Curry Goes Global: The Geopolitics of Good Taste

Summary

This transcript explores the global journey of curry, starting from British India and its spread to the West and Japan. It delves into the sociological aspects of curry as a cultural artifact, highlighting the diversity of Indian cuisine and its regional variations. The narrative follows curry's transformation into a Western phenomenon, its commercialization, and its re-interpretation in Japan as a modern, Westernized dish. The talk also touches on the convergence of culinary trends by the end of the 20th century, where curry becomes a global food, reflecting the interconnectedness of geopolitics, culture, and taste.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Curry's global journey began in British India and spread to the West and Japan differently, reflecting complex geopolitical histories.
• 📚 The term 'curry' is a British generalization for a variety of Indian-style sauces and stews, originally not used in Indian languages.
• 🍲 Indian cuisine is diverse and regional, with over 22,000 dialects in India potentially correlating to an equally diverse range of culinary traditions.
• 📈 The popularity and prestige of Indian food in Western countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, has grown over time, with a notable increase in media coverage.
• 🌆 In New York City, Indian food has become both common and prestigious, though it ranks behind Italian and Chinese food in terms of popularity and number of upscale restaurants.
• 🍛 Curry rice in Japan emerged as part of the Meiji Restoration's modernization efforts, influenced by social Darwinist ideas linking diet and racial strength.
• 🥦 The Japanese navy played a significant role in popularizing curry rice among the Japanese, using it as part of their Westernization and modernization strategy.
• 🌐 Curry's global spread is marked by a convergence in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with regional variations becoming more widely recognized and appreciated.
• 👨‍🍳 The narrative of curry's global journey includes stories of small entrepreneurs and workers, such as Nepali migrants in Japan's curry house industry.
• 📚 Scholarly works like 'Indian Food: A Historical Companion' and 'The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine' provide in-depth exploration of the historical and cultural aspects of Indian food.
• 🔄 The concept of 'curry' has been both criticized for its overgeneralization of diverse Indian dishes and embraced for its adaptability and representation of cultural exchange.

Q & A

How does the speaker describe the evolution of curry as a global phenomenon?

The speaker describes the evolution of curry as a global phenomenon starting from British India, spreading to the West and Japan in different ways, and eventually leading to a convergence in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The story involves the transnational journey of curry, its adaptation in various cultures, and the sociopolitical factors influencing its spread.

What is the speaker's perspective on the term 'curry' in relation to Indian cuisine?

The speaker suggests that the term 'curry' is an overgeneralization of the diverse sauces and stews that exist within Indian cuisine. It is a British reference to any Indian style sauce and stew, and its usage varies greatly depending on the region and local dialects within India.

How does the speaker explain the regional diversity of Indian cuisine?

The speaker explains the regional diversity of Indian cuisine by highlighting the variety of dialects and foodsheds, suggesting that each dialect is linked to a unique cuisine. The speaker also mentions the different staple foods and cooking styles found in Eastern and Western India, emphasizing the multiplicity of Indian cuisine.

What is the significance of the 19th century in the global spread of curry?

The 19th century is significant because it marks the period when curry began to spread transnationally from British India to the West. It was during this time that curry powders were made at home and commercial curry powders started to emerge, leading to the popularization of curries in the Anglo-Indian world.

How did curry spread to Japan?

Curry spread to Japan primarily through the Japanese Navy, which adopted Western, specifically British, food practices as part of its modernization efforts during the Meiji Restoration. Curry, along with other Western foods, was seen as a way to improve the physical strength of the Japanese population, aligning with social Darwinist notions of race and diet.

What role did the military and education systems play in the popularization of curry in Japan?

The military and education systems played a significant role in the popularization of curry in Japan. School lunches and military rations introduced a more homogeneous diet and palate to the population, with curry becoming a common dish in these settings. This helped to establish curry as a part of modern, Westernized Japanese cuisine.

How does the speaker describe the current state of curry in Japan?

The speaker describes the current state of curry in Japan as a result of convergence, with Nepali workers now playing a significant role in the production and popularization of curry in Japan. Nepali migrants have opened numerous Indian curry restaurants, and the dish has become a part of the modern Japanese food landscape.

What is the significance of the convergence of curry at the end of the 20th century and the early 21st century?

The convergence of curry at the end of the 20th century and the early 21st century signifies the global spread and adaptation of the dish, transcending its origins and becoming a part of various culinary traditions around the world. This reflects the interconnectedness of global food cultures and the influence of migration and globalization on local cuisines.

How does the speaker's personal experience with curry reflect the broader themes discussed in the script?

The speaker's personal experience with curry, including the variety of sauces and stews in their family's cooking, reflects the broader themes of regional diversity and cultural adaptation within Indian cuisine. It also highlights the complexity and richness of food traditions that can be simplified or generalized in different cultural contexts.

What are some of the sociopolitical factors that influenced the spread of curry?

Some of the sociopolitical factors that influenced the spread of curry include British colonialism, the Meiji Restoration in Japan, social Darwinist notions of race and diet, and the global power dynamics of the 19th and 20th centuries. These factors contributed to the adoption and adaptation of curry in different parts of the world.

What is the speaker's recommendation for those interested in exploring the history and diversity of Indian cuisine?

