A page from Yukio Mishima’s Spring Snow, demonstrating the Western affectations of the Japanese upper class circa 1913. In the novel this is a sign of decay, the abandonment of proud native traditions, specifically the warrior-caste pride of the weakling protagonist’s nouveau-riche family. Looking like something out of the Gilded Age, from a book written in 1965, the menu provides an interesting time capsule of an era that’s been referred to as Japan’s Jazz Age, a period of curious cultural rebellion quashed by the economic unrest and mounting nationalism of the early '30s. Years before Japanese flappers would embrace Western clothing styles, the affectations of the Taisho era demonstrate the same obsession with illicit outside influence that would make way for modern confections, from sponge cake to milk bread. Both of these seem like modern, post-war innovations, but trace back further, to the early influence of Portugal, perhaps the world’s preeminent seeder of European culture abroad, and conversely a big importer of overseas flavors back to the mainland. It was the Portuguese who originally brought bread (not to mention tempura, itself possibly derived from Indian pakora) to Japan in the 17th century, with the word pan, like the Indian pav, coming from the Portuguese pao.
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Heroes for Sale (William Wellman, 1933)
The bill of fare at 'Dennis's Poor Man's Club', a wholesome boarding-house serving hearty meals to the down and out. Some additional decorative color below: |
The coded language of snacks, sandwiches and seasonings, in NYC and beyond.
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