On Higashi Sayoko, or a cooking specialist diagnosed as "paranoia"

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  • 料理家、東佐与子 : パラノイアと呼ばれた料理家
  • リョウリカ　ヒガシ　サヨコ　パラノイア　ト　ヨバレタ　リョウリカ

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Abstract

There has been little attention paid to the subject of a cooking specialist within the context of postwar Japan. Intervening in such situation, this article puts light on how cooking specialists got involved in the negotiation with the existing power. Unlike cooks who work for a restaurant or women who cook for their family, cooking specialists are those who engages in various activities with their specialized knowledge and techniques on food. Some of them became a highly publicized figure, establishing framework of brilliant narrative, with which only a few talented, successful cooking specialists are taken into consideration. The brilliant narrative has concealed the existence of other cooking specialists who were forced to face with the dark side of postwar Japan. This article focuses on the trajectory of Higashi Sayoko. Born in Wakayama prefecture in 1892 and educated in Japan Women's University, Higashi was sent to France as an international trainee, where she acquired specialized techniques on French cuisine. After she came back to Japan, she became a professor at Japan Women's University, opening up a special class on French cuisine. There she engaged in guiding younger generation and writing her own cook books in which she materialized her thought. Although her career is superb, she has never been counted as a successful cooking specialist; the bright narrative fails to grasp her due to an "accident'' which put an end to her career. In her later career, she was unwillingly brought to a mental hospital and diagnosed as "paranoia". By focusing on the accident as well as her establishing intense knowledge and relationship throughout her life, this article not only intervenes in the bright narrative about cooking specialists but argues that Higashi challenged the existing social value on domestic life which praised sufficiency and rationality of post-war era.

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