New Meanings for Old Vegetables in Kyoto

Abstract

In 1987, chefs, farmers, scholars and government officials collaborated to designate thirty-seven varieties of produce as “traditional Kyoto vegetables.” The definition of traditional Kyoto vegetables provides a case study of how one community capitalized on national interest in nostalgia and gourmet food in the 1980s; however, this example also illustrates what happens when stakeholders subsequently disagree about the future of traditional food. Prefectural farmers, the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives group and specialty greengrocers benefited from new marketing opportunities for traditional Kyoto vegetables and the high prices these foodstuffs garnered, while the same trends troubled many chefs and prompted city officials and urban farmers to coin alternative designations for local produce. At stake in this debate is not only how traditional local vegetables can be defined (and who benefits from that), but also the extent to which local foods reflect real communities of producers and consumers.

Keywords:

• heirloom vegetables
• traditional food
• Japan

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eric C. Rath

Eric C. Rath is Professor of Premodern Japanese History at the University of Kansas and a specialist in Japanese dietary culture and the traditional performing arts. His publications include Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan (University of California Press, 2010) and “Revaluating Rikyū : Kaiseki and the Origins of Japanese Cuisine,” Journal of Japanese Studies 39.1 (2013): 67–96. His current research interests encompass local foods in Japan, tobacco, confectionery and sake. Department of History, University of Kansas, 3650 Wescoe, 1445 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS 66054, USA ([email protected]).