The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies 2013
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Osaka, Japan
From Dashing to Delicious: The Gastrorgasmic Aesthetics of Contemporary
BL Manga
Antonija Cavcic
Murdoch University, Australia
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The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies 2013
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Abstract
‘Food is a regular feature, if not the centrepiece, of visual entertainment in Japan’
(Cwiertka, 2005, p.416).
The prominence (and to an extent, fetishization) of food in Japan is not a recent
phenomenon, Western media’s current infatuation with food and the concept of ‘food
porn’ and/or the sexing-up of food media culture (as demonstrated in such programs as
Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, The Naked Chef, or in Nigella Lawson’s ongoing
BBC series), is a cultural movement which I define as ‘global gastrorgasmic texts.’
While audio-visual media have a certain sensory advantage, Japanese gourmet manga
have attempted to embrace the fetishization of food since the 1980s with titles such as
Oishinbo (The Gourmet), Cooking Papa, or Bambino!. However, this paper concerns
the incorporation of the fetishization of food and the shift of focus from the aesthetics of
beauty in the bishōnen (beautiful boys) in boys’ love comics to the gastrorgasmic
aesthetics of food in boys’ love (BL) manga. By drawing examples from mainstream BL
manga (such as Yoshinaga’s iconic Antique Bakery series, the more recent What Did
You Eat Yesterday? and Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy), as well as
several minor publications, I will demonstrate how BL manga artists have arguably
incorporated and embraced gastrorgasmic themes and motifs. I argue that BL narratives
amplify the pleasure derived from visually “consuming” beautiful boys as well as the
tantalising treats they prepare within the narratives. Furthermore, this paper questions
what these gastrorgasmic texts might reflect about Japanese and global culture in the
current socio-economic climate.
Key Words: Boys’ love manga, food fetishism, aesthetics of pleasure, economics
iafor
The International Academic Forum
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Introduction
In the last ten to fifteen years, network television has seen an escalating number of
celebrity chefs and their seemingly saucy and self-indulgent programmes such as the
not-necessarily naked but naughty Jamie Oliver, the lawless queen of food porn, Nigella
Lawson, or the bold and risqué spokesman of food porn for gourmets worldwide,
Anthony Bourdain. Needless to say, there are a number of diverse socio-economic and
cultural factors which have influenced this phenomenon, but one still has to question
just what is it that can account for the sudden sexing-up or the increased fetishization of
cooking programmes on broadcast media? Bourdain’s personal observation is that such
shows are ‘the new pornography: it’s seeing people on TV, watching people make
things on TV that they are not going to be doing themselves anytime soon, just like
porn’ (as cited in Rosseau 2012, p. x). Similarly, Cheri Ketchum also notes that in the
last twenty years, media discourses about food have proliferated and she argues that the
Food Network constructs a consumer fantasy world, that creates a sense of pleasurable
intimacy for its viewers (2005, p.217).
But is this voyeurism, or non-gender specific gastro-gaze, per se, just limited to the Food
Network or the plethora of competitive food-centred reality shows on broadcast media
in the West, or is it a global phenomenon? Apart from mere cultural observations, I, as
well as a number of scholars and anthropologists, am of the opinion that food pervades
every aspect of life in Japan- more so than a lot of Western cultures. Indeed, before there
was a Naked Chef, there was an Iron Chef, and before there was an Iron Chef, there
were manga and anime titles and characters that were associated in any way and every
way to food. Cultural anthropologist, Katarzyna Cwiertka best epitomises this in her
observation that:
Food is a regular feature, if not the centrepiece, of visual entertainment in Japan […and
even] popular animated characters bear food-related names, such as the
celebrated Anpan-man (Mr. Beanpaste Bun) and Sazae-san (Mrs. Top-shell) (2005,
p.416).
