Tokyo Local Food

Tokyo
Local
Food!
東京
ローカル
フード！
Monday, February 27, 2012

Hi! We are Jared Braiterman, Chris Berthelsen, and Iʼm Jess Mantell. We are going to talk about Tokyo Local Food. So, what
could be more local than the Tokyo Banana?!?..a lot actually...
The three of us have initiated a research project, looking at whatʼs growing in Tokyo, and different ways of preparing and
eating.

東京は美味しいです。


Tokyo is a really delicious city. It probably has the most restaurants per capita in the world. Iʼd say that in this one small block
there are about 50 different restaurants...
but this is really well covered in guidebooks and review sites. Our focus is on what people are doing at home, in their
neighbourhoods, on their streets and balconies.

where does
food come
from?
食べ物はどこ
から来ますか？


Is this food?
This is a very familiar sight in Tokyo. It probably struck most foreigners here with intrigue or wonder when you ﬁrst arrived.
These kinds of products are well incorporated into the diet of many residents of Tokyo, so they represent one part of the
consumption of nutrients...we will be looking overall at how food is produced, how it is processed and then with whom, how,
and where it is consumed.

妊娠クレート

image credit: Humane Society of the United States, http://
www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/12/
smithﬁeld_pigs_121510.html

this is food...

Most food comes from far away, mysterious places...Japan imports 60% of its food, in Tokyo it is surely much more.
We know more about food that is grown within sight. We would have a better idea about fertilizer, pesticide, working
conditions...
Nothing is more local than food that grows next to the kitchen. In high-rise, house, or ofﬁce.

江戸時代の侍の住宅

Image credit Azby Brown, Just Enough


City food is nothing new in Tokyo.
much of todayʼs Tokyo sits on old ﬁelds and meadows
samurai grew food not just for their own consumption, but also to supplement their incomes during the Edo era. And before it
became a megacity, Tokyo was surrounded by farm land...where we are standing right now, this totally used to be a farm (??)

ビワ神社吉祥寺


Alright, so none of us live in a house that size or have a garden like that (if at all), but there is still tones of food growing in
Tokyo.
The example in this photo looks to be semi-private, but I think you can safely help yourself to a little snack. There are also lots
of fruit trees growing on totally public land in Tokyo as well.
We have found: plums, ﬁgs, loquats, kumquats, pomegranate, persimmon, hassaku, ginko nuts, apricots, chestnuts...
There is something each season...and itʼs everywhere!!

貸し農園小田急グループ
成城学園前駅
1


- even though the city seems really built up, there is a lot of dead space that can be used for growing....
this project is over the Odakyu line, near Seijogakuenmae station...
- rooftops, brownﬁelds, walls, closed schools, trafﬁc islands, elevated freeways.....

participation!! ナスベランダ中野


Even on a tiny balcony, it is possible to grow your dinner.
Has anybody here grown food in Tokyo? Or have you received something grown in Tokyo?
Who wants to grow something?

food preparation
調理

image credit: http://pistachiorose.blogspot.com/2010/11/veganmofo15-welcome-to-my-tiny-kitchen.html


This is probably also a shock to most people at ﬁrst, but really is quite common. Looking at this “kitchen”...it isnʼt too surprising
that people in Tokyo eat out a lot. The next few slides look at ways of taking food preparation from a solitary act to a playful and
social activity.

子供のパン屋昭島


The tight schedules and conveniences of life in the city make passive consumers of kids. A child-run Saturday morning bakery
set in a family apartment brings creativity, productivity and responsibility to local food preparation for children.

100 yen for 20 treats - and your money back at the end!


Food preparation can even go outside the home. After picking a ton of hassaku oranges from the garden of a closed down
school in my neighbourhood, I decided to organize this event to get the fruit processed before they all rotted....
By going out into the neighbourhood, it is possible to ﬁnd a bigger kitchen and lots of helping hands.


Here is what the event looked like. And there I am, looking hot. This is a shared community space.
By using local fruit, space and labor, an import based supply chain was replaced with a local and social. We also kept a lot of
jars out of the recycling bins.

放射能は、ちょっとだけ。


The safety of food is always a concern, though it has been a bit heightened in the past year. By using locally grown produce,
one can observe the growing conditions and test a sample for an accurate analysis of a local area.

eating!
食べる！


Food is food because we eat it. But often 'eating' is a importent occasion in a stale environment fumbling with a couple of turds
from the combini. The next slides introduce local food consumption of a more vital kind - not activism or experiments, just
everyday and unspectacular pleasure.

いい場所、見つけた。


A small balding man enjoys a home cooked breakfast in a run-down park just a block back from the Omotesando Hills that
refused him entry. Dissatisﬁed with smoky rooms and craving company, strong coffee and crisp hash browns (yet lacking
pocket money) he hosts intimate morning treats in the warmer months.

遊びや発見


Eating is only one aspect of consumption. Sturdy mulberry trees in Western Tokyo allow for joyous, dirty-face-and-hand
creating climbing, chewing, spitting, throwing and feasting together. Picking fruit from the tree in a non-commercial setting
encourages experimentation, taste testing at different stages of ripening, and non-directed play.

鳥のフード


Fruit is not only for humans. It can be a point of conﬂict but also companionship between humans and birds. Simple fruit and
wire constructions invite bird life down to human level, adding song and giving us a close look at the intense pleasure that birds
take in consuming sweet citrus.


Social consumption doesn't have to be collocated. Busy home/ofﬁce space combined with bountiful a persimmon tree
facilitates distribution to Tokyo's 23 Wards, and beyond. Waste is eliminated. Worker/visitors bring stories from the day back
home with the sweet souvenir. A treasured yearly ritual sets in, tracing consumption, work, and personal relationships.

Wildlife home

Fruit trees

Birds

Insect house

Butterﬂies

Native Plants


In sum, we think Tokyo Local Food is already happening. There is food to be found, prepared, and shared here in the city. We
also believe that the mundane cityscape of Tokyo could be more alive by being more edible. Are we ready to live in a new type
of city?

Please participate in our survey.
アンケートにお答えください。

このアンケートは東京の個人の庭や公共の場所でとれた果物についてです。何が育ち、楽しまれ、
そして分か
ち合われているかを調べています。東京で取れた果物の日常の味、物語、思い出について教えてください。下
記の質問に答えていただけると、大変参考になります。
さらに、東京の地元の果物の写真を送っていただける
と、嬉しいです。tokyo.local.fruit@gmail.com この企画は非営利で、記事や地図や調査結果はだれでもが無料
で閲覧できるようにしますが、許可なしで個人情報を公開したり、発行したりはしないので、
ご安心ください。

http://tinyurl.com/tokyolocalfruits

Thank You!

Thank you for listening to our strange ideas.
We are currently conducting an online survey about Tokyo Local Fruit. If you have a story about growing or eating Tokyo fruit,
please take a ﬂyer and share your story.
東京ローカル・フルーツのアンケートにお答えください。チラシをご覧ください。
みんなにこの企画のことを話してくださいね。ありがとうございます！

Tokyo Local Food

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (13)

Similar to Tokyo Local Food

Similar to Tokyo Local Food (7)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Tokyo Local Food