Why Potato? Why Rice?
A Comparison of Food Culture in The Netherlands and Japan
A Comparison of Food Culture in The Netherlands and Japan
Leon de Vreede
A Question of Culinary Reflection
I arrived in Japan a mere 3 months ago in order to teach English in public schools near Nagoya. When asked by curious Japanese people where I am from, I will not hesitate to say "Oranda" (Holland / The Netherlands). I will also not hesitate to say, perhaps a little further on in the conversation, that "I love Japanese food!" "Sushi, sashimi, miso shiru, umeboshi, tempura, takoyaki: you name it, I'll eat it," I exclaim to my jubilant hosts. I also love Japanese culture. My particular interest is in the interplay between a culture and the food it consumes, and I am curious how Dutch and Japanese cultures find a sense of identity through the food they eat.
　 Mashed potatoes or Miso shiru? Stroopwafels or sushi? This is not an essay comparing and contrasting Dutch and Japanese food items or preferences. Instead, it seeks to understand the cultural values expressed through general food choices. In other words, rather than simply observe that "the Dutch prefer potatoes prepared in such a way, whereas the Japanese enjoy rice prepared like so," I believe it is far more interesting and culturally insightful to ask "how is Dutch culture expressed through the eating of potato, and how is that similar or dissimilar to the expression of Japanese culture in the eating of rice?" Thus, "why potato, why rice?" becomes the focus. Clearly, there will be no concrete answers. This will be a light sampling of taste and habit in a brief review of two unique and very different food cultures.
Appetizer: Cultural Foods vs. Consumer Foods
Before I delve too far into cultural foods, I need to disclaim that the majority of people in Holland, and some people in Japan, do not actually eat much traditional food anymore. Food tastes (in Holland especially) have, in the past 50 years, become so internationalized as to have reached a high degree of cultural fusion and big-brand-name product orientation. Case in point: a brand-name breakfast cereal happily eaten by a Dutch child is indisti?nguishable from the same cereal eaten by children in Japan, the U.S., England, Canada, Brazil, or any other part of the globe. For the purpose of defining terms, I will refer to the modern phenomenon of culture-transcending instant meals, frozen foods, fast foods, breakfast cereals, and other such mass-produced, packaged, and branded food products as `consumer foods', in order to distinguish them from the regional uniqueness and ethnic character of `cultural foods'. Though some ambiguity will remain, the fundamental difference is that cultural foods reflect the culinary history of a population, and are still prepared from basic ingredients by members of that population. In effect, consumer food is the antithesis of cultural food, as it competes with regional diversity and tradition, and compromises the ability of people to prepare their own food from scratch.
Main Course: Bread and Potatoes in Holland
The potato (Solanum tuberosum) was introduced to Europe from South America in the 17th century and has, together with bread products, formed the main food staple of Holland and much of Europe. Before the 19th century, however, Europeans largely considered potato unfit to eat, a strange root crop to be fed only to pigs and poor people. Yet once the potato's nutritional and agricultural value was recognized (among other benefits, its high vitamin C content helped prevent scurvy in sailors), it became a popular food, especially among the lower classes. What does the history of the humble potato -- starchy, nutritious, simple to grow, and easy to store and prepare -- tell us about Dutch culture? In 1885 the young Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh painted De Aardappeleters ("The Potato Eaters"), which portrays a poor Dutch peasant family sharing a simple meal of potato. Of his sober, earthy painting van Gogh said, "…I've tried to bring out the idea that these people … have dug the earth with the self-same hands they are now putting into the dish, and it thus suggests manual labor and ? a meal honestly earned." 1
The earning of an honest living through simple a lifestyle and hard work is a value that can be traced back to what has been coined the `Protestant work ethic'. Since the Reformation (16th century), Holland has long been a bastion of Protestant (Calvinist) Christian culture in Europe, and for several centuries the rallying cry of `hard work and service to God' shaped Dutch popular culture and industry. From the time of the Middle Ages, up to the turn of the 20th century, the Dutch were known for being simple but thrifty and industrious people, and our unadorned yet functional meals of potato, meat, and bread reflected these cultural values. Though a richer court culture of refinement was maintained by the upper classes, many of its lavish habits and foods were imported from the aristocracy of France and Germany. The traditional foods that we consider to be truly `Dutch' are a legacy of the peasant people.
