Cwiertka - How Cooking Became a Hobby (2)

The author expressed his central theme at the very beginning of the essay. The whole essay follows the history period as its clue, and described Japanese social changes during the Meiji, Edo, and Showa Period. The Japanese government at that time carries out series propagation through whole country in order to achieve political and social stabilization. And it makes the “urban middle class” been involved deeply.

There is an ideology of ikka danran in the early-and mid-Meiji period. For example, in the September 1892 edition of the magazine Katei Zasshi the conditions for a happy family were illustrated as follows: 1. man and woman love each other; 2. their relationship is monogamous; 3. the family is nuclear; 4. the man is salaried worker; 5. the woman is a housewife. This is the beginning of changes; it also is the beginning of cooking changes. The following ideologies such as “The woman is the key of the home”, “The wise woman build her house”, and “The matters of house are under control of the wife” make deeper influence on cooking.

After social influence, the Japanese food culture became change. Culinary skills and sophisticated family dish became more and more common. “Culinary literature preoccupied with western food culture became popular in Japan in the second half of the 19th century. If you pay little more attention on that time magazine, you will found the introduction of cooking became more detailed. The most popular magazines develop a layout about cooking. Finally, it marks the cooking became a hobby in Japan. The whole essay reveals the impact of politics on policy, but also that the policy on food culture.