Cultivating Taste: Japanese Cuisine and the Promise of Attention

What if the luxury of a meal lies in the attention it asks us to give?

This talk explores how globally circulated representations of Japanese food and drink promise craftsmanship, seasonal sensitivity, and a more attentive relationship to everyday life.

From the choreography of preparation and service to the connoisseurship surrounding kaiseki and Japanese craft cocktails, we’ll consider how established culinary practices acquire new value in international markets. Moving beyond national branding, we’ll explore the tensions in positioning Japanese food and drink as both objects of refined, attentive consumption and remedies for global anxieties about distraction, industrial food production, and sensory impoverishment.