During the colonial period, Holland prospered thanks to its growing position as a port nation and a center of trade activity. New foods and tastes were imported, and foreigners from the colonies started to immigrate to Holland, the effects of which have has strongly shaped Dutch culture and politics ever since. Thanks to trade and the entrepreneurial culinary undertakings of the new residents, the Dutch developed a love for international cuisine. Meals became enriched by new imports from distant and exotic lands: tea and spices such as nutmeg and pepper came from Indonesia and other colonies. However, not all Dutch people welcomed the new settlers and tastes (some still don't, even today), and traditional meals of bread and potato were still eaten in most homes. One common Dutch expression epitomizes this attitude: "de boer lust niet wat hij niet kent" ("the farmer doesn't like that which is unknown to him"). One reason may be that in the Calvinist tradition, notions of glamour, frivolousness and expensive tastes were commonly associated with gluttony and indulgence, which the popular mind saw as? shortcomings of the rich. Another reason may be that potato and bread were cheap, easy to produce and prepare, and nutritious. Any farmer could grow potatoes by him or herself, granting farming households a high degree of nutritional independence. Thus, simplicity, thriftiness, efficiency, and self-sufficiency were favored over excess. The Dutch became the advanced, seafaring people with the simple ways. We had access to all the world's exotic ingredients, but in the privacy of our homes, most of us still preferred to eat the same humble dishes our parents ate. This characteristic element is still very much alive in Dutch culture today, especially among the older generations.
After the suppression and scarcity of World War II, however, the pendulum swung the other way: we loosened our belts and Dutch food choices became increasingly international. This was accompanied by a further influx of foreign immigrants, to the point where a significant percentage of our modern population is of South-East Asian, Surinamese, African, Turkish, Chinese, and Eastern European ancestry. These subcultures have largely maintained their own traditional food cultures, adding much diversity to the national food culture. Today, though many Dutch people still enjoy a good potato meal, traditional potato dishes are often considered to be a thing of our grandparent's generation, an old and somewhat bland style of cooking that is far less exciting than fast food, or the many dishes offered cheaply on the international food market. Finally, the past decades have seen an increasing consumption of branded `consumer foods', especially in the areas of fast foods and snack foods, and an increasing share of the restaurant and consumables market is being overtaken by large companies and restaurant chains.
Dutch food culture reflects elements of Dutch culture in several ways. Firstly, it shows us that the relatively homogenous native Dutch were a rational, thrifty, and hard-working people. As evidenced by the success of the potat?o, our meals were, and generally continue to be, simple, to the point, and unadorned (even international meals are usually prepared with ease and simplicity in mind). Preparation, presentation, and consumption etiquettes are simple and often ignored, and we also employ as few cooking and eating tools as possible. At the same time, the Dutch have an international reputation for being globally-minded people: we are generally fond of other cultures and their foods, as evidenced by our ethnically diverse population, and the popularity of international cuisines in Holland. Unfortunately, this paradox of old and new has a darker side: it reflects an increasing disconnection from our common past, and a dwindling sense of cultural identity. Whether we will reclaim a `Dutch identity' or move into complete internationalization, is a topic of heated social and political debate at this time, and tensions have recently boiled over into incidents of ethnic violence. Is our conscious internationalization a culturally enriching process that is experiencing some `growing pains'? Or is it that, in the growing void left behind by our disappearing home culture, are we are turning towards the international and the global (including globalized `consumer foods') to take its place?
Main Course: Rice and Seafood in Japan
Japanese `cultural food' is, as far as my limited experience has been able to comprehend, diverse, highly refined, regionally distinct, and at the same time accompanied by a rich cultural etiquette of preparation, presentation, and consumption. To start with the basics, Japanese cuisine has centered on rice since the crop was introduction from mainland China about 2000 years ago. Not just any rice, but Japanese short-grained rice: Oryza sativa, subspecies japonica. Indeed, the Japanese are so fond of their homeland rice that they hardly import any rice at all, an incredible feat for a crowded industrialized nation that could easily convert more of its agricultural land to more profitable land use. Yet t?he popular insistence, and corresponding government policy structure, is to produce and consume Japanese rice. Is this rice so popular because of certain characteristics that give it a superior quality, taste or texture, and therefore make it an obvious better choice when compared to many varieties grown in Asia, even if they are cheaper to import? Or is the overwhelming vote of the Japanese people for this particular rice because… well… because it's Japanese? The answer to this complex question will probably reveal much about Japanese food choices, and in turn, about the Japanese people. Japanese food culture has evolved greatly over the centuries. Of historical significance is a major physical feature of Japan ? it is comprised of an archipelago of islands separated from the mainland by a considerable sea voyage. This means that in addition to having been highly influenced by the mainland, Japanese culture has also experienced times of isolation, resulting in a cultural `island effect': a high degree of cultural development due to internal rather than external forces. New language, technology, cultural values, political structures, and foods have been introduced to Japan in successive waves over the centuries. In response, the Japanese have had the time to personalize and refine those introduced cultural elements, creating a rich and distinct Japanese culture.
During the Classical era (538-1185 CE), the aristocratic ruling class developed a fine court culture, and Japanese culinary taste began its long journey of refinement. The drinking of tea, and with it, the tea ceremony, was imported from China and then refined during the Feudal era (1185-1603). The kaiseki, or exquisitely prepared light meal accompanying the Japanese tea ceremony, blended flavor, taste, seasonal appropriateness, and aesthetic arrangement into a unique art form. During the prosperous and relatively peaceful Edo Period (1600-1867), Japan secluded itself from the rest of the world, and its culture evolved internally. Culinary? delights were again taken to new heights and food became more stylized, with the newly popular bento, or Japanese lunchbox meal, representing both popular and upper-class attraction to this idea. It was also during this period that sushi as we know it today became immensely popular, having evolved from a method of preserving fish with salt and fermenting it with rice. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 returned power to the Emperor, and placed Japan onto the world stage, launching it into the modern era. In the last 50 years, the influence of brand-name `consumer foods' has grown but has not become a replacement for Japanese cuisine in the way that it has in Holland.
