that it conveys national identity. “To be Japanese is to eat Japanese food (…)” and “(…) rice is so symbolically central to Japanese culture (meals and bentos often being assembled with rice as the core and all other dishes, multifarious as they may be, as mere compliments or side dishes) that Japanese say they can never feel full until they have consumed their rice at a particular meal or at least once during the day” (198). Azuma agrees with his grandpa, but is taking away by his sister.
She is taking him to the local bakery and force feeds him freshly baked bread. Since then Azuma has changed his mind, not only willing to replace rice with bread but also to dedicate his life to bread. The owner of the bakery discovers that Azuma has special “solar hands”: someone who has naturally unnatural warm hands. This is specifically convenient for
a baker, to activate for example yeast, so the process of fermentation of dough can be faster. The owner closes his shop and moves to Tokyo to pursue his dream of making Japan. Azuma also dreams of Japan and pursues the same dream.
Rice may be the staple of Japanese cuisine, but the Japanese bread that Azuma eventually creates, highlights the fluid adaptation of Japanese culture. It is a mixture of Western bread with the “feelings of Japan”. When Azuma makes (foreign) bread, he puts a piece of Japan in it. He thinks about the texture and flavor the Japanese people like. The food reactions are enveloped in historical events that did happen. When Ryo Kuroyanagi, the head of the main store of Pantasie tastes Azuma’s 324-layers-croissant in the third episode, the crescent form of the bread is used for the reaction mimicking the moon. The story takes place in space. Ryo floats in space as an astronaut, mimicking the first landing of humankind on the moon. As he reports to Houston, he steps out of his shuttle and descends on the moon with his feet. He is holding the croissant and let it go. The bread spins around and that describes the “light, spinning sensation” in his mouth. Ryo says, “to the man who made it, it is just a single, small croissant but it is one giant leap for the bread industry”. This recipe puts the Japanese national identity as the main character within the history of mankind.
These two examples have shown the importance of food reactions as a tool to present cultural habits, values and identity. These can be seen in the appearance of food and other cultural products and events.
Shokugeki no Soma and (different) food reactions
Shokugeki no Soma uses the same principles of food reactions as the anime discussed before but does it on its own way and adds something that is unique within food anime. Shokugeki no Soma is that the food reactions in these series do not put national identities in a hierarchy. Every dish is rather shown perfectly and “worthy” of being served. Just like the previous two anime, the dishes communicate certain places in the world, which are linked with national cuisines, identities and culture.
The first dish which connects a dish to a place such as the Rainbow Terrine, appearing in episode 12: The Memory of a Dish (Hito-sara no Kioku) from Megumi Tadokoro envelops in a flavor profile that takes you into the youth of Megumi where she learns to cook
vegetables with her mother. When chef Shinomiya eats it, he is brought into tears as it reminds him of his own childhood where his mother caresses him even though he is an outlaw. The second one is in episode 13: The Eggs Before Dawn (Yoake Mae no Tamago-tachi). The Eggs Benedict from Erina Nakiri takes the eater back to a restaurant in New York, where it has been stated that these eggs are the queens of breakfast. It then shows Erina in a golden hall, inside a golden castle, as a queen who sits on the throne to visualize how delicious her eggs benedict is. The third one is cooked in episode 8 The Concerto of
Inspiration and Imagination (Hasso to Sozo no Kyosokyoku): Grilled Duck with Herbs and Green Sauce from the Aldini Brothers are taking chef Inui to Italy where she enjoys an opera play where the duck is singing an aria. All food reactions can be read as recipes. They
describe how a dish should look and taste like. It is almost like taking a trip to a country to experience the culture. The dishes are exploring the food as living stories, connecting the right feelings to each country where the dish comes from originally.
The neutrality of the different national cuisines is best seen in the dishes which are made in the preliminaries from episode 19 The Chosen One (Erabareshi Mono) till episode 24 The Banquet of Warrior (Senshi-tachi no Utage). These are all based on the same topic: curry. Each national cuisine can make its own version of curry with special national herbs,
preparations and ingredients. The essence of curry is always the same: it consists of herbs. These herbs can be from any cuisine, that is why this dish is the ultimate “do-it-yourself” dish.
