KYOTO ¨C Seventeen students from the United States stare at a garden of eggplant. ¡°You can take pictures, just don¡¯t touch anything,¡± the group¡¯s translator informs them, most of whom are in their early 20s. A minute of silence passes as they gaze at the circular vegetables. Then they pull out their smartphones to snap some shots.
¡°Wanna get in, bruh,¡± one student says to another. ¡±For the ¡®gram?¡± (referring to the popular photo sharing site Instagram).
This is day eight of a 10-day visit organized by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), which found students from the New York state-based college traversing Japan to learn about washoku. It feels partially like a field trip garnering great air miles, as all those coming out plan to take a course called ¡°Advanced Cooking: Japanese Cuisine¡± this fall. During their stay, CIA faculty who accompanied them pepper activities with phrases such as ¡°You¡¯ll be doing this when we get back to Hyde Park.¡±
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