The speaker recommends several books and resources for those interested in exploring the history and diversity of Indian cuisine. These include K.T. Achaya's 'Indian Food: A Historical Companion', Colleen Taylor Sen's 'The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine', and Lizzie Collingham's 'Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors', among others.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Curry's Journey: From British India to Globalization

This paragraph introduces the topic of curry's global spread, starting from British India and its transnational journey through the 19th and 20th centuries. The speaker, a sociologist, plans to discuss how curry spread to the West and Japan, and the convergence of these culinary traditions at the turn of the 21st century. The paragraph also touches on the diversity of Indian cuisine, highlighting the regional variations and the lack of a single 'national' cuisine in India.

05:01

🗣️ Language, Dialects, and the Diversity of Indian Cuisine

The speaker explores the relationship between language, dialects, and regional cuisines in India, suggesting that each dialect corresponds to a unique cuisine. The paragraph discusses the complexity of Indian food and the overgeneralization of the term 'curry.' The speaker also addresses the criticism of using the term 'curry' to describe India's diverse cuisines and acknowledges the changing perceptions of this term over time.

10:01

📚 Historical and Contemporary Sources on Indian Food

This paragraph provides a list of recommended readings for those interested in learning more about Indian cuisine. The speaker mentions several books, including K.T. Achaya's 'Indian Food: A Historical Companion' and 'The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine.' The paragraph also highlights the importance of Instagram and new journals for contemporary discussions on Indian food, emphasizing the regionalization and diversity of the cuisine.

15:05

🌊 The Influence of Global Trade and Migration on Indian Food

The speaker discusses the impact of global trade and migration on the spread of Indian food, particularly curry. The paragraph covers the early 20th-century cafes in Manhattan, the adaptation of Indian food in the West, and the emergence of Indian restaurants in New York City. The speaker also touches on the bi-ethnic culinary traditions that developed in California due to marriages between Punjabi men and Mexican women.

20:05

🍲 The Evolution of Indian Food in the United States

This paragraph details the evolution of Indian food in the United States, from its initial discovery and exoticization to its eventual integration into mainstream American cuisine. The speaker discusses the naturalization of Indian food as an 'ethnic' cuisine and its rise in popularity and prestige, as evidenced by the increasing number of articles on Indian food in the New York Times and the growth of Indian restaurants across the country.

25:10

🍛 Curry's Unique Path to Japan and its Cultural Impact

The speaker explains how curry arrived in Japan, primarily through the Japanese Navy, and its association with Western imperialism. The paragraph discusses the Meiji Restoration's influence on Japanese cuisine, the introduction of meat-eating practices, and the adoption of curry as a symbol of modernization and Westernization. The speaker also highlights the role of the military and education in popularizing curry and other Western foods in Japan.

30:17

🌏 The Global Convergence of Curry and its Cultural Significance

In this final paragraph, the speaker discusses the convergence of curry as a global food, particularly focusing on the role of Nepali workers in the Japanese curry industry. The paragraph explores the demographics of Nepali migrants in Japan and their significant contribution to the Japanese curry house scene. The speaker also reflects on the exploitation within the industry and the homogenization of curry flavors, drawing parallels with the situation in New York City.

Keywords

💡Curry

Curry, as discussed in the transcript, is a term that broadly refers to a variety of Indian-style sauces and stews. It is a culinary artifact that illustrates the complex story of cultural exchange and globalization. The term's usage and the dishes it represents have evolved over time and across cultures, from British India to Japan and the Western world, often reflecting socio-political dynamics and adaptation to local tastes.

💡Geopolitics

Geopolitics refers to the influence of geographic factors on international politics and international relations. In the context of the transcript, it is used to describe how the spread of curry is intertwined with historical events and power dynamics, such as the British colonization of India and the Japanese Navy's role in popularizing curry in Japan.

💡Sociology

Sociology is the study of human society, its development, structure, and functioning. The speaker, being a sociologist, uses this discipline to analyze the social aspects of curry's spread and the cultural implications of its adaptation in different societies.

💡Cultural Exchange

Cultural exchange refers to the transfer, borrowing, or sharing of ideas, values, traditions, and practices between different cultures. The transcript explores how curry has been a medium for cultural exchange, spreading from India to various parts of the world through trade, colonization, and immigration.

💡British India

British India refers to the part of the Indian subcontinent that was under the administrative control of the British East India Company and later the British Crown. It is significant in the history of curry as it marks the origin of the term 'curry' and its initial exposure to Western influences.

💡Japan

Japan is highlighted in the transcript as a key destination where curry was introduced and adapted in a unique way, distinct from its spread to the West. The Japanese adoption of curry is tied to the country's modernization efforts and its military, particularly the navy, which played a significant role in popularizing curry rice.

💡Regional Cuisines

Regional cuisines refer to the unique styles of cooking that are specific to a particular geographic area or culture. The transcript emphasizes the diversity of Indian cuisine and the idea that there may not be a single 'national' cuisine, but rather a multitude of regional cuisines influenced by factors such as dialects and foodsheds.

💡Food全球化

Food globalization refers to the spread and adaptation of food cultures and cuisines across the globe. In the transcript, the speaker discusses how curry has become a global phenomenon, influenced by historical events and socio-political factors, and how it has been transformed and embraced in various parts of the world.

