The Cuisines of Japan: Food, Place and Identity by Eric C. Rath is a scientific book that reveals the great diversity of Japanese cuisine and explains how Japan's modern cuisine culture arose under the leadership of private and public institutions. Rath argues that by focusing on ceremonial and festival foods, as well as the white rice dinners typical of today's middle class and elites of the past, Japanese culinary history is depicted in inaccurate way. So, to get the reader to understand even a fraction of the diverse culinary heritage that Japan has to offer, Rath explains contemporary definitions and highlights technical techniques. Each chapter of this book addresses an element of the evolution of Japanese cuisine while retaining its original traditional roots. Readers learn and explore how tea was touted as the origin of Japanese cuisine, how lunch became a precise gourmet meal, and how foods became increasingly localized. Overall, this book reveals how the cuisine of the Land of the Rising Sun shapes national, local, and personal identity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay I focused my analysis on the chapter “The Creation of the Modern Boxed Lunch”. The main focus of this chapter is the Bento Box. He explains that the most common complaint of Japanese/bento box cooking is the time and difficulty involved in preparing the food. Simmer food for hours, cut fish slices precisely or fry them in hot oil. Food should not only taste good, but also be beautiful and nutritious. Besides the work that goes into making a real bento box, we see the history of the original use of the bento box and the first travels of food. The chapter then progresses to a brief history of lunch, the art of the lunchbox, the bento cookbook era, and, most importantly, school lunches. But overall, we readers can say that the thesis of this chapter is: "Such an estimation presents bento boxes as an expression of the uniqueness of Japanese culture, but bento has a diverse past , which reveals how difficult it is to achieve the high standards of beauty, variety, nutrition and taste expected of today's best bento.” In a way, we can understand this statement because bento boxes are not typical lunch boxes containing food. When an individual opens a bento box, there are many different compartments and hidden drawers containing utensils and food, each of these compartments symbolizes the elements of complexity, history and beauty that have been implemented to create this Japanese cultural essential. “Holding a bento, mom cried while making.” This is a line from a Japanese poem that Rath uses as the very first sentence to set the tone for the entire chapter which shows the evolution of the bento box and the emotional connection it has with Japanese culture . Today, the most difficult bento to create are those designed for kindergarten children. Kindergarten bento boxes not only have to appeal to a finicky five-year-old, but they also have to get the approval of teachers who demand that packed lunches be visually appealing, healthy, and designed in a way that the child will consume content quickly. If bento boxes were not suitable for children or, moreImportantly, from teachers' standards, teachers would think that the mother does not love or does not have enough time to give to her children. This is where most of the stress comes from when a mom makes a bento box. Now we can understand why the poem says that a mother cried while holding the bento box. Although the poem cited above resonates well with the anxiety many mothers face today when preparing bento, the poem actually dates back to a modern period before the creation of the education system. Back in the day, Bentos were made for special occasions, picnics, outdoor excursions, and family members who worked outside the home. We can infer that the mother in the poem was crying because of the extraordinary and unpleasant event of a loved one or family member leaving on a long and potentially dangerous journey. Even though these two different scenarios show different examples of how the bento box was used, ultimately they both embody the same emotional feeling and purpose, the purpose of love. Back then, before modernization began, the culture was very family, military and work oriented. So, by creating a bento for someone who might be going to war or doing dangerous work, you were showing that you loved them and were willing to make the effort. to prepare them a complex nutritious meal to prepare them for whatever was to come. Today, with modernization in place, we see school education systems in place and the purpose of a bento box is for children, but as stated earlier, its purpose is love, by being able to create a bento for your difficult child and being accepted by the teachers, it shows that you love your child and are a good mother. Lunch has not always been an important meal in Japanese culture due to the lack of distinction between the time of day. In the ancient period, the ruling elite only ate twice a day and the rest of the population was thought to follow the same practice. A turning point that gave rise to the idea of ​​the rolling lunch came when artisans and warriors adopted a midday meal to sustain themselves. In 1914, depending on the place of residence, agricultural or rural, people ate between 3 and 5 times a day. What is essential to note is that the reason the Japanese originally only ate twice a day was because they were a simplistic culture that valued the labors the land gave them , eating more than twice was excessive. But once modernization took place and Western travelers arrived in Japan, they were introduced to the Westernized way of life. While becoming Westernized, the Japanese maintain the idea that they must appreciate the fruits that the land gives them. So when they eat several meals a day, they consist of rice, barley, vegetables and a protein to provide them with energy and fuel to keep the individuals alive. return to work. Multiple meals have never been considered treats for the mouth. A bento box is more than just a container holding food, there is a delicate art that goes into making these well-known food vehicles in Japanese culture. Wealthy city dwellers and samurai of the early modern period devoted extraordinary attention and resources to their portable meals. Their magnificent vessels were made of lacquer, wood, porcelain, metal and bamboo. The finest examples of these were intended for the highest ranking warlords, they were.