Thus, if one considers texts which incite food-fetishism and involve a kind of
voyeuristic gastro-gaze as a cultural movement which I define as ‘global gastrorgasmic
texts,’ then manga, despite not having the same heightened sensory advantages as audiovisual media, nonetheless qualify as such texts and have since at least the 1980s with
gourmet (gurume manga) titles such as Oishinbo, or The Gourmet (1983-), Cooking
Papa (1985) or Mister Ajikko (1986-1989). While such comics at that time were, and
even still are, generally targeted at men in the mainstream manga industry, over time,
the trend gradually infiltrated the homoerotic realm of boys’ love comics and the saw
the emergence of Yoshinaga Fumi’s Antique Bakery (1999-2002). Since then, the motif
has also proliferated with lesser-known dōjin (self-published/slash) titles available
on major BL online distributor, www.dlsite.com, which boasts titles such as Candy
Candy (2010), The Ecstasy Spreading through Your Mouth (2010), or Sugary Days
(2010).
Mainstream titles include the likes of Yasuei’s How to Eat Delicious Pasta (2013) and
Yoshinaga’s more recent titles, the massively successful What Did You Eat Yesterday?
(2007-) and Not Love but Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy (2005).
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Fig.1.0 (Yoshinaga, 2005).
To further examine the origin, motifs and trends of this grossly gastrorgasmic
phenomenon, I will firstly consider how gourmet-themed boys’ love manga differ from
gourmet manga as a stand-alone genre. The following arguments will then posit reasons
as to why BL motifs shifted to fetishizing food, whereby there is no human hero since
the hero is now the dish, and how food within narratives is depicted so as to appear
gastrorgasmic. To conclude, I will consider what these manga as gastrorgasmic texts
reflect about Japanese society and global consumption trends as a whole. Due to the
sheer volume of dōjin manga, as well as lesser-known mainstream publications, only
mainstream gourmet manga and gourmet-infused BL manga such as the aforementioned
Yoshinaga’s series will be sites of reference and analysis. However, before delving into
the analyses of the erogenous realm of the dashing, delicious and even delectable, as a
starter, the aspects whereby gastrorgasmic boys’ love texts differ from gourmet manga
will be considered.
2. Contrasting gourmet and gourmet-themed BL manga
Although having mentioned that gourmet comics' target readership was initially male,
that did not necessarily suggest that women or children did not actively engage in the
consumption of such texts. However, Japanese cultural theorist, Lorie Brau notes that
food and cooking came into greater prominence in manga in the 1970s, a context in
which the narratives of boys’ comics which recounted the ‘trials of apprentices or
athletes in their quest for mastery became a popular subject’(2004, p.36). One of the first
titles to depict the ordeals of a specifically culinary quest was Hōchō-nin no Ajihei
(Ajihei the Knifeman) from 1973-1977. The entire series adopted this quest typology
characteristic of boys’ comics and thus arguably catered for the expectations of a
predominantly male readership. Such ‘hero’s path’ typologies (emulating Joseph
Campbell’s model) have been outlined by Honda Masuko, who considers the
characteristics of boys’ manga as narratives in which the protagonist desires a goal,
confronts an obstacle and experiences a setback to achieving the goal, then overcomes
that setback (and successive setbacks) until finally reaching success (2010, p.25). This
formula is relatively standard for most of the sports comics or even gourmet comics like
Bambino! (2005-2009), which sees its ostracized Japanese protagonist rising from a
sloppy kitchen hand to a chef in an exclusive Italian restaurant. The same typology is
also exemplified in the iconic Oishinbo and Cooking Papa series. Both of these series
were produced and set in the 1980s in the midst of the Japanese economic bubble.
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Although businessmen had the money to eat out, for a man to be a food-savvy by either
being a decent cook or absolute foodie was a desirable character attribute, so in a way,
comics served as a kind of didactic tool to enhance a man’s cultural capital. Where
Cooking Papa’s goal is to do a hard day’s work in the office and still have enough time
for his hobby (cooking for his family, making his lunch, and helping out others with his
cooking skills), Oishinbo’s hero Yamaoka’s goal as a culinary journalist is constantly to
create the “ultimate menu” and prove himself to his father, Kaibara, his rival in the
series.
If we acknowledge the basic narrative structure of Oishinbo, Cooking Papa and
Bambino! as a standard in gourmet manga, we can thus surmise that for most traditional
gourmet manga, the narrative is goal-oriented and although the goals may differ, I argue
that the protagonists’ overriding aims are to please others or themselves by concocting
(and often consuming) the most mouth-wateringly mesmerising meals they possibly can.