💡Curry Powder

Curry powder is a blend of spices that is commonly used to flavor curries and other dishes. The transcript discusses the use of curry powder in different cultural contexts, including its role in the Western perception of Indian cuisine and its introduction to Japan as part of the country's modernization efforts.

💡Curry Rice

Curry rice is a dish that combines curry sauce with rice, and it has become a popular and iconic Japanese dish despite its origins in British cuisine. The transcript explores how curry rice represents the convergence of different culinary traditions and the influence of Western powers on Japanese food culture.

💡Modernization

Modernization refers to the process of transforming traditional societies into modern ones by adopting contemporary technologies, values, and practices. In the context of the transcript, modernization is discussed in relation to Japan's Meiji Restoration and the country's efforts to adopt Western dietary habits, including the consumption of meat and curry dishes.

Highlights

Curry serves as an interesting artifact to explore the geopolitics and politics of taste, with its roots in British India and its spread to the West and Japan.

The story of curry is complex, involving its transnational journey from the 19th to the 20th century, and its different trajectories in the West and Japan.

Curry's definition is broad and often overgeneralized, much like referring to beurre blanc or bechamel as gravy, encapsulating a variety of Indian style sauces and stews.

The diversity of Indian cuisine is immense, with regional variations influenced by local dialects and foodsheds, suggesting that there may not be a single national cuisine in India.

The term 'curry' is considered degrading to India's diverse cuisines, but it has persisted in certain contexts, reflecting the complexity of cultural adaptation and perception.

The spread of curry in the Western world, particularly in New York City, is marked by its evolution from an exotic novelty to a naturalized part of the culinary landscape.

Curry's global journey includes its adoption in Japan, influenced by the Japanese Navy's rations and the country's efforts to westernize and modernize its cuisine.

The convergence of curry in the late 20th and early 21st century reflects the interconnectedness of global food cultures and the influence of migration and trade.

The role of curry in Japan is unique, with its ingredients and preparation methods reflecting a blend of Western influence and Japanese adaptation.

The popularity and prestige of curry in the United States and the United Kingdom differ, with Indian food ranking differently in terms of popularity and cost in New York City and London.

The global spread of curry is also marked by the contributions of various communities, including Nepali workers in Japan and Punjabi Mexicans in California.

The concept of 'authenticity' in food is challenged by the global circulation of dishes like chicken tikka masala and butter chicken, which may be seen as adaptations rather than pure representations of a cuisine.

The rise of curry in Japan is tied to the Meiji Restoration's efforts to promote meat consumption and align with Western dietary practices for reasons of race, strength, and modernity.

The categorization of food as 'ethnic' varies by region and culture, with Japan developing its own classification system that includes Japanese, Western, Chinese, and 'esunikku' or ethnic South and Southeast Asian food.

The modern Japanese experience with curry rice is relatively recent, with its ingredients and preparation methods reflecting a history of global influence and adaptation.

The global popularity of curry has led to its commercialization and standardization, with a focus on certain spices and ingredients that have become synonymous with the dish.

The labor and entrepreneurial dynamics behind the global curry industry reveal a complex system of migration, adaptation, and cultural exchange.

Transcripts

So as you heard the title is "Curry Goes Global: The Geopolitics Politics of Good Taste" and curry  

in fact is kind of a very interesting artifact  that allows us to tell a complicated story and  

the story starts in British India that I'm going  to talk about today. I'm going to point a little  

bit to how curry went transnational through the  19th century into the 20th century. Specifically,  

the way it spreads to the West and a very  different way it spreads to Japan. In fact,  

it spreads to Japan from the West and  then I'm going to end up talking about  

convergence at the end of the 20th century  in the early part of the 21st century. I'm a  

sociologist by training so you will see a lot  of the sociological arguments emerging and I  

depend on the work of a lot of terrific  historians who you will see me refer to 

tonight and I will often use the cover of their  book to also encourage you. If you want to dig  

deeper into any of these topics and Melissa  had asked me to provide a reading list. I  

can also provide a reading list at the end. So  in some ways, the first take is curry at home,  

about home cooking and this is in fact literally  the picture is of me making rajma chawal at home  

and curry in some way is born as a British  reference to any Indian style sauce and stew  

and most of you would be familiar with it.  In some ways the analogy I would say is say  

calling beurre blanc or a bechamel, a veloute - as gravy so there's kind of this overgeneralizing  

quality to something called curry and I have  probably not eaten anything called a curry but  

