Food as symbols in kitchen

That quote is simple but it is portrayed in the beginning of the story when she goes to the Tanabes and automatically falls in love with there kitchen and uses it as her place of comfort in there house as well

“I fell inlove with it at first sight.”

Comfort

(Comfort is the easing or alleviation of a person's feelings of grief or distress)

"For an instant I had a vision of Eriko's smiling face, and my heart turned over. I felt an urge to get moving. It looked to me like the kitchen had not been used in quite a while. It was somewhat dirty and dark. I began to clean."

“The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it’s a kitchen, if it’s a place where they make food, it’s fine with me.”

"Why do i love everything that has to do with kitchens so much? It's strange. perhaps to me a kitchen represents some distant longing engraved on my soul. As I stood there, I seemed to be making a new start; something was coming back" - Mikiage

“I was to said to be able to sleep in the same bed with anyone; that would only make the sadness worse. But here was a kitchen, some plants, someone sleeping in the next room… perfect quiet…this was the best. This place was… the best.”

> Comfort food is food that reminds us of a happy time in our past and the kitchen is where her and her grandmother spent a lot of good times together

> Food is Mikiages most common source of comfort

>Mikiage finds comfort in food, cooking and the kitchen as it is her distraction and release of the pain and grief she feels from the loss of her parents and especially the loss of her grandmother, its what calms her.

Culture

Food symbolzing mikiage

"I love even increadably dirty kitchens to distraction vegetable droppings all over the floor, so dirty your slippers turn black on the bottom"- Mikiage

Food and drink in Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto are symbols of japanese culture, Many of the dishes as well as drinks mentioned and used in Kitchen are traditional to Japanese culture, much like many you may have heard of such as Bento, Sushi and green tea.

Green Tea

'We would spend a little time together before bed, sometime drinking coffee, sometimes green tea, eating cake and watching TV." - Mikiage

'We would spend a little time together before bed, sometimes drinking coffee, sometimes green tea, eating cake and watching TV." - Mikiage

> Centuries old healthy cultural Japanese drink

> Tea Is an essential part of any meal in Japan and is even served free with free refills

The way Mikiage explains things through simple ideas such as a kitchen symbolizes how much she appreciates and notices the littler things in life in a more mature level then most other young people and even most older people

Culture of Katsudon

>Popular dish in japan

>In modern times, it is a tradition for Japanese students to eat Katsudon the night before a big test or entrance exam because "katsu" means to be victorious or win.

>Katsudon is a mixture of two words: Tonkatsu (pork) and Donburi (rice).

INTRODUCTION

Connections

Food for thought

>There are a lot of connections created with the characters in this story from the acts around cooking and eating food.

>There is also connections that have already been created in the kitchen like Mikiage and her grandmothers

Kitchen By Banana Yoshimoto originally written in Japanese in 1988 and then translated into English, this is a novel about mothers, tragedy and love but as the title suggests food, cooking and kitchens play an important role in the book aswell, the author incorporates food and cooking to symbolize emotions, feelings, culture and connections brought by it throughout the book it even symbolizes Mikiage herself.

> Symbols meaning a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.

“Food for thought” An idea or issue to ponder, as in That interesting suggestion of yours has given us food for thought. This metaphoric phrase, transferring the idea of digestion from the stomach to mulling something over in the mind, dates from the late 1800s, although the idea was also expressed somewhat differently at least three centuries earlier.

>Reconnecting through going out for a meals (Chika)

Feelings and emotions

(symbolized by food)

> There is a selection of food you reach for or think of when linked to a feeling or emotion.

>As well as the other way around, eating something you have before could symbolize an emotion or feeling from the experience or memory you have had previously from it.

>Food is very ‘visceral’ it relates to deep inward feelings rather than intellect

Stressed

Happy

Sad

Cold

Tired

Hot

Food for thought in Kitchen

Alcohol

"Yuichi, uncharacteristically, was very drunk. just as i was thinking that it was odd i didn't see him have that much at dinner i noticed, with a start, an empty bottle on the floor" - Mikiage

"have you been drinking like this or s month?" -Mikiage

"yeah." - Yuichi

Symbolized

Depression/sadness

Abuse of alcohol

Yuichi and his new drinking habits symbolize how he was coping and feeling after Erikos death, helping Mikiage as well as us the readers understand how seriously depressed and sad he was.