In addition, as in other genres of boys’ comics, the element of competition, conflict and
resolution are all involved. As Lorie Brau reminds us, ‘Competition not only plays a
significant role in dramatizing the subject of food on Japanese television in Iron Chef or
Which Dish? It also appears frequently in gurume manga’ (2004, p.39). However, in
terms of Laura Mulvey’s concept of the gaze in regard to gourmet manga, I suggest that
it is not particularly drawn to any one of the female (or even male) characters. The gaze,
I suggest, becomes a gastro-gaze, whereby the dish is the object of desire or is
fetishized. This gastro-gaze also applies to gourmet-themed boys’ love manga as a genre
of girls’ comics, though, girls’ comics originally, and still now, follow quite a different
narrative structure. However, before any consideration of the thematic and stylistic
differences between boys’ and girls’ comics, I suggest that Honda’s outlined narrative
typology for boys’ comics can also be applied to girls’ comics. However, the major
difference is, as Honda suggests,
the value highlighted in each text is ‘love.’… In boys’ narratives, the protagonists
achieve victory. In girls’ narratives, however, there is no clear distinction between
winners and losers. Since in boys’ genres the goal is external, it is obvious whether or
not success has been achieved. Love… is an abstract goal sought internally. Therefore,
its attainability is not automatically associated with external developments (2010, p.27).
Given this argument, one can surmise that the fundamental elements of girls’ comics are
love, the overall atmosphere, and the sensations and feelings evoked by the text (being
there as opposed to the more goal-oriented getting there nature of boy’s comics). That is,
relishing in the here and now rather than planning the next move and having one’s eye
on the prize, so to speak. Boys’ love manga, as a genre of girls’ comics, nonetheless
embrace particular elements of girls’ comics. Love, for example, has also been
considered central to the plot by Dru Pagliassotti in her qualitative research on boys’
love fandom. She contends that the romantic storyline within boys’ love manga is
important to its readers and that in her 2005 survey of such readers, ‘the largest group of
respondents reported that the single most important element of BL manga was “slowly
but consistently developing love between the couple”’(2008, p.59). If love, as scholars
and fans have noted, indeed drives the plot in boys’ love manga as a genre of girls’
comics, then overcoming all obstacles to reach that pivotal moment of true love, or the
romantic climax, per se, can be considered the internal goal of the protagonists in boys’
love manga, regardless of whether it involves agency or merely destiny. However, as
gourmet themes have infiltrated the genre, I argue the gastrorgasmic depictions of food,
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the fetishism of food, if you like, have shifted the object of desire to food. This, I
believe, is best epitomized by the emergence of titles such as Not Love But Delicious
Foods Make Me So Happy.
To demonstrate how the element of love is incorporated into this typology, consider, for
instance, the following figures taken from a gourmet-themed BL narrative. Although
Morning’s primary readership for What Did You Eat Yesterday? is male, given that the
narrative revolves around a professional gay couple living together in Tokyo and the
occasional allusions to love and romance within the narratives, I suggest one may
nonetheless sub-classify it as BL manga. To briefly set the scene, this series involves the
daily life of a lawyer, Shiro and his boyfriend Kenji (who of course, lives up to the
stereotype of gay hairdressers). There are very few intimate scenes, and thus far, there
have been no homo-erotic depictions in the series whatsoever. Upon my own personal
examination of the content in the series, the results revealed that roughly sixty per cent
of each manga is comprised of recipes and didactic cooking instructions. In this
particular excerpt, we observe as Kenji and Shiro are out with their friend, Wataru, to
watch his partner, Daisaku, play amateur baseball. The tension between both couples
seems to lie and be resolved in the food which they bring along to the picnic, which is
the origin of the first obstacle of the scene. Both Shiro and Daisaku go head to head to
prove to their lovers who made the more delicious bentō.