I've eaten various kinds of sauces and one of the  languages in my father tongue is Bengali my mother  

tongue is Oriya and one of the sauces is kind of  a runny jhol which is made with whole five spice  

which has things like fennel in it and onion seed,  fenugreek, etc. Often in eastern India, a base is  

the mustard oil. I've had something thicker like  in this picture often called a jhaal which also  

literally means hot with fresh ground mustard  paste, green chilies, and not much more. It

doesn't have a garam masala when I make  it I don't add all kinds of spices. It is,  

in this case, it will be fresh ground  mustard, green chilies -sometimes I  

might add a little ginger or a little  garlic I've also had something called  

tok and a tok is t-o-k of sardines in tamarind  sauce so in a sense all these things could be  

classified as curry but in my case I would  often use the vernacular and, of course,  

the broader argument here is that -  I'm going to just move this a little

bit. So there, I'm going to kind of paint  a picture and, in this particular case,  

it's about the multiplicity and variety of  cuisines of India and even at the simplest  

level. When we - you see the two maps there. One  is a wheat rice map and lot of river valleys in  

peninsular India, the part of India I come from,  Eastern India and is a rice eating culture. Rice  

and fish and vegetable and I spent - I went  to college - high school and college in Delhi,  

the capital city, which is a place of  kind of wheat based breads, flat breads,  

etc. But what you cannot see on this map also  is that like in many parts of the world wheat  

and rice are about a thousand years old when  they become extensively used before that we  

have kind of a collective noun a variety of  millets in fact which is what the rice and  

wheat civilizations cultures are sit on. So  if you ask me about Indian food I would say I  

would probably associate it with the dialects.  The last census counted about 22,000 dialects  

in India with about 125 mother tongues and remember I told you my father tongue is Bengali, 

my mother tongue is Oria, and Bengali is to  Oria a bit like what Spanish is to Italian  

but with a different script - written with a  different script. Then I went to Delhi which is  

my language there was Hindi, so my hypothesis is  wherever there's a dialect there's a cuisine and  

partly because dialects are linked to foodsheds  and there's this double orality it is what food  

is produced in the region and then the kind of  conversation we have about it and in a sense if  

I'm going to make a generalization I would say  there is probably no national cuisine at least  

in India's case and probably true about most  nations in the world. They're probably a lot  

more regional. In India, there are these many  states as you see in the map and then in fact  

you go further down in under those kind  of states into regions. Okay, let's see,  

there it is, so in a sense, I also want to  caution us not to be hyper sensitive about it.  

A good example is in 1974, Madhur Jaffrey said the word curry was as degrading to  

India's great cuisines as the  term chop suey was to China's

and there is a truth to that the kind of a  simplification yet in 2003 she did write a  

book called the "Ultimate Curry Bible" so in fact  the best of us also change our minds and Indians I  

would say, in general, rarely use the word curry  other than in a context of anglophone and in the  

expatriate world but I would also encourage you  to think about any generalizations I make about  

India is probably can be contradicted I mean  that's the nature of the size of the country  

the nature of the culture and the multiplicity  of it and here the one of the sources that is  

sometimes referenced and you will have there are  a couple of references that presumably the word  

curry comes from a Portuguese transliteration of  karil from Tamil there's some reference to it in  

Achaya. Some reference to it in the other books  but that's not an established that's not like a

a guaranteed argument. By the 18th century the  English begin to use it for a range of salans,  

kormas, vindaloo and if you're looking  for a book on Indian food that explains  

some of this complexity the classic is  K.T. Achaya's - the book on the right,  

"Indian Food: A Historical Companion."  It's a fantastic book it's still not  

been superseded and then a recent book a  more recent book by Colleen Taylor Sen,

Sourish Bhattacharyya, and Helen Saberi - "The  Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian cuisine," but also  

by the way I kind of keep on top of a lot of  interesting work on Instagram that's happening  

often with very talented younger women. Then  the new journals that have come out Juggernaut,  

Vittles, which comes out of London in fact  - Whetstone, which is both out of the US and  

a vertical in India - Goya there's a feminist  food journal so if you need kind of interesting  

contemporary discussions about Indian food and  especially that pays attention to kind of the  

multiple - the regionalization of it I would go  to some of these sources then there are classics  

for students who want to get a sense of especially  what I'm talking about today a bit of it - which  

is "Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors" by  Lizzie Collingham and one of my favorite the  

book on the right side "Bengali Cooking" which  is absolutely a beautiful book about culture its  

relationship to ecology and as you can see in  that book it's called "Bengali Cooking" so it  

becomes - it begins to regionalize - a state a -  state of Bengal and and as I said my father tongue  

is Bengali and there are more interesting books  like food culture in colonial Asia that addresses  

some of this question of how curry goes global  in a complicated way and a fascinating book like  

"Flavors of Empire" which is more about Thai  food but its relationship to geopolitics in  

terms of the Vietnam War and Thailand. Those  of who - those of you who are taking notes  

or will get these slides for instance some of  the good Instagram pages to follow - I follow  

@helloforktales and @odiafoodstories - that's partly because as I said my mother  

is Oriya. I come from Orissa. I spend the  first half of my life in Orissa and Delhi  

and then the second half of my life in the  United States. @rushinamg, @pickletopilaf,  

and a number of other people referenced here.  So now back to a little bit of the broader  

argument as I said curry emerges in the British  vocabulary in the 19th century and curries and - 

here's one quotation, "Curries consist in the  meat, fish, or vegetables being dressed until  

tender to which are added ground spices chilies  and salt...The meat may be fried in butter,  

ghee, oil, or fat to which an added gravy,  coconut" - sorry, "yogurt, milk, coconut juice,  

or vegetables." And curries begin to emerge in the  Anglo-Indian world. Curry powders, often made at  

home, I would say my mother never uses curry  powder bought from the market but I would say  

the next generation, my sister-in-law uses some  variety of regional curry powders. Commercial  

curry powders - I don't like using them because  I find them almost sometimes overbearing there  

are some exceptions - I would usually make up these curry powders mixes of curries from whole  

spices than ground and I've been referencing -  referencing - Odia Bengal. My Odia grandmother  

and you can see even if you cannot read the  script you can recognize what the script is.  

