12

A flood of immigrants into the primarily Anglosociety introduced new races, religions, languagesand lifestyles to American culture. Someresponses to the diversification of Americansociety were blatantly prejudiced, such as the ten-year enforcement of a law enacted in 1882 thatprohibited immigration from China because it wasthought that a man who eats beef and breadcannot work alongside a man who eats rice.Within the American middle class, most of whichsimply hoped to preserve the dominance of theAnglo culture, was a group passionately fightingto assimilate recent immigrants into theestablished American society. These peopleattempted a variety of methods to convertimmigrants from the traditional foods of theirnative countries to the traditional home-stylecooking of New England, referred to at the time

as “America’s Correct Food”.One of the first of many attempts to Anglicizeimmigrants was the New England Kitchen,established in 1890 by Ellen Richards, who laterbecame the first president of the American HomeEconomics Association. The first womanadmitted to the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT), Richards and the NewEngland Kitchen offered low-cost and nutritiousfood to migrant workers and working-classfamilies, as well as instruction in the preparationof convenient and nutritionally consistent NewEngland dishes. However, the New EnglandKitchen and the home economics movementcriticized the diets of immigrants—for example,the Jewish mother who failed to teach herchildren self-restraint by always giving them thebest meat and eggs—and stringently imposedAnglo cooking styles. “America’s Correct Food”was so called because it looked at food from apractical standpoint, consisting of ingredientsmeasured for their nutritional value and providinga consistent, healthy diet. In making mealspractical by emphasizing the nutritional value andconvenience of New England dishes, however,

Crossroads of the Food Cultures of the World

Hiroko KatoMs. Kato was born in Tokyo in 1970and graduated from WasedaUniversity’s School of PoliticalScience and Economics in 1993. Inthe same year, Ms. Kato beganworking in the editorial departmentof the women’s monthly magazineLEE, published by Shueisha. In1999 Ms. Kato quit her job andbegan working as a freelance

journalist in the field of lifestyle and culture. Ms. Kato visited Maryland in the United States and became amember of The Vegetarian Resource Group. She then wrotearticles covering the conditions, eating habits, and health benefitsof American vegetarians. Since returning to Japan, Ms. Kato hasbeen working in Japanese-American media and authored suchworks as Sushi Purizu! Amerikajin Sushi wo Kuu, Shueisha 2002;“Shakitto Itameru” wo Eigo de Iu to, Gentosha 2002; and TaberuAmerikajin, Taishukan Shoten 2003.

”America’s Correct Food” from a Practical Standpoint

The Fusion of Various Food Cultures Yields a New American Cuisine

Summary of the article The Dream of the Massesfor a Rich Diet is Realized, presented in FOODCULTURE No. 9Among the many changes in the American diet following theDeclaration of Independence, one of the most noteworthy wasthe introduction of canned foods. Canning made a variety offoods portable while preserving them for extended periods oftime. These benefits became widely recognized during the CivilWar. Another major modification in the American diet followingthe Civil War was the proliferation of beef. Though buffalohunting was a thriving industry when the transcontinentalrailroad was completed, over-hunting soon reduced buffaloherds to near extinction. As the number of buffalo dwindled,the cattle originally introduced to Mexico by the Spanishconquistadors were flourishing. Cowboys from Texas beganbringing herds of these cattle north from Mexico, launching thesuccessful American beef industry. At the same time, theAmerican breakfast was revolutionized by the introduction andcommercialization of cereals like corn flakes and oatmeal. At the beginning of the 20th century, a new wave of immigrantsmade their way to the U.S. from poorer European nations,bringing with them the food cultures of their native countries.Of these, dishes imported from Italy became especiallycommon in households throughout the country. In addition,Chinese and Mexican dishes were introduced as were thedishes of new Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim immigrants, resultingin the further diversification of the American food culture.

the home economics movement eliminated the sensualand communal aspects of eating. While New Englanddishes were considered traditional American foods bythe women of the home economics movement,“America’s Correct Food” bore no trace of the foodcultures of non-Anglo immigrants.This social experiment failed and the New EnglandKitchen closed after just three years. In all likelihood,the large number of immigrants found the regularcriticism of their own food cultures and the monotonyof dishes prepared with consideration only for economyand nutritional value wearisome. It seems that whatEllen Richards perceived as goodwill was not seen assuch by the so-called beneficiaries of her services.Immigrants to America simply added truly Americanfoods, such as cereal, Coca Cola and ice cream, to thefood cultures they brought with them from their nativecountries.