The Pineapple Cha-han from Miyoko Hojo, the heiress to the oldest establishment in Chinatown, is representing the fighting spirit of China. Her dish is a reinvention of the
national Sweet and Sour Pork dish. The ingredients used are telling a lot about the personality of Miyoko (and China). The pineapple stands for the sweet (and sour) character and the spikes outside for the hardness of Miyoko. She looks down upon men and wants to run the restaurant with an iron fist: that is why she is called the Iron Fire Dragon Girl after the judges tasted her dish. China is also represented through Hisako Arato with her Mutton Curry. This time, another side of the Chinese cuisine is highlighted through their medicinal cuisine. It is a cuisine based on medicines that were served for the Chinese royal family back in the days. The purpose was the give the body energy to achieve and maintain a body that was in harmony. It presents the care character of Hisako towards her queen Erina Nakiri. Italy is presented through Isami and Takumi Aldini with the Italian classics Curry Calzone and Curry Pasta. The pasta is made perfectly and showcases how the Italian cuisine is master of this type
of dough. There is also a representation of India with the Naan Curry from Akira Hayama. Being a fragrant bomb, it seduces the judges with the colors and fragrances of India and leads them into calling him the Prince of Spices in a setting of 1001 Arabian Nights. Japan comes along through the dishes from Megumi with her Monkfish Dobu-jiru and Soma with his Curry Risotto Omurice. When the judges eat it, they are transported from the judging table to a cozy home, sitting at a Japanese low table on the ground with a shared blanket over their legs. This is a traditional living room setting that is unique to Japan. Both are typical Japanese dishes that bring the Japanese hospitality and importance of family to the table. All these identities are neutral as they are celebrated and brought together under the roof of Totsuki.
Shokugeki no Soma discusses national identities without a specific cuisine coming forward as a favorite. It shows the beauty and brilliance each cuisine has and visualizes this in extremely beautiful dishes. There is no distinction and ranking.
Food and power relations
Shokugeki no Soma displays various national cuisines and identities. It does not provide foreignness of “us” and the “others”. Shokugeki no Soma rather divides world cuisines on a scale of pleasure. It is not necessarily about putting national identities against each other but rather next to each other. It is not about who is the bad and the evil ones, but it is about the pleasure of food. The mechanic has thus changed from a history-revisiting site to a scale of satisfaction. The bigger the excitement is, the better the dish. Shokugeki no Soma does this with the implementation of aesthetics of pornography that is common in contemporary television cooking shows. According to Chan, they appeal to our perverse or hidden side by having the same aesthetics as porn movies. The way chefs are preparing the food, with their bodies leaning over the kitchen counter, licking their lips and or fingers and slowly slicing through an ingredient, making it all look like foreplay before the actual dish has come. He talks about the idealization of food: surreal color and anatomy (47). Every step into preparing the food for the dish is stimulating, not only the final plate is satisfying but also the journey is pleasurable. It serves as foreplay, which is undeniable needed for the climax at the end. The food in the anime series is constructing sexual fantasies, the one better than the other, in food reactions. I will describe the first food reaction from the series to demonstrate how it differs
from the food reactions from the previous two anime Yumeiro Patissiere and Yakitate!! Japan as Shokugeki no Soma gives other qualities to food.
Yaeko Minegasaki visits Yukihara Diner in the first episode called Hatenaki Koya (An Endless Wasteland). She threatens Soma to destroy the restaurant and build a luxurious hotel instead. The diner can only exist if Soma makes a delicious meat dish but she ordered her minions beforehand to spoil all the meat at the diner. However, Soma accepts her offer and says that she will leave the restaurant alone if he makes her a satisfactory dish. Even though there is no meat anymore, Soma has some groceries he bought for tomorrows breakfast. He mimics a roast pork roast that consists bacon and mashed potatoes that have very special and sexy roles. Soma sounds as the hero who saves the day but the actual star is the pork roast. It already starts with the potatoes. When they are smashed, the fluffiness of the potatoes is enhanced by the sound of it. The splurging and whipping sounds are taking over the visuals. The potatoes are also drawn like clouds. By making the appearance like another object, the viewer can relate it to each other. Therefore, the viewer understands how fluffy it must be because it looks like clouds. This fluffy light texture is accompanied with the richness and fatness of bacon. When the mashed potatoes are wrapped with bacon, and then goes into the oven, the juices from the meat is seeping into the yellow gold.