The Odia script in some ways is much more rounded  would often use - my Odia grandmother would often  

use roasted garlic in her dal which would be  often very runny with vegetable stews called  

santula and rarely ground spices like garam  masala with some exceptions about it. She  

would usually rarely cook chicken or goat meat.  My Bengali grandmother was more likely to cook  

say shrimp in a ground poppy seed paste and dal  so as you can see like the argument about jahl - 

if I have a mustard sauce it is basically  mustard and green chilies. It's not a lot  

of spices of different kinds if we have  eaten mostly Indian food in a restaurant  

our palate is used to in fact a lot of spice  different kinds of spices and usually home  

cooking especially Eastern India tends to be  lot more kind of milder and fewer spices and,  

in this particular case, coming from Balasore in  coastal India. So what I've been pointing to is  

the differences under the nation and there  are also of course connections above the  

nation. This is a beautiful map that shows you - this is just before the kind of Portuguese get to  

India at the end of this century. It's a 15th  century kind of a mapping of - I just finished  

work on a relationship between say Zanzibar and  Western Indian cooking so as there are multiple -

- multiple varieties under the nation there are  also multiple iterations of things like chapati  

things like parathas around the Indian Ocean wall.  So my second take is as curry moves abroad in the  

Western world - I live in New York City so I'll  tell you this story relatively quickly from New  

York City and there's a beautiful book by Vivek  Bald called :Bengali Harlem," who identifies  

that Manhattan's early 20th century cafes is  basically a place where you find most in curries -

is a British Merchant sailor's club for seamen  and this is on 38th Street and there is the  

quotation from The New York Times here where he's  talking about lascars who will - John Carter says  

"the shift of economic forces during and since  the war" - this was just the (inaudible) war,  

"have left little of Navy's British character,  save the officers, who are English" and then  

he gets into this ethnocentric tirade, which he  says "they demand they shall eat no meat unless  

it has been slaughtered in accordance with the  prescribed ritual. The diet of Indian Muslims  

consist of mutton, curry and rice: rice,  curry, and mutton ad infinitum" end quote. 

He's referencing to Indians as Muslims because  most of them are coming from Eastern Bengal at  

that point of time around the Chittagong Hills  and who would contribute substantially to in  

fact the British Merchant (inaudible) you see -  references ,this is 1921, in the New York Times,  

where she writes "Six short weeks ago an  Indian restaurant was discovered on 8th  

Avenue near 42nd Street. Grave Indian gentlemen  with American clothes but with great turbans on  

their heads used to come in for their curry and  rice. Six short weeks and already the restaurant  

is half full of tourists eagerly peering at  each other for turbans and local color" - 

end quote. I mean which is of course a typical  New York - very New Yorker complaint we have  

been doing that at least for 100 years if not  more the idea that we have these very exotic  

things and then of course all the tourists come  and swamp it and we both enjoy this discovery of  

exotic exotica and also endlessly complain about  how no one goes there because it's too crowded in  

some ways. There's also a fascinating story  because you're on the West coast of Punjabi  

Mexicans of California - this is a beautiful  book called "Making Ethnic Choices" which  

you had substantial movement of Punjabi men in  early 20th century into California and because  

of miscegenation laws and racial prejudice they  often married women of Mexican heritage and these  

were Mexican Punjabi families what she calls  bi-ethnic families often identified as Hindu 

within quotation marks I put it because Hindu of  course is a religious category but that was one  

of the available census category that was trying  to distinguish indigenous Native Americans from  

Indians who came to be called Hindus who in fact  often were not Hindus in terms of religion but  

Sihk and Muslim men and they developed a culinary  repertoire of corn tortillas and mustard greens in  

Punjab you have something called (saroki sag)  and makki ki roti and makki ki roti is corn  

tortillas and sarson ka saag is mustard greens and  small amount of highly flavored animal proteins  

to create in some ways a bi-ethnic food. You see  references slightly upscaling this is Long Champ's  

1935 advertisement you have the Ceylon India Inn  and a number of restaurants called Taj Mahal,  

etc. And increasing coverage in 1949 we see  the earliest reference in a telephone directory  

to a cluster of restaurants for restaurants and  they're also often carried in the African-American  

newspapers like New York Amsterdam and news by  1960 we see the first instance of this Indian  

food entering into this world of the Gourmand and  this case Craig Claiborne, who some people call  

him as the first restaurant critic, who sets up  some rules like paying his own bill, not eating  

for free, and in some ways familiarizing here  with Indian food through the figure of Manorama  

Phillips and he has a whole half a page picture  of her - she works in the United Nations and  

of course in some ways you can say archetypes of  the Indian sari, jewelry, wall hangings which is  

partly framing this authentic Indian which would  be this perpetual quest in the West in the global  

