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MAR
28
Eating Contests in Early Modern Japanese Entertainment Media
Date:
Wednesday, 28 Mar 2018
Time:
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Location:
303 International Center
Department:
Asian Studies Center
Event Details:

Early modern (1600-1868) Japan witnessed the rise of food as a subject of entertainment media as exemplified by numerous literary and visual depictions of culinary contests in which pedants debated the virtues of rice or tea; strong men (and women) measured their endurance in the number of bowls of noodles or cups of sake they could swallow; and posters ranked seafood recipes against vegetarian dishes.

Eric C. Rath is the Toyota Visiting Professor at the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan and professor of premodern Japanese history at the University of Kansas. A specialist in Japanese cultural history, especially Japanese foodways, his publications include Japan's Cuisines: Food, Place, and Identity (2016) and Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan (2010).

Japan Month is sponsored by the Asian Studies Center, Department of History, Japan Center for Michigan Universities, Japan Council, Japanese Program, and the Residential College in Arts and Humanities.