The 20th annual Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 23, 2009.

Global Sushi
Norris 104, 2:45 PM

Paige  Edwards,   '09 71
   Majors: Anthropology, Art History
   Hometown: Hillman, MI

Sponsor(s): Molly Mullin
Support: William and Gloria Sebold Gift

Abstract: 
Let’s go get sushi! In the U.S. twenty years ago, this suggestion would probably have been rejected. Raw foods, let alone raw fish, have not always been considered foodstuff in the U.S. Today, sushi has become so fused into Americans’ diets that we can go to any local Wal-Mart and pick up sushi to go. Sushi’s popularity shows the influences of non-European cultures in U.S. society. Exactly how did sushi become so popular? Is sushi in America even sushi?

Through food fusion, I looked at stereotypes among Japanese and Americans in food cultures and the effects of globalization. I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in New York City and Tokyo. I looked at the relationships between Japan and the U.S. as well as their respective food cultures, particularly through sushi—a food that has a vast history in Japan and is becoming a part of the United States food fusion culture. Sushi, I argue, represents a challenge to the idea that globalization is Americanization, or Westernization.

My research would not have been possible without help from the Sebold Gift, the New York Arts Program and CIEE study abroad at Sophia University; nor would it have been possible without the guidance of my professors in the Anthropology and International Studies programs.

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