HIST 395: History of Sushi

History of Sushi

Sushi, now served at Midwestern supermarkets and university cafeterias, reveals the transformation of an ancient Japanese dish into a global phenomenon. This course takes familiar Japanese dishes like sushi and ramen as starting points to ask how food accrues or sheds national characteristics in an age of globalization. To learn the origin of sushi and ramen, the class traces the evolution of the diet in the context of the development of Japanese civilization. Drawing on the methodology of food studies, course assignments include short research papers on Japanese foodstuffs; analyses of primary sources from statistics to comic books; and short essays drawing from participant observation of Japanese foods now available locally.