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In 2005, Japan launched a food education campaign called shokuiku. Through tracing the historical roots, I argue that the food education campaign represents a form of governmentality, which seeks to improve the nation's dietary habits and links national identity to foodways.
The enactment of the Fundamental Law of Food Education in 2005 led to the launch of a nationwide food education campaign called shokuiku, which is now an integral part of school lunch programs and nutritional guidelines for adults. A closer look at the campaign reveals that shokuiku is a historical concept and needs to be seen in a broader context of culinary politics that aimed to enable Japanese citizens to cope with the demands of modernity but also pursued a nationalistic agenda. The early shokuiku teachings originated in the Meiji period and viewed food education as part of a holistic educational concept, which stressed self-cultivation, discipline, familial conviviality, an appreciation of local food but also included foreign foodways. In contrast, the current shokuiku campaign advocates a return to an indigenous - and supposedly healthier - food fare as a way to contain globalization. Through tracing the historical roots of shokuiku, I argue that the revival of this educational concept represents a form of governmentality, which seeks to improve the nation's dietary habits and simultaneously evokes a strong sense of national identity linked to foodways.