Though modern Japanese food culture is complex, I will characterize it by comparing it to Dutch food culture. First of all, despite the growing effects of the consumer food movement, Japanese food has retained a worldwide reputation as being refined and of good quality. Many regard Japanese food as haute-couture ? a cross between a nutritional necessity and an art form. This alone is enough to differentiate it from simple, to-the-point traditional Dutch cuisine. The implication is that, compared to the Dutch, the Japanese continue to appreciate a sense of their `high' culture. The Dutch, by comparison, had developed a less extensive `high' culture, and as mentioned earlier, we are struggling to maintain any sense of shared culture at all, whether `high culture' or `popular culture'.
Secondly, for a highly developed nation that is a major player on the world economic and political stage, Japan has retained a surprisingly popular traditional food culture. Whereas the Dutch only sometimes eat the same meals that our ancestors would have eaten 200 years ago, the Japanese have held on to their popular culinary traditions. Japanese households still prepare frequent rice-based meals such as ichiju-sansai (rice, soup, and 3 side dishes), drink miso shiru for breakfast, and partake in traditional meals during ceremonies and visits with family eld?ers. Thus, Japanese food culture retains its historical and regional connectedness. This mirrors the sense of Japanese cultural identity, which is shared widely by its more or less ethnically homogeneous population (it's rare to see people of African or even European descent in most places in Japan).
Finally, the Japanese have been spectacularly adept at assimilating foods from other cultures. Examples of popular fusion dishes include tempura and pan from the Portuguese, curry-rice from the English, and numerous dishes such as ramen noodles from the Chinese and Koreans. Yet even once these fusion dishes had been assimilated, the Japanese strongly differentiated them from their own native menu, calling them seiyoshoku ("Western cuisine"), as opposed to washoku, ("Japanese cuisine"). This need to distinguish that which is Japanese from that which is not, is so strong that the Japanese even invented a separate syllabary, katakana, to keep record of the new loan words. By comparison, most people in Holland have long since forgotten where most of our language and food comes from, and have tended to embrace foreign cultural elements as our own rather than maintain an artificial boundary between the native and the foreign. This reveals an important value of Japanese society: the sublime importance of being Japanese. On the one hand, it promotes social cohesion, empathy, and a feeling of common heritage. It's darker side, however, is that it can also take the form of nationalistic or ethnocentric sentiment. Many of these descriptions would be absent in a similar assessment of Dutch culture, which tends to value individualism, globalism, and rational thinking over structured sentiment.
Dessert: Conclusion
In conclusion, I present Dutch and Japanese cultures in the following light: the former has never had room to fully develop a `high culture' for itself, and is well into a modern process of cultural fusion and diffusion, while the latter is still holding tightly onto its `high culture', resisting a tak?eover by globalizing forces by fervently reinforcing its self-identity.
Why potato? Because the Dutch found it simple, appropriate and convenient, but international foods are fulfilling those same needs and have resulted in new food choices. The Dutch treat food choices rationally, and see food culture as interchangeable.
Why (Japanese) rice? Because the Japanese are connected to their culinary and cultural heritage, and are trying to preserve it in the face of globalizing processes. The Japanese regard their traditional food as part of their intrinsic identity, and choose to remain connected to it .
In the end, will the Dutch rediscover a sense of culinary and cultural identity, or will our culture fade forever into historical oblivion? On the other hand, will the Japanese hold proudly onto their national identity and traditional foods, or will they too succumb to the culture-destroying effects of globalization and the consumer food movement? Despite the many differences between the two food cultures, one thing binds them in a common process: the struggle between maintaining a cultural identity, and dissolving into the unknown. A related, and perhaps more disturbing question, is will the terms of the emerging global food culture be determined by the big brand name companies? Or will it be created by the people of the world's nations, who can choose to remember how to prepare their own traditional foods from basic ingredients? I believe that it is up to those who care about culture and cuisine to help support and preserve traditional food cultures, for future generations to enjoy and cherish.
Bibliography: Background Information
1. Dutch cuisine. (2006, June 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:47, June 26, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_cuisine&oldid=59983217.
2. History of Japan. (2006, June 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:51, June 26, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Japan&oldid=60483559.
3. Hosking, R. (1997). A Dictionary of Japanese Food: Ingredients & Culture. Rutland Vermont: Tuttle Publishing.
4. Japanese cuisine. (2006, June 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:50, June 26, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Japanese_cuisine&oldid=59447038.
5. Vincent van Gogh: The Letters (Arles: 1888-89). (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2006, from http://www.vggallery.com/letters/to_theo_arles.htm
References:
http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/kicainc/ronbun/2007ron/Vreede.htm
