Hi Christopher. As always, a really informative and enjoyable listen.
I’m interested in the role sugar plays in the Japanese diet, so thought this was a good hook to ask you about it.
I’m currently based in Japan, and now I’m living here I’m struck by just how ubiquitous confectionery is. Not only that, but sweetness also plays a big role in the cuisine writ large (brown sugar, mirin, and sake as flavourings in loads of savoury dishes). I’m keen to understand how this has come to be.
I’m aware sugar was introduced to Japan a long time ago, but didn’t become a major part of the diet for centuries. When was it ‘democratised’, so to speak, to become widely available to the general population? By the Second World War?
Also, what are main factors that shaped this ‘national sweet tooth’ developing, and do you have a sense of which developments were most influential in shaping this? Portuguese influence, Meiji-era westernisation, colonial plantation enterprises in more tropical climates like Taiwan, post-war availability of cheap sugar?
Hi Alex, thanks for listening and for your question. Some of these ingredients, with natural sugars, have been there in the diet for a while now - mirin goes back about 400 years, at least. Sugar produced in Satsuma domain was also used in things like Japanese sweets. But more recently there were fads for western foods, including sugary ones, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And then western-style sugary foods and drinks became really big after the war. Part of it, in my understanding, was fashion, and part of it was the rise of fast foods, as people got busier and started to eat quickly and on the go.
Hi Christopher. As always, a really informative and enjoyable listen.
I’m interested in the role sugar plays in the Japanese diet, so thought this was a good hook to ask you about it.
I’m currently based in Japan, and now I’m living here I’m struck by just how ubiquitous confectionery is. Not only that, but sweetness also plays a big role in the cuisine writ large (brown sugar, mirin, and sake as flavourings in loads of savoury dishes). I’m keen to understand how this has come to be.
I’m aware sugar was introduced to Japan a long time ago, but didn’t become a major part of the diet for centuries. When was it ‘democratised’, so to speak, to become widely available to the general population? By the Second World War?
Also, what are main factors that shaped this ‘national sweet tooth’ developing, and do you have a sense of which developments were most influential in shaping this? Portuguese influence, Meiji-era westernisation, colonial plantation enterprises in more tropical climates like Taiwan, post-war availability of cheap sugar?
Thanks a lot!
Hi Alex, thanks for listening and for your question. Some of these ingredients, with natural sugars, have been there in the diet for a while now - mirin goes back about 400 years, at least. Sugar produced in Satsuma domain was also used in things like Japanese sweets. But more recently there were fads for western foods, including sugary ones, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And then western-style sugary foods and drinks became really big after the war. Part of it, in my understanding, was fashion, and part of it was the rise of fast foods, as people got busier and started to eat quickly and on the go.
Thanks a lot for this Christopher. Really interesting stuff. Sounds like Japan has a long and pretty multifaceted history with sugar.