Finally, the dish is finished and Soma presents it to Yaeko and her minions. They are astonished that a meat dish is presented to them. However, because Soma explains that it is a mimic roast, she initially refused to eat it. But then the aromas of the roast are visualized as strings that are going into their nostrils: it is hard to resist the smell and they swallow their throat. The dish is calling them to eat him and when Yaeko finally takes a piece with her fork, which is gliding as smooth as a knife into soft butter, she tastes. The moment it hits the spot, we are now in another world. This is the world from the pork roast. The yellow background, standing for the potatoes, and the splashing juices, which are representing the bacon, are accompanied with the naked bodies from Yaeko and her minions. They are floating around in this roast world and are being splurged with these juices. These golden fountains are splashing their intimate parts as they scream “NIKU JUICES!” which means “meat juices” in Japanese. It is so juicy, that it indicates the body fluids to flow tremendously. It is as if the dish is seducing you and gives you the ultimate orgasm.
The food reactions in the series are all like this. The food transcends the boundaries of just “being nutrients” and “being food on the plate”. Sunnerstam argues that boundaries “(…) are that which separate for example subjects from objects and one term from its binary Other (…)”. She also quotes Haraway who tells, “it is in social interaction that the boundaries of objects are materialized and that objects never pre-exist as such” (16). Shokugeki no Soma opens up these boundaries and let the dishes interact with the body of its eater. The material (food) exchange between the dish and its eater shifts the boundaries of objects, which are producing meaning. It is the dish creating satisfaction for the body and therefore it serves as a material exchange for power relation. The dish is being objectified as “another body”.
Food as the body and the body as food
Shokugeki no Soma uses national dishes to tell (background) stories about the dishes and to convey the culture with its habits and traditions to the eater. However, it does something unusual because in these food reactions, the human body is always naked. There is no inference of clothes and thus context and meaning. The sexual fantasy strips the body so the dish has a clear canvas to paint its national identity on the bare skin. The ingredients are poured, when liquid, over the body such as the honey in episode 3 That Chef Never Smiles (Kono Ryorinin wa Warawanai) or the body is buried in them, as with the onions in episode 7 A Quiet Don, An Eloquent Don (Shizukanaru Don, Yuben’na Don). The ingredients are enveloping the body and enriche them with their national flavors. Therefore, it is a question “who” actually eats “who”: the human body is transforming into the “body” of the dish and the “body” of the dish is being eaten by the human body as “plain” food. It creates a circle of transformations that can be seen as “lovemaking between bodies”. It is because the food is idealized by hard colors, high contrasts and high saturation that are contributing into
developing a fantasied version of food. It is eliminating the bad characteristics of food such as bad spots, discoloring and deformed ingredients. Everything is shown in a perfect state: the ultimate dream. The creation of food as “bodies” is done in three ways.
Firstly, food mimics the ultimate curvy female body. In episode 23 called Hana Hiraku Ko no Kyoen (The Competition of the Blossoming Individuals) “Meat Master” Mito Ikumi presents her Chinese Dongpo Pork Curry. It shows how A5-grade meat, the most premium meat, can seduce the judges and viewers. “Dongpo pork is a dish where pork belly is braised with soy sauce. Just look at the beauty of this meat. It is glistening!” says one judge.
