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Japanese American Artisan of California Cuisine and Produce

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This 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.
Title Japanese American Artisan of California Cuisine and Produce
Type of Resource text
Genre comic or graphic novel
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.
credits "I could not have created this book without the mentorship of Paul Karasik, Jeremy Chen, and Sarah Purcell. And of course, I thank Bill Fujimoto for sharing his story with me."--Page 2.
Language English
Index Date 2019
Publisher Grinnell College
Digital Extent 92 pages
Digital Origin digitized other analog
Media Type application/pdf
Classification SF
Topic Graphic novels.
Topic Agriculture.
Topic Japanese American farmers.
Topic Food habits.
Geographic California.
Keyword Chez Panisse.
Keyword Monterey Market.
Keyword Fujimoto, Bill.
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.).
advisor Chen, Jeremy.
supporting host Grinnell College. Art Department.
note Mentored Advanced Project guided by Jeremy Chen.
Keyword Waters, Alice.
Related Item Mentored Advanced Project
Identifier (local) grinnell:26670
Identifier (hdl) http://hdl.handle.net/11084/26670
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