Cooking from a practical standpoint became morewidespread in the second half of the 19th century, whenthe publishing of cookbooks began to flourish. Thestandard American cookbook became known for simple,easy-to-understand recipes that anyone could reproduce.With quantities noted in terms of tablespoons and cups,and unmistakable, brief instructions regarding cookingtimes and changes that occur with cooking, the need forintuition or experience in preparing dishes wascompletely eliminated.One of the reasons that cookbooks became so popular inthe U.S. was the great number of immigrants from avariety of countries. Prior to mass-producedcookbooks, housewives exchanged their own favoriterecipes, using ambiguous descriptions such as “a little"of this or “a pinch” of that. This all changed withpublication of the Boston Cooking-School Cookbook in1896. The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook was written byFannie Farmer, lecturer at the Boston Cooking Schooland the inventor of the concept of measuring spoons.Many of Farmer’s students were recent immigrants tothe U.S. While those who grew up in American societylearned recipes by following the example of theirmothers and other women in their neighborhoods, andcould make sense of vague instructions based onexperience, this simply was not so for recent immigrantsused to a different food culture and even language.Originally written as a textbook, Famer's week usedsimple and concise descriptions so that anyone couldcorrectly reproduce her dishes over and over, regardless

of their language ability or their level of education.Although the three thousand original copies of theBoston Cooking-School Cookbook, well-received bymiddle-class women of the day, sold out immediatelyand the book, now known as the Fannie FarmerCookbook, can be purchased even today, FannieFarmer was criticized for having produced “an insipidmanual of traditional American recipes handed downfrom mother to daughter.” However, in a nationcomprising so many cultures and backgrounds, howcould the book have been any different and remainuseful to so many?

In the 1920s, the United States became the world’s firstmass-consumer society. While only the wealthy ownedautomobiles at the beginning of the 20th century, muchof the populace was able to purchase automobiles justtwenty years later. Industrialization meant that manypeople gave up their farms and rural lives for jobs asfactory workers in the city. Although new immigrants continued to arrive daily inthe U.S., the women could earn more working infactories than they could as domestic servants. Adecreasing domestic labor force meant that housewives

13

From Family Recipes to Cookbook Recipes

The Effects of Industrialization and the Mass Media

As women joined the labor force in factories, processed foodappeared with instant success (©Granger Collection/PPS)

were obliged to direct their energies towardspreparation of satisfying—in terms of flavor andvolume—and healthy meals in a limited amount oftime. These women found nearly all of their problemssolved by the emerging processed-food industry.In addition to canned foods, which continued toincrease in variety, frozen foods began to appear on themarket in the 1920s. At the same time, instant foods,such as cake mixes that made baking a cake as simpleas adding an egg and water and popping it in the oven,were introduced. Although the flavor of theseprocessed and instant foods was inferior to that of

homemade dishes, they did allow for quick preparationof inexpensive and healthy meals.It is thought that this practical approach to meals helpedto popularize canned and instant foods in the U.S.Housewives soon came to think of the time spentpreparing meals from scratch using fresh ingredients asold-fashioned and began acquiring recipes from radioprograms, magazines and cookbooks. In addition, themass media came to be supported by processed- andpackaged-food manufacturer advertisementsintroducing recipes using their products. The WashburnCrosby Company—one of six milling companies thatmerged into General Mills—created the fictitiouscharacter Betty Crocker, who offered advice and recipes