West about whether we are getting the authentic  thing or not. So New York Times covers about 100  

articles on Indian food by the 1970s and that  is kind of the process of naturalization of it  

within quotes ethnic food and 1989 you will have  Dawat, Madhur Jaffrey figures in its little ad in  

the NYNEX Yellow Pages to remember NYNEX Yellow  Pages or even know what they are you have to be  

a little older like me if you are of the next two  generations it's kind of probably as exotic as in  

some ways what - what print media would be so by  the 1990s you see 300 articles on Indian food in  

the New York Times to give you a comparative  sense about 1,200 on Italian food which is the  

most popular Cuisine named cuisine in New York  City and Chinese at 368 and Japanese sorry -

the Japanese at 368 and 316 Mexican and Japanese  is emerging at this point of time will become  

very important and you will see most of what  are called Indian restaurants even today are  

relatively cheap what could be called curry  houses they're about 2% and I'll show you some  

data about 2-3% Indian restaurants (inaudible)  scale in many American cities I'm going to talk  

about that quickly what is becoming visible  now is Nepali Cuisine often called Newari 

cuisine of the Kathmandu Valley and many may  not be familiar with it with air dried meats are  

important part of their cuisine, bamboo shoots,  and minced buffalo liver. They are I think the  

last time I looked at Yelp about 31 self-described  Himalayan restaurants including Nepali Bhutani,  

Tibetan, etc. And these are often working class  to small South Asian entrepreneurs this is how  

Indian curries go west and the popularity and  prestige I want to kind of go through it quickly  

this is Zagat's data. I just want to look at over  30-year period - 2016 was the latest data the most  

expensive largest number of most expensive  restaurants in New York City are Japanese,  

and then French at the top, then American if it  is called New American, Continental Italian it  

goes down, Spanish Greek, by the way Greek and  Korean and Vietnamese food have been climbing  

up in prestige the fastest, and then you have  Mexican and Indian - Indian figures are about  

10th or 12th in rank in terms of New York City  and you can see that this is Yelp data I just  

want to draw your attention to the Y axis - Italian you see that on top there - Italian,  

Chinese, and Mexican tend to be the the most  popular in most American cities I have data  

on about two dozen American cities including San  Francisco, etc. In San Francisco, for instance,  

French does a little better - popular and  then I want to draw your attention to that  

green line on it you will see which is a pricey  food and the most pricey tends to be French and  

the New American and also Japanese but Japanese is  becoming both common and pricey and Indian on that  

list is I think 10th or 11th. I want to give you  one other data point. This is London and you will  

see at the top there is Indian, then Italian, then  American, then Chinese, etc. In some ways you can  

say Indian food is to London, what Italian food  is to New York City in terms of both popularity  

and prestige if you look at London about 12%  of Indian restaurants there are upscale and of  

course if you look at the French it's almost  50/50 but Indian food does quite well both  

in popularity and in prestige in London than in  fact than in New York City and that's partly has  

to do with demographics partly has to do with the  relationship of what I have called the hierarchy  

of taste. I just want to have one comment here  on this question you might be wondering if they  

call themselves Indian or they call themselves  Italian are they and there's this beautiful quote  

from Italian who's visiting in New York City  in 1920s -"One evening while strolling in New  

York we went to an Italian restaurant where they  introduced two very fine, traditional American  

specialties called 'spaghetti with meatballs'  and cotoletta 'parmigiana'...I found both  

extremely satisfying and I think someone in Italy  should invent them for the Italians over there." 

So this circulation of like chicken tikka masala,  like butter chicken - Italian food, Japanese food,  

including California rolls that folks invented  on the West coast circulate globally in a way and  

yes one can have quarrels about how authentic or  inauthentic that is. I'm going to set it aside for  

now. Now to - so to say the meat of the matter,  this is my third take which is how curry reaches  

Japan via in fact the Japanese Navy and in fact  most of the ingredients in there curry powder,  

white potato, carrot, not rice as much, but I'll  tell you how rice is relatively modern and about  

150 years old in the Japanese experience if  you're looking for the best book on this it  

is "Modern Japanese Cuisine" by Katarzyna  Cwiertka and she opens the book with a kind  

of a citation of a survey that favorite television  show does with 6,000 of its viewers - what is the  

accompaniment that you have with Japanese dinner  and at number 10 was hamburger, then gyoza - in  

the middle of the list there you see curry rice,  and at the top of the list was soy simmered beef,  

potatoes, and onions these are of course -year - conceptions - Japanese conceptions of what is  

traditional Japanese food and what are these other  accompaniments with it. Even rice in some ways,  

though always symbolically important, white  rice was not available to all especially rural  

poor and then of course urban populations through  rationing and scarcity and especially what we now  

have come to associate with fresh sushi that has gone global is a post Edo period street food and  

if you want a a beautiful book on Sushi this is  the book you should be looking at and he traces -