At the beginning of the scene, the baseball bat, ball and crotch are the only sexual
allusions within the excerpt as the three friends watch the game (2012, p.41). Whilst
watching, Kenji opens up the bentō that Shiro prepared and expresses how tasty it looks
(46). Wataru (who is paranoid about the chemistry between his boyfriend and Shiro)
criticises the soccer mum-like appearance of Shiro’s bentō (47). Wataru retaliates by
revealing his own kawaii (cute) bentō and stressing that the pink ham and redness of the
paprika reflects how gay bento should look (48). Everyone seems generally impressed
with how cute the bentō looks. However, all the while Daisaku is commenting on how
delicious and healthy Shiro’s rice balls and bentō are (49). Wataru then tries one of the
egg rolls and rice balls and admits that Shiro’s bentō actually is delicious (50).
Thereafter, Daisaku even asks for one of Shiro’s recipes (52), which signals Shiro’s
victory in the conflict. In a last resort attempt (53), Yoshiyuki points out that Shiro
prepared everything the night before and that not even the rice is fresh. Shiro attests that
he woke up early that morning to boil the rice and thus reigns as the victor. However, to
end the scene, Daisaku appeases Wataru in suggesting that his bentō was also delicious.
So, in spite of the inter-partner conflict, both cooks managed to please their boyfriends
with their delicious bentō boxes. Thus, the element of competition is lost and love is
shared through the hero of the day, namely, the dish.
Here the fetishization of the bentō for the reader is that which may be unattainable
without agency but can nonetheless be vicariously enjoyed through reading.
Interestingly though, the recipes are clearly outlined for the reader and thereby renders
the fantasy feasible. Love, then, would be attainable. It is also no longer an abstract goal
since food is the means through which to obtain it. Food additionally functions as an
expression of desire, or more often than not, is the object of desire. What this enables is
the flexibility to alternate between a gaze involving sexual
fetishism to a food-fetishizing gastro-gaze. Finally, the fusion of fantasy (in depictions
of non-normative romance) and the feasible (the simple satisfaction derived from food)
offers a multitude of gratifications beyond the target readership. The difference then,
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between gourmet manga and BL manga as gastrorgasmic texts is that with the former,
food is used as a tool to reach one’s personal goal (whether it is to distinguish oneself
from others or outdo one's competitors). In contrast, in gourmet-themed boys' love
comics, love is the goal. That love may be reached when food is utilised as a tool (or an
expression of love/desire) or love is simply the readily attainable food- that taken for
granted daily satisfaction that any reader may get at the 'Bing!' of a microwave.
3. Accounting for gourmet-themed BL phenomena: 美 少年 + 美 味=美²
Having compared and contrasted traditional male-oriented gourmet manga and gourmetthemed BL manga, it is significant to proceed by considering why BL motifs have
shifted to fetishizing food and how the manga mise en scène, depicts food in a
gastrorgasmic light
One can make several assumptions as to why this phenomenon has flourished. Consider,
for instance, that since the dawn of BL in the 1970s the settings and motifs have focused
primarily on boarding schools, schools or contexts where a clear hierarchy is defined.
Fig.2.0 Dōjin website (dlsite, 2010).
According to the data in Figure 2.0, the largest number of titles falls under the genres of
boys’ love, manga involving minors, schoolyard settings, and couples with age
discrepancies. These trends have persisted for decades and seem to show no signs of
slowing. The bishōnen, the innocent archetype and object of desire, remains a staple in
BL trends. Having said that, the change in readership is where the shift in motifs occurs.
To elaborate, the fans of the 1970s who grew up with BL are now in their forties or
over, while the young fans can start from junior high school or even elementary school.
Thus, in order to cater for both groups and a wider range of audiences, creating more
‘adult’ manga with older protagonists, a greater sense of realism, and offering something
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unique in the narrative that is desirable, caters for the older fans as well as drawing
younger fans who might be interested in the new and unique point of fetishism.
However, what alternative attractive element to the bishōnen could be appropriated and
allure a greater target readership in Japan? If we recall that food is arguably centrepiece,
of visual entertainment in Japan, then the proof is in the pudding, for lack of a better
expression. If the possible reasons why gourmet-themed manga have become a new
trend relate to expanding the target market as well as appeasing old and new fans, then
the logical question to follow is how the motif has been appropriated to make it the
centrepiece of the narrative. To address this matter, as a general indication, I examined
the framing and focus of food within the panels, as well as the amount of panels
containing food or mentioning food in Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So
Happy.