in radio programs and cookbooks using productsmanufactured by that company. Even today, meals inthe U.S. are often made from processed or packagedfoods and retain a practical aspect. Clearly, the massmedia and processed-food companies played a part inchanging the traditional American meal, once madefrom scratch using recipes handed down through thegenerations.In the 1910s, grocery shopping became a “self-service”endeavor. The introduction of supermarkets signaledthe end of the days when a shopping list was handed toa clerk who gathered the requested items. In addition,chain supermarkets led to the availability of mass-produced processed and packaged foods to homes allover the country. Supermarkets did not offer credit ordelivery, but they drew customers with their low prices.The supermarket concept took off in the 1930s becausepeople living under the shadow of the Great Depressionwere more than willing to give up additional servicesand amenities if it meant they could make theirpurchases for even a little bit less.In addition to processed foods, new home appliancesalso helped to make the housewives’ lives simpler.Toasters, refrigerators, electric ranges and percolatorsreplaced human servants as the domestic work force.Gas ranges and ovens, which provide adjustable andsteady cooking temperatures, freed housewives from thetedious task of constantly watching food as it cooked,and small kitchen gadgets such as peelers and juicersmade meal preparation more efficient. The modernAmerican kitchen, overflowing with unnecessary butconvenient appliances, utensils and gadgets, is thoughtto have originated during this time.

As the U.S. became firmly established as a mass-consumer society, the “Roaring 20s” saw the growth ofpopular culture, exemplified by widening recognition ofjazz and Hollywood movies. Although laws,encouraged by the Prohibition movement, were enactedin 1919 that made the manufacture, distribution andsale of alcoholic beverages illegal, these same lawswere of tremendous benefit to the Coca Cola Company.Coca Cola, a medicinal drink invented in 1886, gainedpopularity as an alternative to alcohol and soon came tobe the representative American soft drink.The extravagant and carefree days of the 1920s came toan end as the U.S. entered the Great Depression onBlack Thursday, October 24, 1929. Housewives wereforced to economize and dishes like macaroni andcheese became popular as they were nutritious and

14

The sudden automobile boom in the 1940s created havoc in New York suburbs(©Granger Collection/PPS)

From Prohibition to World War II

filling without using expensive ingredients like meat.Economizing in the kitchen was remarkable duringWorld War II as well. With the iron and aluminumpreviously used for canned foods being utilized in themanufacture of munitions, the government encouragedkitchen gardens, or “Victory Gardens,” to relieve thevegetable shortage. Housewives used the vegetablesfrom their gardens to make chicken soup and beganserving meatloaf rather than steak as ground beef wentfurther in those times of rationing.Although foodstuffs such as sugar, meat and butter wererationed during World War II, Americans did not sufferfrom the food shortages that troubled other nations atthis time. In fact, the average height and weight ofAmericans at the end of the war were greater than theyhad been at the start of the war. Furthermore, theabundance of food served by the military madeAmerican soldiers the envy of those fighting for othercountries. In fact, while the average American civilianadult male consumed 56 kilograms of meat in 1942, theaverage for those in uniform was an amazing 163kilograms. Those stationed in hostile regions evenreceived turkeys from home for Thanksgiving.

With the flourishing popular culture of the U.S. in the1920s, it was only natural that mass consumption alsoincrease. The ready availability of practical and safecanned and instant foods had a great influence on theAmerican mentality. In the pursuit of more practicaland economic at meals, the American food culture afterWorld War II came to be represented by fast food andfrozen TV dinners.When we think of fast food, hamburgers immediatelycome to mind. The first hamburger chain, WhiteCastle, appeared in Kansas in 1921. In 1940, Mac andDick McDonald opened the McDonald’s hamburgerrestaurant, which was developed into the McDonald’schain by first franchisee Ray Kroc beginning in 1955.The McDonald’s chain found great success bytargeting middle-class “baby boomers” living in thesuburbs and in need of a place they could comfortablytake their children.There are various theories as to the origin of the mostAmerican of foods, the hamburger, but most indicatethat it is somehow rooted in Hamburg, Germany. Thehamburger also went by another, not-so-German-sounding name during both World Wars when it wascalled the “liberty burger". However, there is no doubtthat ground beef patties fried and sandwiched betweentwo round slices of bread has become one of the