Eric Rath traces Sushi's development from  China to Japan which is usually a story  

that is under told and then how it spreads  internationally and from how it moves from  

being street food in Edo period Japan to in fact  high class cuisine, the most expensive cuisine,  

most expensive restaurants in New York City are  omakase sushi restaurant - that's very recent  

development both in Japan and also globally so  what we call curry is this about 150 years old  

of associated fried food - breaded fried meats  that are borrowed heavily from the Portuguese and  

in fact there's a point of time in 1871 where  the Meiji Emperor in fact very performatively  

turns West and he turns West and he's supposed  to represent this modernizing feature of Japanese  

culture which is called the Meiji Restoration  which in some ways is a sort of a coup d'état  

with the middle level samurai who are faced  with the challenge they see what's happening  

to China and they don't want Japan to go  down the pathway okay so there's part of  

this meat and the and the emperor eating meat is  performatively functioned in a particular way and  

it's important because in Japanese culture partly  influenced by Buddhism, partly based on Shintoism,  

there's a sense that you don't eat domesticated  animals okay and you eat hunted wild animals and  

there's a sense of a westernization of this  cuisine that will help to circumvent this  

problem of vegetarianism and there have always  been medicinal meats but there's a substantial  

vegetarianism that has developed in Japan from  about the 7th Century onwards you see outsiders  

who are going to Japan are pointing it out about  wild game, high quality fish ,and here is a  

Jesuit missionary who says "some people especially  traders, since the arrival in Japan now eat cow,  

pig, and hens, but such things are not eaten at  solemn banquets." There's a sense that that is  

still not ritually correct and of course all of us  today know Kobe beef very famous for it and that  

comes out of the port of Kobe where it is shipped  to Yokohama and in some ways, named - gets named  

as Kobe beef which becomes quite popular among  young selective cosmopolitan crowd. The state does  

a lot of propaganda on the Meiji government and  afterwards on consuming meat and I'll tell you why  

because this is the kind of the biopolitics what - what scholars after Foucault called biopolitics  

which is this question of race and diet and that  is quite a rage in the Western world and here is  

Edwin Lankester saying "those races who have  partaken of animal food are the most vigorous,  

most moral, most intellectual races  of mankind." It's kind of a inversion  

compared looking back from the first two  decades of the 21st century. Sarah Hale 

argued that British dominance of India proved that  fact that meat eaters dominated World politics so  

there's this social Darwinist argument that  is developing a more interpretation of race  

and diet that the Japanese pick up from these  dominant powers and there are Americans there  

are other westerners who are traveling through  Japan who today - Japanese food has so much  

prestige it is astonishing to read these people  endlessly whining about what Japanese food is  

what they're saying is - is not good for  their palate and their meat eating habits

which is very Atlantic, very  European, especially northern  

European the consumption of meat is almost  two to three times higher around northern  

Europe than around the Mediterranean and also  than across the Atlantic. Here's the American  

Vice-Consul who's whining about living off  rice, fish, and very poor poultry and kind  

of that becomes a common place in some ways  but the intriguing - intriguing question is  

why do the Japanese mimic a kind of the  Anglo-Saxon model rather than the Gallic  

model which is in fact at this point of time  becoming the dominant Western model of haute

cuisine okay and some of the arguments made by  historians is its relationship to global power, 

visible power, frequency of contact, and some  have argued to the relative ease of preparing  

Anglo-Saxon foods rather than Gallic foods and  here's one quote "As democratic as American homes  

are and as unsophisticated as the English homes  are, so extremely simple is their food and easily  

adaptable for Japanese homes. Therefore,  I find them most suitable." These are of  

course interpretations of what is easy and what is  complex. I mean what - what is the most important  

part of mimicking the Brits are because they are a  major global power in the 19th century and in fact  

Japanese come into substantial contact with the  British and begin to mimic this sensibility which  

is both as I said coming in from the emperor  performatively turning West - eating meat and  

then it is also becoming popular in Western  restaurants they were in fact at this point  

of time restaurants called "beast" restaurants  that specified on food and Western food and curry  

is identified as Western food you see that in  railway company restaurants, in department stores,  

which are in fact quite fashionable and lot of  the ingredients are coming from different parts  

of the world and beef you have Kobe beef - it'll  take off later it's coming from China, Shanghai,  

onions from Bombay, white potatoes, carrots,  cabbage, not typically widely used in Japan  

until the end of the 19th century you see like  white potato crop grew 10 times between 1880 and  

1930 so not only are the concepts but of course  the ingredients that go into the making of these  

kinds of meat stews with curry powder that happens  basically an early first half of the 20th century,  

first 2-3 decades of the 20th century and  that gets strengthened with with universal  

education by the way that's in most developed  parts of the world where you have school,  

you have school lunches, you begin to create a  relatively homogeneous diet and a palate and you  

have modern notions of nutrition and association  with for instance strength and height with protein  

consumption and protein is all the rage until  vitamins become the rage by about the 1920s and in  

for some ways proteins have come back again now.  It is in schools and especially in the military,  

specifically in the navy, that the Japanese  learned to eat meat often in with sauces - 

soy sauce was often a bridge and then of  course curry powder which was largely seen  

as a British ingredient because curry  had moved West to the British lands as  

in fact coming through the navy the  interesting observations about the  

Japanese navy recruit who would often eat an  enormous bowl of plain snow white rice with 

a little bit of pickle as relish. We begin to see  a military - army cookbook in 1910 which has about  

150 recipes it includes curry rice in it and  you see the increasing consumption of beef -

consumption per soldier which moves  up while the population is eating at  

the maximum 1 kg a year on the average, you  have 13 kilograms, so military population,  

naval population is consuming meat - at beef at  the level of 13 times. Chinese dishes are added  

and the naval diet is specifically targeted  towards kind of there's the French model the 