Another one says: “Because the meat and the fat layers alternate to form three layers, this cut is sometimes called “three-layer meat. Even the slightest touch on the plate sends the meat trembling! (…) Even before my first bite, my tongue is already enjoying the anticipation”. The pork belly is already seducing and appetizing the judges before they even tasted it. When Ikumi lifts of the lid of the bowls, the thick cuts are presented as a wet dream. Everything is soaked with sauce, including the bok choy and white rice. The wiggling meat looks like the actual body curves of Ikumi, imitating her wiggling breasts and bottoms. It mimics the curves of a real body to seduce its eater to take a bite in order to achieve the same body.
Secondly, eating is shown as something intimate. When you eat food, the only way to enter is through the mouth. An English poet whose work represents subjects like sexuality and instinct is D.H. Lawrence. He stated that erotic was the base of life that is why I took his quote from Delphi Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence that describes how the mouth works in relation to sensuality:
“Take the mouth, with the sense of taste. The mouth is primarily the gate of the two chief sensual centers. It is the gateway to the belly and the loins. Through the mouth, we eat and we drink. In the mouth, we have the sense of taste. At the lips, too, we kiss. And the kiss of the mouth is the first sensual connection.” (n.p.)
One dish particularly takes the usage of the mouth in an extreme way: French Lobster Curry from Ryo Kurokiba, also seen in episode 23. This dish is rather prepared very violently as Ryo crushes the shells of lobster and shrimps into powder. Also, the presentation is quite a sight: the flame red lobster is a huge contradiction with the yellow saffron rice, making it aesthetically beautiful and appetizing. The lobster has been braised in cognac, creating a fragrant wooden flavour. The dish is being judged but Ryo says that the tasting is not over yet. Here comes the part where addiction comes in: he shows droppers with more cognac inside and states that the judges must insert in into the lobster head and eats its tomally. “Put a few drops of this inside the shell, then slurp up the tomally. That is the best way to eat it”, he commands. The faces of the judges turn red as they blush because they have to eat it in a “crude manner” which is slurping. It looks like they are resisting but in fact they cannot wait to slurp it down. Their faces are displayed as hungry hyena’s that cannot wait to devour the animal that is in front of them. “It will even taste better than before”, says Ryo, while the shot
is put in slow motion as a judge reaches with her hand to the dropper. While the judges are gulping the lobster head, there is a zoom in of this action. The head is glistening with golden sparkles everywhere while the mouths are sucking it. It looks like kissing, as the dish makes explicitly contact with both bodies of the animate and inanimate.
Thirdly and lastly, food refers to another cultural product. Nao Sadatsuka presents her dish in episode 21 called Michinaru Kichi (The Unknown Known). Her Asian Special Jet-Black Curry Laksa has such a pungent smell that it is compared to the smell of an unscrubbed toilet and concentrated sewage. This is due to the use of kusaya, as one judge explains, “it is a famous dried fish from the Izu islands. Saltwater in which dried fish has been submerged for decades, a brining solution known as kusaya is used to flavor blueback fish such as sardines. The fish is then dried in the sun. it is very pungent”. No one wants to taste it due to its smell, but then the only female judge tries a bite solely to perform her duty as a judge. After one bite, she digs into the bowl of slippery noodles. The use of kusaya is enhancing the laksa and deepening the flavor. Inside the food reaction, the female judge wears a SM outfit while banded with chains. The other judges are naked and banded while they are inside the bowl of broth. The way of the display and composition reminds of another cultural product. It mimics the image called Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife from Katsuhika Hokusai. The BBC
highlighted the work from the artist in a digital article that talked about the new exhibition at the British Museum. It featured over 150 pieces of Japanese erotic art. Hokusai is highlighted because he made the artwork that is famous. The BBC describes this woodblock print from 1814:
“It is one of the most salacious images in the history of art: deep underwater, a gigantic pink octopus drags a naked young woman into a cleft between two rocks. As his coiling tentacles slither over her blemish-free body, caressing a nipple and encircling her nubile legs, this unlikely molluscoid lover pleasures his prostrate captive, who throws back her head in ecstasy while a second, smaller octopus plants a tender kiss upon her mouth.” (n.p.)