favorite foods of Americans. Chain restaurants likeMcDonald’s standardized the flavor of hamburgers withpreparation manuals and guidelines. This consistencywas well received by Americans because it meant thatthey could count on their favorite hamburger alwaystasting the same, regardless of where they purchased it.Just as the U.S. introduced and developed the firstautomobile society, American fast-food chains sproutedand grew almost overnight, and quickly found their wayoverseas. Drive-ins, the first fast-food chains, offeredeconomical, filling snacks or meals without spendingthe extra time required of sit-down restaurants. Fast-

food chains such as McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jackin the Box, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King,Shakey’s and Pizza Hut, which appeared one after theother during the 1950s, were the perfect response to anew American practicality.Let’s take a closer look at two other extremely populartypes of fast food, the hotdog and pizza. Hotdogs are sopopular in the U.S. that in 1995, Americans consumed16 billion hotdogs compared to just 5.2 billionhamburgers and cheeseburgers. In addition to the well-known fast-food chain, Nathan’s, hotdogs have becomean indispensable part of sporting events, especiallybaseball games. Hotdogs were introduced to the U.S.by German immigrants in the 19th century, and, like

15

Fast Food and TV Dinners

Supermarket sales increased at an astounding rate during the Great Depression (1930s) (Photo

hamburgers, have become a truly “all American” food.Pizza, of course, came to the U.S. from Italy, and wasmade popular in the U.S. by American soldiersreturning from Italy after World War II. Prior to WWII,pizza was simply one of the ethnic foods of Italianimmigrants. Over a period of just fifty years followingthe war, however, American pizza came to beconsiderably different than its predecessor, with athicker crust that formed a ridge around the edge, andtoppings preferred by Americans. A number ofremarkable variations on the traditional AmericanItalian-style pizza can be found, including the tex-mexpizza, with hot sauce and chicken topping, and the

California pizza with artichokes and goat cheese.During the 1950s, Americans were fascinated by tworemarkable products—cars and televisions. At the endof the 1950s, more than 70% of all Americanhouseholds had at least one television. Americansdidn’t want to miss any part of their favorite programsbecause of dinner preparation or clean-up. In 1954, theC.A. Swanson & Sons frozen food company respondedwith its first TV Dinner featuring turkey, cornbreaddressing and gravy, buttered peas and sweet potatoes. Itcame in a box resembling a television, could be cookedin a minimal amount of time and eaten directly from thepackage it came in. TV Dinners allowed Americans toeat their meals without missing their favorite television

programs, housewives didn’t have to wash nearly asmany dishes afterwards, and at just 98 cents, they werevery economical. Although “TV Dinner” is no longer aproduct name, the label is still used by many to refer tofrozen meals in general; the variety and number ofwhich are sold in American supermarkets is trulyoverwhelming.While American food, symbolized by fast food and TVdinners, is often the object of disdain the world over,these types of food became popular not for their taste,but for their convenience and economy. No other foodin the world is as common or popular as the hamburgerand frozen foods. Although the capital reserves andadvertising power of major companies surely playssome part, Americans’ pursuit of practicality led to thecreation of these American foods—the convenience andeconomy of which have captured the world.

