I dream of sushi
2017-Dec-24, Sunday 22:04
We're currently watching Muppet Christmas Carol, as is our Erev Christmas tradition. I think regardless of religious practice, we can all agree to appreciate the muppets.
Last night,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
schoolpsychnerd and I watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi at her suggestion, about sushi chef Ono Jirō and his restaurant in Ginza. It certainly looked like amazing food and I'd probably love eating there, but it felt a bit more like a hagiography than a biography. I thought Jirō himself came off as kind of an asshole, casually talking about how he was a terrible father and mentioning that he convinced his sons to work for him rather than go to college, plus the way his apprentices talked about making hundreds of tamagoyaki until one finally earned approval and crying with joy. Some of that is just practice, but I'm not a big fan of the stern taskmaster.
I also found the translation a bit dubious. At one point, one of Jirō's old apprentices who now has his own shop was talking about what would happen when he retired. The subtitles said, "I don't have anyone to take over after me," but what he actually said was "I have a daughter, but..." There's a persistent belief in Japan that women can't be sushi chefs for a variety of stupid reasons--their hands are warmer than men's and they'll ruin the fish, wearing makeup dulls their sense of smell, blah blah blah--and I don't think eliding over that with the translation does any good.
Also, why did they leave shokunin untranslated? 職人 just means "artisan" or "craftsman." It's not some esoteric term.
On the other hand, I appreciated Jirō's worries about overfishing. He's right, and if we don't do something, no one except the extremely rich will be eating sushi in a few generations because there won't be enough fish. I guess they could just start lying about what kind of fish they serve like American sushi restaurants do, but something tells me that old-school shokunin wouldn't accept that.
Mostly, I came away from the movie wanting sushi. We're going out for sushi later this week. 🍣 The food in the movie looked absolutely amazing, and though I've read that Jirō's food might not be as good as the hype, I'm sure that it's still fantastic and I'd love it.
A good movie, even if I'm dubious about its subjects.
Last night,
schoolpsychnerd and I watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi at her suggestion, about sushi chef Ono Jirō and his restaurant in Ginza. It certainly looked like amazing food and I'd probably love eating there, but it felt a bit more like a hagiography than a biography. I thought Jirō himself came off as kind of an asshole, casually talking about how he was a terrible father and mentioning that he convinced his sons to work for him rather than go to college, plus the way his apprentices talked about making hundreds of tamagoyaki until one finally earned approval and crying with joy. Some of that is just practice, but I'm not a big fan of the stern taskmaster. I also found the translation a bit dubious. At one point, one of Jirō's old apprentices who now has his own shop was talking about what would happen when he retired. The subtitles said, "I don't have anyone to take over after me," but what he actually said was "I have a daughter, but..." There's a persistent belief in Japan that women can't be sushi chefs for a variety of stupid reasons--their hands are warmer than men's and they'll ruin the fish, wearing makeup dulls their sense of smell, blah blah blah--and I don't think eliding over that with the translation does any good.
Also, why did they leave shokunin untranslated? 職人 just means "artisan" or "craftsman." It's not some esoteric term.
On the other hand, I appreciated Jirō's worries about overfishing. He's right, and if we don't do something, no one except the extremely rich will be eating sushi in a few generations because there won't be enough fish. I guess they could just start lying about what kind of fish they serve like American sushi restaurants do, but something tells me that old-school shokunin wouldn't accept that.
Mostly, I came away from the movie wanting sushi. We're going out for sushi later this week. 🍣 The food in the movie looked absolutely amazing, and though I've read that Jirō's food might not be as good as the hype, I'm sure that it's still fantastic and I'd love it.
A good movie, even if I'm dubious about its subjects.