The reference to Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife embodies the dish like the naked young woman from the artwork. To also become just like her and experience the same Asian ecstasy, you should eat this dish.
These three transformations of the dish as a “body” display a different characteristic to food than in the traditional food anime. Shokugeki no Soma uses the dish to not only mediate its national identity, but also to convert its eater to its beliefs and values. Food has been materialized as an actual “body” which can exchange power relation with its eater.
Shokugeki no Soma uses pornography aesthetics to alter the persons who are eating it as food is important in the negotiations of boundaries. Eating is exchanging power relations. It serves as a mediator for national identities and implies it on the eater. This process is shown as a sexual fantasy where everything is perfect, “subtly evident in the surreally colored foods, anatomically perfect chicken” (Chan 47). It creates a simulacrum of food where everything is glorified and its abilities maximized. The national identities are not put into a competition as everything is being absorbed. There is no “we” and the “other”, everyone and everything become part of the same (Totsuki) community. It looks like Shokugeki no Soma treats each country with “respect” and as the “same” but there is a hierarchy between these national identities. Even though the food looks objective and tells the most perfect and idealized stories, there is a social construction through the transformative characters of food. This exists of the cooks who make the dish. They have the power and agency about which story is being told. So even if the dishes are tested on a degree of fulfilment, pleasure and satisfaction, they are still competing through the cooks. The dish is the tool for power, but the agency lies at the cook. In the next chapter I will argue how these different cooks are all part of the Japanese culture.
Chapter 3: How does Shokugeki no Soma addresses national identities competitively and challenges what it consider being the unique qualities of Japanese cuisine?
In the previous chapter I have talked about national identities conveyed through dishes. These dishes are specialties from each country, transmitting their cultural values and traditions through eating. In this chapter I will talk about how Totsuki Academy is a global identity arena where multiple national identities are represented with characters, expressing cultural values through their cooking. However, I limit the characters, and not every nationality will be addressed because they are not specifically outlined in the series. I only mention these characters because they are important for the narrative. The analysed episodes are picked on a
basis where the cooks are presenting their cooking skills as a chef for the first time in the anime. It serves as their “own” introduction in the anime where their stereotypical traits are the most visible. To find these national identities, theory about stereotypes will be used to pinpoint them through an image analysis. I will argue that these characters are indeed mediating national identities that are used in a battle setting at Totsuki, but that they are not fighting for their own “survival”, but fighting for the attention of one boy. I will look through a narrative analysis that The West and the East are represented, but are rather used to enforce the Japanese identity. Following this, I will look at the national identities from the West, which are American and Italian. Then the dominant Asian identity will be explained through Megumi and Soma and how his cooking and persona represent the underlying altering character of Japanese culture. Taking into account the theory on stereotypes and the analysis of Shokugeki no Soma, I will argue that each national identity is used to show the
transformative national identity of Japan.
Stereotypes and cuisines
Mireille Rosello analysed how stereotypes came to existence. They originate from the
typography. It is an image that can be used again to reproduce its image again. A stereotype is the same thing. While it its image is used repeatedly, it reproduces a stereotype. “Stereotypes were precisely created to protect ideas from the wear and tear of materiality” (23). This repeating of images is iteration. The original image is maintained by this repetition and reproduction. It does not matter if the image resembles reality, but these images are seen as the reality. “Stereotypes are not just inanimate objects; they are steeped in ideology, they are endowed with a multifaceted ideological, political, commercial, and social soul” (22). Stereotypes are not hard to identify, as they are simplistic. By using stereotypes, there is no correct representation of reality, however is it recognizable. It is not easy to go against these images. When a change or adaptation of stereotypes occur, there arises a vicious circle. To break a stereotype, you must point it out. But if that happens, iteration comes in play so the image is reinforced while trying to change it. That is why stereotypes maintain to exist. Shokugeki no Soma uses stereotypes to express certain nationalities thought the looks and cooking of characters. It reinforces them but manages to break them as well using images and narratives. Stereotypes are rather used to display the Japanese national identity as an evolving structure where the relationship between images and representation are connected to power and domination.