Although Americans continued their pursuit ofpracticality during the 1960’s, they were also lookingfor something more. Julia Child, America's firstcelebrity chef, responded, causing Americans to changethe way they think about food. Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California, in 1912and graduated from the prestigious women’s college,Smith College, in 1934. After World War II, herhusband, Paul, a widely traveled OSS officer and artistknown for his sophisticated palate, was assigned to theU.S. Information Service at the American Embassy inParis and Julia enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu CookingSchool. Asked by two other students of the school tohelp write a French cookbook in English, Child agreed.The book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, byJulia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck, waspublished ten years later in 1961, to great praise fromthe New York Times. After returning to the U.S., Childbegan her TV cooking show, The French Chef, in 1963.Julia Child brought true French cooking into the homefor the very first time.The success of Child’s various television cookingshows stemmed not from technique—blunders on herprograms were not infrequent—but rather from the purefun and enjoyment she conveyed to her audience. Shemade Americans, previously fixated on economy andconvenience, forget these concepts altogether. A largepresence with a frank character, Child’s easy-to-understand yet passionate narration and humor oozedfrom the television screen to bring the true skill andartistry of French cooking into the home, ultimatelychanging the previously effete image of French cuisine.Child made dishes such as beef Burgundy and sole

16

graphs by the author)

The Julia Child Awakening

meunieré common standards in American homes.Julia Child awakened Americans to the pleasure of foodand launched a gourmet boom that continues eventoday. A large segment of American society gave upthe traditional American diet based on the familiar andsomewhat monotonous New England food culture todevelop a curiosity for the cuisines of the world, andfresh new ingredients, herbs and spices. This curiosityspurred the revival of the obsolete farmers’ market andthe establishment of organic restaurants, natural foodstores and ethnic restaurants that have becomecommonplace in the modern U.S.Just prior to her death in 2004 at age 91, Julia Childreportedly regretted not one moment of hercontribution, by way of television programs, cookbooksand personal instruction, to American cooking.Recipient of numerous awards from the James BeardFoundation, dedicated to furthering the practice andappreciation of the culinary arts in America with regardto chefs, restaurants, journalists and critics, Julia Childcertainly raised the level of America’s food culture.

Nouvelle Cuisine, which originated in France, began totake the world by storm in the 1970s. This simplecooking style utilized fresh ingredients to create low-calorie dishes with a light flavor that perfectly suited thegrowing health consciousness of the U.S.At this time, Americans could not help but notice thesudden rise in illness and death from heart disease,cancer, diabetes and stroke caused in part by obesity.Even today, more than half of the adult population ofthe U.S. is considered overweight or obese. Thisproblem was first recognized by the government in1977, with the McGovern Report, which called forimprovements in the eating habits of Americans. Thisreport recommended an overall increase in fruits,vegetables and whole grains, replacing meat (beef andpork) with chicken and fish, and whole milk with low-fat milk, and a significant reduction in high-cholesterolfoods such as butter and eggs. It was in the late 1970sthat the labels that assault modern consumers today,proclaiming products to be “low-fat” or “non-fat,” firstappeared.A major force behind the rise in health consciousnesswas the increasing popularity of vegetarianism.Vegetarianism already had a long history in the U.S.with the American Vegetarian Society having beenestablished in 1850. This way of life gained greatsupport during the 1960s as a part of the hippie cultureand then with publication of the popular Diet for a

Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe in 1971, whichimplied that vegetarianism could help resolve ordecrease global environmental problems and famine.The image of vegetarians, whose diet consistedprimarily of fruit, vegetables and grains (especiallywhole grains) and did not eat meat or fish, as healthierpeople spread. Though once considered strange,eccentric, or unhealthy, vegetarianism gradually caughton. According to a survey in 2000, approximately 2.5%of the American adult population claimed to bevegetarian and half of adult Americans chose vegetariandishes when dining out. Today, most restaurants in the

U.S. offer a menu with vegetarian dishes, and meatsubstitutes can be purchased in almost any supermarket.As would be expected of Americans, frozen andprocessed foods for vegetarians are also available insurprising number and variety.In looking at the type of diet recommended by theMcGovern Report, one cannot help but think ofJapanese food. The grain-, vegetable- and bean-basedJapanese diet that also includes fish for good protein islow in both fat and cholesterol, and came to be viewedas the ideal diet from a health standpoint. Even themass media began promoting the image of the Japanesediet as a healthy diet. Sushi, made of rice and fish,gained particular attention as it provided adequate