Needless to say, but I must stress that this is not a realistic
indication but it demonstrates the potential prominence of food in manga. Upon
examining the content, the statistics revealed that of the total 709 panels, 477 panels
depicted food or alluded to food, arguably making food the centrepiece of 67 per cent of
the panels. Given that the ABC’s (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) local content
quota is 55 per cent, we can surmise that at least for this title, the cake takes the cake.
Once again, it must be stressed that examining a larger volume of manga would be
necessary to make such assumptions about the genre but for argument’s sake, I suggest
this information is adequate.
In addition to the ratio of food content, the focus and framing of food in the panels
demonstrate how food is fetishized and objectified. Take for instance, the panel in which
Yoshinaga takes her gay friend out for sushi (Figure 3.1). The high angle framing of the
sushi as it rests on the table objectifies the sushi, suggesting its role in the narrative as
the object of desire.
Fig.3.1 (Yoshinaga, 2005).
Fig.3.2 (Yoshinaga, 2005).
In addition, aside from the drooling and heavy breaths in Figure 3.1, as the sushi is
consumed in Figure 3.2, close shots are primarily employed to enhance the
gastrorgasmic effects. This is the money shot, if you like, of gastrorgasmic texts. Similar
depictions are found in Figure 3.3 as Yoshinaga and a friend go French. The mouth is
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always slightly ajar to emphasise the subject’s salivation. Other motifs and keiyu
(motion lines), which are employed to fetishize food or convey a gastrorgasmic effect to
consider are the lightning bolts in Figure 3.4 to convey extreme satisfaction and the
commonly used arrows to emphasise the object of the gaze such as the ice cream being
fetishized in the bottom panel.
Fig.3.3 (Yoshinaga, 2005).
Fig.3.4 (Yoshinaga, 2005).
In Figure 3.5, there is the iconic BL flower motif to express feelings of love or passion.
Note how the tilted head too reinforces the pleasure of consumption. Whilst some may
not be convinced of the fetishisation of food in the former figures, this last excerpt
(Figure 3.6) illustrates, if not epitomises, the prominence of food fetishism in BL manga.
One need not look beyond the framing of the panels during the dunking, dipping and
shoving of tender Vietnamese rolls into the subjects’ mouths. Can one honestly counterargue that there is nothing remotely gastrorgasmic about these panels?
Fig.3.5 (Yoshinaga, 2005).
Fig.3.6 (Yoshinaga, 2005).
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4. Discussion
In the grand scheme of things, this article has attempted to distinguish gourmet-themed
BL manga from traditional gourmet manga, as well as attempting to postulate why the
gourmet boom has infiltrated boys’ love manga, and outline the methods which artists
have employed to glorify and fetishize food. To conclude on a more profound, or beefier
level, if you like, it is significant to reflect on what these manga reflect about Japanese
society and global consumption trends.
Firstly, I acknowledge that a number of contentious assumptions have been made
throughout this article, and yet I will conclude with yet another based on personal
observations. That is, I argue that in contexts of either an economic crisis or an
economic boom, food becomes fetishized. To elaborate, in the former context, when
struggling with budgets, people tend to fantasise about or vicariously enjoy the luxury of
being served or consuming fine food made by another, or at least learning how to
reproduce such recipes at home. In the latter context, people have the capital to afford
fine food but want that extra edge, that something more that no one else can have. That
‘because you’re worth it’ ideology prevails and food, of all things commonplace, is
certainly not excluded. Having said that, one could further argue then that Japan’s
economic bubble in 1980s partly influenced the boom in gourmet manga; and the
successive global recession in the early twenty-first century saw the massive influx of
gastrorgasmic texts as well as gourmet-themed BL texts. Given this argument, what
does this then reflect about Japan and global trends in food media? Perhaps the
significance of it all lies in Frederick Kaufman’s suggestion that, food porn, like sex
porn, like voyeurism, are all measures of alienation, not community. As such, they
belong to realms of irreality. Irreality, of course, is attractive to anyone who may be
dissatisfied with the daily exigencies of his or her life (Kaufman, as cited in McBride
2010,-p.45).
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