“Washoku” traditional Japanese cuisine has been added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list Wednesday, December 4, raising the nation’s hopes of enhancing its global recognition and boosting exports of its agricultural products.
The Japanese government’s proposal was formally approved by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization at a meeting of its Intergovernmental Committee in Baku, Azerbajan.
The move comes as the country faces the spread of Western eating habits and washoku dims in popularity, leading to a decline in rice consumption. The government hopes the registration will provide an opportunity for Japanese people to reevaluate the value of washoku, and plans to make efforts nationwide to pass on traditional food culture to younger generations through food education.
Washoku became the first food-related Japanese asset to be added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, and the 22nd Japanese item to make the list, following the registration last year of Nachi no Dengaku, a religious performing art held at the Nachi fire festival in Wakayama Prefecture.
In its proposal for UNESCO registration of the country’s food culture made in March 2012, the government defined washoku not as specific dishes but as a “dietary culture associated with a social practice embodying the spirit of the Japanese people of respect for nature.”
The government highlights four features of washoku – various fresh, locally supplied ingredients, well-balanced meals based on rice, soup and three dishes, seasonal aesthetic presentation using traditional dishware and its relations to traditional annual events such as New Year’s festivities.
It also says that washoku has contributed to “strengthen the bonds of family or community members … thus has laid the foundations for development of social capital such as the spirit of solidarity shared among farmers in the production of washoku ingredients.”
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, yearly per capita consumption of rice dropped to a rough estimate of 56.3 kg in 2012, less than half of 118.3 kg marked in the peak year of 1962, indicating that people are turning away from the nation’s staple food.
“We are truly happy,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said of the UNESCO recognition in a statement released Thursday, December 5. “We would like to continue passing on Japanese food culture to the generations to come.”
Agriculture minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters the same day that the designation is not a goal but only a beginning of the nation’s efforts to preserve and pass on washoku to future generations, adding that he hopes it will also be a favorable wind for spreading Japanese cuisine overseas.
Education minister Hakubun Shimomura said the government will further promote dietary education and serve more Japanese dishes in school lunches so that washoku will be handed down to younger generations.
Akira Banzai, head of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu), welcomed the registration, saying in a statement that the fact that washoku was recognized as globally valuable will serve as a great encouragement for farmers. The JA group will work on preserving local food culture rooted in each region, which is the foundation of washoku, Banzai said.
Besides washoku, the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which entered into force in 2006, has so far registered four food cultures – French cuisine, traditional Mexican food, the Mediterranean diet and a Turkish ceremonial dish – as intangible assets.
(Dec. 6, 2013)