17

Approximately half of

Health Consciousness and the Japanese Food Boom

The sushi that instigated Nouvelle Japanese cuisine is continuously zundergoing transformation.

protein and was both low-fat and low-calorie. ThisJapanese favorite quickly became popular with health-conscious and affluent American ‘yuppies’ during the1980s.The standard American sushi is the sushi roll, made ofavocado and tempura-fried shrimp, which differs a greatdeal from Japanese sushi, but it has achieved greatpopularity with not just the wealthy, but a majority ofhealth-conscious Americans. America’s adoption ofsushi as a healthy and fashionable food is clearlyrepresented by the not uncommon sight of youngwomen on their lunch breaks purchasing packages of

sushi at supermarkets and delis.The popularity of sushi led to the spread of NouvelleJapanese cuisine from the 1990s to the present.Beginning in the U.S., superior chefs such as NobuMatsuhisa have launched international restaurant chainsfeaturing Japanese dishes influenced by the flavors andstyles of other types of cuisine. This weaving of foreigninfluences into Japanese dishes gently introduces theuninitiated to Japanese cuisine, leaving them with apositive image. One example of this collaboration issashimi served with a sauce of hot olive oil and ponzu(traditional Japanese sauce made of vinegar, soy sauce,and citron juice) for those who are wary of eating rawfish. Restaurants like these are continuously

experimenting with new ideas and combinations tocreate unheard of ‘Japanese’ dishes that may imitateFrench style with an artistic display of soy sauce ormiso, or use caviar or chili pepper with standardJapanese ingredients. The Nouvelle Japanese concept isnot limited to diners, but has also inspired motivatedAmerican chefs from all disciplines to experiment withtraditional Japanese ingredients such as yuzu, (citron),ponzu, sansho (Japanese pepper) and miso.

Nouvelle Japanese cuisine can be called a fusioncuisine—food that combines elements of two or moreculinary traditions. Beginning with Pacific Rim cuisinepopular during the 1990s, fusion cuisine blossomed inthe U.S. Although fusion cuisine has also found adegree of success in other nations, such as Australia,which also comprise people with various ethnic origins,it has not prospered in the way it has in the U.S.American fusion cuisine does not simply combine theculinary traditions of different countries, but also joinsregional traditions that result in styles such as tex-mex(Texas-style Mexican food) and New Orleans Creoleand Cajun (influenced by French, Spanish, Caribbean,African and Native American traditions). Today,Americans are rediscovering the rich food culture theircountry has to offer. Even the menu for White Housestate dinners has changed from exclusively Frenchcuisine to include risotto flavored with Oregon trufflesand curry-flavored lobster seasoned with Florida Keylimes. Therefore, New American Cuisine is clearly afusion of well-known, regional American ingredientswith the culinary traditions of any and every nation ofthe world.Since the 1990s, the word “authentic” has been usedextensively to describe ingredients and dishes in theU.S. For so long now, the American food culture hasbeen rooted in practicality, economy and convenience.Although changes do not occur overnight, the U.S. doesseem to have had enough of fast food and processedfoods. The frequent use of the word, “authentic,”however, may give us a glimpse of the bright future ofthe American food culture.

References•Culinaria: The United States: A Culinary Discovery; RandyDanforth, et al, Konemann 1988•Jiten Gendai no Amerika; Takahiro Oda, et al, Taishukan Shoten,2004•Sekai no Shoku Bunka 12 Amerika; Chieko Honma and NatsukiAriga, Nobunkyo 2004•Amerika no Shokutaku; Chieko Honma, Bungei Shunju 1982

18

all American adults choose vegetarian dishes when dining out (All photographs by the author)

From Fusion to the New American Cuisine

Top, right: A typical sushi bar.