Tea

“He was drinking smelling earl grey whose soapy odor reminded me of many a late night at the tanabes.” I’d be watching television with the sound down low in the dead quiet midnight, and Yuichi would come out of his room to make tea.”

'We would spend a little time together before bed, sometime drinking coffee, sometimes green tea, eating cake and watching TV." - Mikiage

symbolized

Tea

Memories with the Tanabes

after being in her grandmothers room she remembers that memory and they are the foods that symbolize that time.

> Food in kitchen is usually used too symbolizes a memory, emotion or feeling that it is linked too

> The kitchen and everything to do with it such as food, is important because it is a way Mikiage communicates how she feels with us as the readers

Instant Meals

"i brought a few things for myself, too," said Yuichi carrying the heavier of the two.

"A few things?" i peered into my bag. Besides shampoo and note books, there were lots of "instand" dinners: a clear indication of his eating habits."

Symbolized

Yuichis bad eating habits

Instant dinners

Yuichis food habits that were picked up by Mikiage once she had come to see him after his mothers passing. She realized he had clearly not been looking after himself after seeing the instant dinners in his shopping bag.

Katsudon

"I came to deliver a katsudon," I said."It didn't seem fair that only i should get to eat, the katsudon was so delicious."

"I craved something heavy and filling so I ordered deepfried pork in broth over rice. "Katsudon, please" I said. "

"My katsudon was ready. I perked up and split my chopsticks. Thinking, an army travels on its stomach, i contemplated my meal. Although it looked amazing it looked exceptionally delicious, that was nothing ri the way it asted. It was outrageously good."

"And then i thought,ah, if only Yuichi was here. I impulsively said to the counterman, "can this be made to go? would you make another one, please?" That's how I came to find myself standimg alone in the street, close to midnight, belly pleasently full, a hot takeout container of katsudon in my hands, completely bewildered as to how to proceed."

"Good quality meat, excellent broth it was flawless."

symbolized

Sharing Katsudon

The beggining of Yuichi and Mikiage

Katsudon plays an important role in Kitchen because it symbolizes the future that Mikiage and Yuichi have together. It is a symbol of peace for them because it helps them relate to each other and that simple dish brought together.

Soupy Rice

Ramen Noodles

"She attacked the food, cucumber salad and soupy rice with eggs with gusto."

"After we finish cleaning up here, I really feel like stopping at the ramen stand in [Chuo] park." - Yuichi in Mikiages dream

"I just woke up and I'm starving. I was thinking, hmmm, maybe I'll make some ramen...."

Symbolized

Soupy rice

The meal she used to cook for the tannabes

Symbolized

When Mikiage is reminded about the soupy rice it takes her back and symbolizes the memory of her cooking it for Eriko and Yuichi as it was the first breakfast she has ever made them once moving into their house this causes emotions of sadness becasuse of eriko dying

Ramen noodles

Connection between Mikiage and Yuichi

Mikiage has a dream that Yuichi is in, where he is standing in her grandmothers kitchen talking about ramen noodles, when she wakes up and goes to the kitchen in Yuichis house where he then was out and says he wants ramen noodles, then he remembers the color of her grandmother's kitchen floor, which he had never seen before. This shows the connection between the two shared throught the kitchen and food.

Depressed

Events or occasions

(symbolized by food)

> There is a selection of food you reach for or think of when linked to a time of year, an event in the year, a celebration or even places and activities

Movies

Christmas

Summer

Easter

Birthdays

Winter

Conclusion

Bibliography

https://images.google.co.nz/

http://www.star2.com/living/viewpoints/2016/07/03/how-food-tells-a-story-in-banana-yoshimotos-kitchen/

http://web-japan.org/trends/11_lifestyle/lif111208.html

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto is a novella that is very reliant on food to tell the story by developing most the important events around food, cooking and kitchens.

Food as symbols in kitchen

by banana yoshimoto

by Jemma Reid