“Seiyō ryōrihō hitoriannai is a Japanese cookbook written by Kenzō Kondō and published in the 19th year of the Meiji era (i.e.,1886). It contains more than 100 Western recipes with commentaries on table etiquette, hosting a dinner, and carving meat. Today, the book is considered as a historical document showing an active process of absorbing knowledge of Western food culture in Japan at that time. In the preface, after praising Western cuisine from a nutritional point of view, Kondō stated that his book was an edited translation of a book originally written by an American author “Koruson.” In this paper, we identify “Koruson” as Juliet Corson, a pioneer of culinary education in the United States, and confirm that many of the recipes in Kondo’s book came from her book, “Twenty-Five Cent Dinners, for Families of Six.” Moreover, we present a candidate source for the meat carving part in Kondō’s book.

As the first Japan Cultural Envoy to be dispatched for the subject of food culture, I visited 7 countries in Europe (France, Germany, Poland, Hungry, Italy, Slovakia, and Great Britain) over 2 months, beginning in August 2014. I was able to engage in activities such as delivering lectures on Japanese food culture, holding workshops on futomaki matsuri sushi (thick sushi roll prepared on festive occasions) , and organizing parties for tasting of dishes, such as misoshiru (miso soup) and morisoba (chilled buckwheat noodles). This research aimed to determine the interest in Japanese food and Japanese food culture in 7 European countries, by using a questionnaire filled out by participants of the activities organized.

The questionnaire answered by 532 people (men, 30%; women, 69%; no answer, 1%). Ninety-one percent of the participants indicated that they enjoyed the lecture. Ninety percent of the participants answered that the Japanese that they tried were delicious. Ninety percent of the participant were interested in learning how to prepare Japanese food. Ninety-one percent of the participants answered that they were interested in Japanese food culture or Japanese food. me among the Japanese dishes included sushi, and tempura. The best characteristics of Japanese food according to the respondents were healthy diet, delicious taste, beautiful appearance, variety, less oil and fat, and lack of heaviness .

From these results, it was clear that there was keen interest in Japanese foods and Japanese food culture, the characteristics of traditional Japanese food culture, and the healthy characteristics of the diet among the participants. The lecture on Japanese food culture, the cultural exchange activity in the workshop, and the tasting patty of dishes resulted in kindling of interest in Japanese culture and a sense of closeness to Japan. Thus, it observed that a cultural exchange activity for Japanese food culture a good means of international cultural exchange.

This study aims to clarify the process through which the original tofu dengaku, after which all the later dengaku cuisine is named, has changed into various kinds of dengaku dishes by gleaning data from historical reference materials. This also aims, from the point of view of carrying on of food culture, to delve into the present situation of how tofu dengaku is being eaten.

Actual research was carried out by identifying and perusing articles concerning meals and dishes containing the word “dengaku” in Honkoku Edojidai Ryoribon Syusei, a collection of cookbooks of the Edo period, and in Nihon no Shokuseikatsu Zensyu, a book of records of everyday food eaten by people from the Taisho period through the early years of the Showa period as told to the researchers.

Also a survey by questionnaire was conducted on about 300 students of a women’s university, who are of the young generation expected to carry on the tradition.

From above research, the study not only found out distinguishing characteristics of each period as to the ingredients and the ways of cooking of dengaku, but also confirmed the author’s impression that the tofu dengaku tradition has not been preserved in all its fullness.