Japanese military develops the French model for  land forces of course mimicking its successes  

in Europe from the memory of the Napoleonic  Wars and the British model for naval forces  

because this is of course the model of  the global power and Katarzyna Cwiertka

talks about de-Japanization of side  dishes, various kinds of curries,  

croquettes, and Chinese stir-fries by the way  these are persistent like in most militaries  

there's a persistent complaint and anxiety  about malnutrition okay - in the Pacific War  

for instance malnutrition kills many many people  and you begin to see a lunch then added to the - 

in the navy menu of steamed stewed beef with  potatoes and onions which often become the  

bridge to this thing called curry rice so  there are these foods of empire - gyoza,  

kimchi, ramen, and curry rice is in some ways is  imagined as the food of another empire and this  

is built as a mimicry of Western Imperialism  and to mimic it in some ways is to kind of  

re-conceive of oneself as a martial race  that is an important part of the kind of  

the military naval - modernizing - westernizing  and curry rice ironically becomes part of this  

project of modernization and westernization  and some of the languages is a beautiful new  

book called "Food Language and Society" about  language of classification that develops in Japan  

often develops in many parts of the world as to  what is Japanese food remember just like India,  

Japan is a long narrow island with mountains and  valleys so it's a highly regionalized cuisine just  

like Italy just in some ways like French food  but there's a kind of a unification of it and  

that often happens in the mirror of the other.  The other here are Western, the other here are  

Chinese. Partly, China plays a complex role in  the Japanese imagination both as the source of a  

Sinocentric culture but then of course a country,  a region that would be colonized by the West  

that would be seen as increasingly inferior and  then the classification that you also have with  

American food. The idea that something is ethnic  - different people consider different food ethnic,  

ethnic means ethnos people and usually it  is in this case it is Japanese, Western,  

Chinese and then "esunikku" which is ethnic which  is often South- Southeast Asian and South Asian  

food. The last bit I want to talk about - I have  about seven minutes left - is this convergence  

that is happening. The curry makers of Japan  today are often Nepali workers. Nepali migrants  

have increased about 10 times from about 5,000 in  2005 to about 55,000 in 2020 it's twice the number  

of Indians five times the number of Pakistanis so  out of about 2.4 million registered foreigners in  

Japan and there are these niches just like New  York City you have South Asian Bangladeshi cab  

drivers. There are also these ethnic enclaves of  Filipino entertainers and bartenders and then you  

have Nepali curry house owners and often sometimes  described as the 3-K jobs: dirty, dangerous,  

and difficult - sorry I'm just going to check my  time good five minutes - and out of 50,000 Nepalis  

about 30,000 work in Nepali run Indian curry  restaurants so it's substantial it's in some  

ways that demo - demographics looks a lot like  if I think of New York City the analogy here in  

fact is Thai - the number of Thai people and the  number of Thai restaurants are in some ways that  

high that ratio is that high that very many of  Thai families in New York City are associated with  

Thai restaurants just like Nepali is in Indian  restaurants - curry restaurants and about 500  

last time I checked the data Nepali restaurants in  Tokyo alone each restaurant and this is by the way  

in which a kind of an exploitative system develops  can bring in three to four cooks - sometimes each  

of these cooks are paying about $15,000 dollars  each to get the paperwork and often that is used  

to finance the restaurant and there are about  3,000 Nepali owned Indian restaurants in - in  

Japan and the assessment last piece I looked at  is about 25 to 30 seat restaurant the typical a  

median restaurant curry house -three to five  workers it takes about three to four million  

yen as revenues and about a 1,500 yen dinner  and you see this kind of a structuring of ethno  

exploitation that you - I also see in in New York  City in these various so-called ethnic restaurants  

these are small entrepreneurs and a labor force  and often they are indistinguishable from each  

other. This system in some people traced back to  other chains of Indian entrepreneurs often hiring  

people which looks like quite high salaries by  Indian standards but in fact does not turn out  

to be so of course in terms of cost of living in  Japan and earnings as I've said before from three  

cooks can often allow an entrepreneur to start a  business and of course folks are just like in New  

York City working very hard working long hours of  six days a week and there's of course as you have  

this a relative homogenization of curry which is  often used used as a roux often with ingredients  

as turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, pepper,  chili, orange peel, and spices and fat and flour  

often cubed like that you're also going to see  a differentiation in this spice curry - one of  

my friends who lives in Japan now pointed out to  me of not a flour-based roux but in fact what is  

called spice curry which is in some ways more  directly spices cumin, cardamom, clove, chili,  

ginger, garlic etc. So just to repeat, so of these  divergent pathways of the curry so curry goes west  

first with British, British transplants, and  their wives. There's an article by Zlotkin 

that's beautiful about how curry goes - works with  gender in the imperial realm of the British Indian  

empire, then it goes by small entrepreneurs and  workers, especially Naval workers, first - first  

from Chittagong and now from Nepal for instance and then of course it goes east to Japan via the  

West primarily through British naval rations  based on social Darwinist notions of race and  

diet ending up - this divergence ending up with a  convergence at the end of the 20th century and the  

early 20th century in terms of curry rice.  I think I'll stop here. I'll stop sharing,  

so I can see you and you can see me  and we can open up the questions.