Identity: Mixing Up the Salad Bowl!

While visiting a dear friend in Oakland, California, I had one of the most eye-opening experiences of my culinary life. Watermelon and I have had a bit of a love affair since my parents gave me my own patch of garden and asked me what I wanted to grow, and melon balls had been an exciting specialty of my next door neighbor growing up. To see watermelon melon balls in a salad was beyond belief. I expected the watermelon to make the salad sweet. Instead, it kept the salad moist, and kept the saltier and more acidic elements of the salad from overwhelming the palate.

Ingredients:
½ head of cabbage
1 small red onion
1 small seedless watermelon
1 container of feta cheese
Italian dressing to taste

Start by chopping or shredding your cabbage. My friend had a mandoline, so this went very easily for me. If you don’t have a mandoline, here’s a strategy for getting your cabbage fine enough. Once finished, dress your cabbage with the Italian dressing and set it aside to marinate. The volume of your cabbage will also lessen during this time, so don’t worry if the bowl seems full! Next, grab your melon baller and ball up half of your watermelon. Set the melon balls aside in a separate bowl. We won’t be adding them until just before the salad is served. Cut your onion in half, then thinly slice each half. Separate the onion layers over your cabbage bowl and mix. At this point, all of your prep is done. When you’re ready to serve the salad, mix your melon balls in and top the salad with a generous helping of crumbled feta cheese. You’ll be surprised at how well this unlikely combination balances in your mouth.

Speaking of things that are greater than the sum of their parts, let’s talk about Ghost in the Shell—specifically the animated movie that started it all, not the white-washed travesty currently in theaters. An oldy, but a goody, Ghost in the Shell has inspired a lot of different reactions. Understandable, since there have been many adaptations and additions to the franchise. Besides the original Ghost in the Shell movie, there’s the sequel Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. There’s a manga that predates both the movies, an anime series that seems to be set after the events of the movies but almost covers a different continuity than the movies could have allowed for, and the new prequel anime Ghost in the Shell: Arise. The Arise series finishes with a new movie that feeds directly into the beginning of the first movie, bringing Ghost in the Shell fans full circle by indisputably connecting the Arise series to the original movie continuity. Despite its many forms and themes, there is one theme I believe remains constant through the Ghost in the Shell franchise. Ghost in the Shell was always a story of identity.

Here, Motoko Kusanagi—sometimes known as “the Major” and always known as the commanding officer of Japanese government clean-up squad, Section 9—questions what makes up identity, and what makes that identity “real.” That conversation continues throughout the movie, as a digital life form known as the Puppet Master makes itself known.

What’s interesting about the Puppet Master is that there are two versions of their voice. Although male pronouns are always used for the Puppet Master in the English sub and dub of both the original movie and the updated release of the original movie, in the updated release the Puppet Master uses a female voice instead of the male voice heard in the above clip. Both versions are interesting, because in the original there is a discrepancy between the perceived gender of the voice heard and the perceived gender of the body the Puppet Master possesses, and in the updated release there is a discrepancy between the pronoun used and the perceived gender of both the Puppet Master’s voice and body.

In this scene from the anime, when Motoko’s gender is questioned by her team member Batou, she refutes the idea that her gender is only skin deep and that women are weaker by hacking his synthetic body and overpowering him. Combined with the different voices of the Puppet Master, Ghost in the Shell would seem to be implying that gender has less to do with an outward appearance, and more to do with what gender the life form inside the body feels themselves to be.

Which makes sense, considering the commercial quality of synthetic cyborg bodies. During a particular sequence in the original movie, Motoko sees a woman in a cafe that looks just like her. That’s like walking into a party to see another girl wearing the same dress you are—disconcerting. In an age where identity can be bought, sold, and hacked, the only place it could come from is within.

Pumpkins: Soup, Salad, and Ale

The month of Halloween is upon us, and all I have on my mind is pumpkins. However, the standard carving pumpkin is really a thing of myth here in Japan, despite the heavy party decorations. The only pumpkin my host family says is common in Japan is this little guy:

Meet kabocha, the little salad pumpkin of many edible uses. Eaten sliced and raw in salads, cooked and mashed into a savory-sweet paste, and even sliced and dipped in a light battering of tempura, these salad pumpkins, while delicious are NOT the sort of pumpkins I am used to eating—perhaps because it isn’t actually called a pumpkin in the United States. In the US, this little variant is actually called “kabocha squash,” which, when translated will redundantly read as “pumpkin squash.” There do seem to be a variety of recipes for the “kabocha squash” though:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kbrat89/what-the-hell-is-this-and-how-do-i-eat-it-f4yb#.cc6Rlkw22

You’ll notice that the paste I mentioned is on here, if not the raw and sliced option—but you’ll also notice quite a few more recipes than the ones I’ve encountered in Japanese cuisine.

In episode twenty one of Ouran High School Host Club, entitled "Until the Day it Becomes a Pumpkin!" or "Itsuka Kabocha ni naru Hi made" (いつかカボチャになる日まで), pumpkins are a bit of a versatile metaphor, highlighting just how shallow the symbolism of Jack O’ Lanterns and Halloween are in Japan. The title of the episode doesn’t refer to a Jack O’ Lantern, but to the carriage of Cinderella. It’s a complex metaphor for a situation that cannot last, and one that the show uses because of its connection to pumpkins and Jack O’ Lanterns.

Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage

The Jack O’ Lantern used as the symbolic pumpkin the carriage will turn back into

The difference between Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage and a Halloween Jack O’Lantern is not one that the show seems phased by in the least, however. This is because Jack O’ Lanterns are purely for decoration in Japan. There is no pumpkin carving to be done with your family, no trick or treating to be done, no need to dress up to avoid being pranked by ethereal beings that can only come into our world on Halloween night. Instead, Halloween is an excuse to scare your friends, test your courage, and dress up as your favorite anime character. And kabocha? That’s an everyday thing.

As for how we eat pumpkins in America… Oh, where to start? The pie, the spice lattes, the salted seeds, the soup? A few friends and I have a tradition of making pumpkin soup and also doing some pumpkin carving around Halloween. Of course, the pumpkins made for eating and the pumpkins made for carving are of completely different varieties! The gourds one enjoys putting faces on are good for little else than their lightly salted seeds, although apparently there is one type of pumpkin called a Baby Pam Sugar Pie pumpkin that is good for both carving and eating. For the most extensive list of pumpkin and winter squash varieties I’ve found yet, please click here—although you will be amused to notice that kabocha won’t be found on either list, perhaps because the author of this list was as unsure about which side of the list to put this gourd on as the rest of the US. The pumpkin my friends and I used for our soup last year was a Cinderella pumpkin.

In this shot you can see two Cinderella pumpkins and one standard carving pumpkin. Here’s what the pumpkin looked like when we were through with it:

At this point, it seems the versatile use of pumpkins to celebrate Halloween really must be an American custom. But perhaps our Halloween customs surrounding this specific gourd are just as appropriated as Japan’s are? After all, our version of Halloween was built up from the Celtic festival of Samhain, which was held on October 31^st. During this night, it was believed that the dead would return to the land of the living and walk the earth for one night. It was also a time in which faeries and spirits could easily transcend the barriers between their worlds and ours. It’s also where the earliest form of trick-or-treating may have developed, in the form of “mumming” or “guising” in which people would dress up as faeries and spirits and make a nuisance of themselves until placated by food and drink.

Aside from the faeries and the mumming, Samhain isn’t dissimilar to the Mexican Day of the Dead, which is celebrated on November 2^nd. In both of these festivals, it was customary to remember deceased loved ones and make offerings of food, drink, and other worldly items like flowers and trinkets. It’s a little more difficult to find media that represents these particular holidays in America and Japan but two very good examples are Folklore and The Book of Life.

Ellen talking to Scarecrow, whom one can identify as both ghost and faerie

Folklore was released in 2007 and is a Japanese Role Playing Game that sets itself in the island town of Doolin, Ireland. The game is essentially a murder mystery in which you must converse with the dead in order to finally lay the mystery of the town to rest. Ellen and Keats, the main characters of the game, gain their ability to enter the land of the dead and investigate the mystery during the festival of Samhain—and the Japanese development team must have done their research on the festival, because the Western influences in this game are apparent. I actually didn’t know the game had been produced in Japan until the credits were rolling and J-pop was playing instead of some Western or Celtic theme music. The food used as offerings during Samhain isn’t really covered, but there is a pub on the island where you can sometimes converse with ghosts.

Manolo as a child with his family, both living and deceased, on the Day of the Dead

The Book of Life is an American movie that came out in 2014 and was created by Mexican animator, writer, and director Jorge R. Gutiérrez. The story’s events center heavily around the Day of the Dead, following the young Manolo’s journey through death and rebirth after being tricked into letting a deity kill him. The movie deals heavily with themes such as familial ties, remembering those who have passed on, and whether it’s ever alright to kill or forget anyone. The only food we really see in the movie is the bread that is offered to the deceased on the Day of the Dead, but if you ever saw the film The Halloween Tree you know all about the candy skulls that are also available on this day. Both movies are completely devoid of pumpkins, however.

Which leads us to one conclusion!: The pumpkins are completely and utterly American.

Which, when you think about it, does make a modicum of sense. Pumpkins flourish in the Americas, especially in the area we now know as the United States. There is some hearsay that the first Jack O’ Lanterns were made out of turnips and potatoes by the Celts for Samhain, and that the traditional Jack O’ Lantern we’re familiar with today is a result of what happened when those people immigrated to Plymouth and found a better vegetable for carving—but even if this was the case, that would still make the traditional Jack O’ Lantern American. Growing pumpkins so well also explains why we’re so good at cooking pumpkins in America. So go grab yourself a Cinderella or Fairytale pumpkin and make yourself some of this delicious soup. It’s quick, easy, and sure to keep you and your friends warm on All Hallows’ Eve while watching your favorite spooky flick.

Oh, and I haven’t had a chance to try this one yet, but if you’re inclined to brew your own beer (or know someone who does), you might enjoy this Pumpkin Ale recipe. There’s a rumor that the Pilgrims made pumpkin beer out of persimmons, hops, maple sugar, and pumpkin. It sounds lovely, but I can’t find a recipe for it. Stick to the one I did find, or play with the rumored ingredients. Either way, let me know how it turns out. I’m looking at you, Portland!