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Eating Graphic History: Japanese American Pioneers of the California Food Revolution

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Today, Americans are more aware than ever of their food choices—where the food comes from, its locality, how it was produced, and its health quotient. But back in the 1970s, local food movements were largely nonexistent. It was the Japanese Americans living in California who began advocating for local, organic farming—and despite systemic racism, were able to make America better.
Title Eating Graphic History: Japanese American Pioneers of the California Food Revolution
Type of Resource text
Genre research paper
creator Nakahira, Sam
advisor Purcell, Sarah J.
supporting host Grinnell College. History Department.
supporting host Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows.
supporting host Grinnell Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Symposium , 2019
note As a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, I wrote a historical research thesis studying the impact of Japanese American food retailers and farmers on the revolutionary food movement, California cuisine, during the 1970s to present day. Today, Americans are more aware than ever of their food choices—where the food comes from, its locality, how it was produced, and its health quotient. But back in the 1970s, local food movements were largely nonexistent. It was the Japanese Americans living in California who began advocating for local, organic farming—and despite systemic racism, were able to make America better. As a scholar, I believe in the premise of giving credit where it is due so for my Mellon Mays research, I wanted to bring attention to Japanese Americans' unrecognized history and major contributions to California cuisine, agriculture, and food. After writing my research thesis, I still had not felt like I had fully told the stories of my case studies. I thought that creating a historical comic could present my historical research with a more human, relatable story but with the same complexity as my academic paper. So, in conjunction with my research paper, I have also created a nonfiction graphic novel. My comic tells the story of one of my case studies, Bill Fujimoto, a Japanese-American food retailer. Berkeley-based Fujimoto was the first person to source locally grown and specialty produce for Alice Waters’ revolutionary California Cuisine restaurant Chez Panisse when it opened. While many people know of Alice Waters, not many people know of Bill Fujimoto. His story is one that has not been told before in popular media or academia, but he deserves more credit for what he has contributed to American produce and food. Both my research thesis and my graphic novel offer educational benefits for readers through their different approaches to communicating the same history.
Language English
Index Date 2019
Publisher Grinnell College
Digital Extent 34 pages
Digital Origin reformated digital
Media Type application/pdf
Classification SF
Topic Agriculture.
Topic Food habits.
Topic Japanese American farmers.
Geographic California.
Keyword Chez Panisse.
Keyword California cuisine
Keyword Fujimoto, Bill.
Keyword Waters, Alice.
Keyword Monterey Market.
Related Item Digital Grinnell
Related Item Student Scholarship
Access Condition Copyright to this work is held by the author(s), in accordance with United States copyright law (USC 17). Readers of this work have certain rights as defined by the law, including but not limited to fair use (17 USC 107 et seq.).
Related Item Undergraduate Student Symposium
Identifier (local) grinnell:26669
Identifier (hdl) http://hdl.handle.net/11084/26669
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