The Curious Origins of Tempura
The East and West have extensively traded and shared cultures and goods since the Rome-India spice trade during the 5th century AD (except for a short break-up during the middle ages). Today, similar cultural exchanges occur. The 21st century has also seen an introduction of the phrase “cultural appropriation” to the public forefront. The cultural appropriation movement has legitimate arguments: taking from a culture to further your own desires without incorporating members from said culture is not a good idea. It can be harmful in propagating stereotypes and can unfairly shift the public spotlight from the original creator and creation to a foreign presence’s version. Though, while I’ve researched this topic thoroughly, there doesn’t seem to be a universal consensus for what is cultural appropriation and what isn’t. The line is blurred.
A lot of writers talk about this idea of “ownership” — one culture owns X, others don’t own X, thus, they can’t use X. But, defining “ownership” is more nuanced than most cultural appropriation prosecutors realize. Let’s take an example that was brought to me recently. A friend of mine told me I shouldn’t cook and serve tempura because it’s culturally appropriating Japanese culture. Let’s dive in on this.
At a fundamental level, tempura is battered or deep-fried seafood, meat, or vegetables. If asked, most Americans would assign the ownership of tempura to Japanese culture. They wouldn’t be far off — tempura has been around in Japanese culture since the early 17th century. However, the Japanese did not invent tempura. The Portuguese did. In the late 16th century, Portuguese missionaries and merchants from Alentejo sailed to the ports of Nagasaki.
With them, they brought styles and recipes of food unique to the Portuguese Catholic abstinence (no meat) practices. These missionaries battered and deep-fried seafood and vegetables for sustenance during a religious period called the Ember Days. One example of a recipe is peixinhos da horta, a battered green bean dish known to have been around since at least the early 1500's.
The Portuguese brought tempura to Japan. One might ask, “isn’t the word tempura Japanese?”. The word tempura comes from the word tempora, as in the Latin phrase Quatuor Tempora, which refers to the Ember Days. Interestingly, during this era, the Portuguese were a marginalized community within Japan — trade had only recently started and there exist academic reports that indicate the Japanese public referred to the Portuguese as “southern barbarians” because of their direction of origin and unusual (non-Japanese) facial futures. With all this in mind, one could make a supported claim that, in fact, the Japanese adoption and iteration of tempura was cultural appropriation of a Portuguese custom. But, that’s not the point I’m making or what’s important here.
Ownership is tricky.
Ultimately, as one dives into history, they see traditions and techniques being passed from one culture to the next over centuries and millenniums. I believe exploitation is unethical — cultural appropriation is a legitimate problem and people shouldn’t exploit other people’s culture for money or notoriety. But, before you or I make our next stand against a case of cultural appropriation, a little research is in order first.
