Are Gyoza Dumplings Japanese? Imaginative Geography on "Japanese" Plates in Hong Kong

Abstract

What is Japanese food? This paper examines the imaginative geography of “Japan” as manifested in the mapping of food in Hong Kong. This city of 7 million people imports more Japanese food items than any other country and region in the world. In 2008, 20.7% of Japanese total food exports went to Hong Kong, exceeding even the United States, whose population is 40 times that of Hong Kong. According to one estimate, there are 800 Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong, including highly localized varieties which Japanese expatriates often dismiss as merely “Japanese-style” (nisshiki/rishi). In the meantime, Japanized varieties of Chinese and Western food are also making their way into Hong Kong. For example, when I was planning a Japanese food workshop by the chef to the Consul General of Japan for Hong Kong University students, I held a brainstorm session. The Japanese chef, who was trained traditionally in Kyoto, asked two Hong Kong Chinese student representatives what kind of food they would like to see him demonstrate. They answered gyoza (jiaozi) dumplings and cream puffs. To the Japanese chef, gyoza dumplings are Chinese that are not served in Japanese diplomatic banquets. During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, Japanese expatriates learned to make jiaozi dumplings, and following their return migration, the dumplings gradually became a part of everyday meals in Japan. In the last 60 years, however, gyoza has been localized in Japan, and as a result, its dough skins are much thinner than jiaozi, and become crispy when they are fried. In Hong Kong supermarkets, gyoza dumplings are sold as “Japanese-style jiaozi”. To the Hong Kong Chinese students, they are Japanese food, just like cream puffs are an adaptation of chou à la crème, which are marketed as a “Western” dessert and often wrapped in paper featuring faulty French phrases. In this paper, I hope to demonstrate how national borders shift on Japanese plates in Hong Kong.