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Japan & Germany Final Review
Ryan Ferguson and 3 OthersArianna KingVictoria Haggins - Wright
Brendan Bailey + Privacy: Public
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Japan
&
Germany
CHINA
Arianna, Brendan & Victoria
POLITICS ON YOUR PLATE II | WINTER 2026
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FOOD RITUAL
Shojin ryori, translated as "food of devotion"
CRAFT TRADITION
Agano yaki
A. Prepare food with organic and seasonal ingredients.
B. Cook with more water than fat.
C. When eating, put away phone, book, or TV, and focus on and enjoy the food.
D. Chew slowly and be present when eating.
Agano ware (called Agano yaki) is a form of pottery produced around the town of Fukuchi in Fukuoka prefecture. Agano ware is elegant and lightweight, stemming from its development as a tea bowl for use in tea ceremonies.
CULTURAL RESEARCH
Japan
FOOD RITUAL
Kaffee und Kuchen
CRAFT TRADITION
Meissen porcelain
Germany is famous for its cakes and pastries, such as Schwarzwälder Kirschttorte (Black Forest Cake) and Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake). But how and when these delights are consumed is also special.
Meissen porcelain or Meissen china was the first European hard-paste porcelain. Early experiments were done in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus.
CULTURAL RESEARCH
Germany
SAUERKRAUT GYOZA
The gyoza style sauerkraut dumplings are a fusion food meant to demonstrate how the two largest fascist empires during WWII started off very differently. The dish combines two foods hinting at the strong ties between the countries later in the war but pulls together very different contrasting flavors to highlight their differences. At the begging of the war Japan wanted resources and land so created a plot against themselves so they could frame china and enter the war.
Germany on the other hand after the treaty of Versailles felt like they had been taken advantage of. The other European countries preventing trade which made there economy plunge. With this and the European directed control of Germany military made for a disgruntled populous to say the least. The display orientation of the dumplings represent the black sun. The strong and flavorful sauce and filling represents the complex ways the empires started to join the war.
Ingredients:
Mashed Potatoes
Garlic
Onion
Sauerkraut
Soy sauce
Mixed mushrooms
SAUERKRAUT GYOZA BOAT
SKETCHES
SAUERKRAUT GYOZA BOAT
PROTOTYPES
Digital Model
3D Printed Positive
Plaster Mold
SAUERKRAUT GYOZA BOAT
FABRICATION
BRETZLE MISO SOUP
Our entree meal is a miso soup served in a German bretzle style bread bowl representing the use and spread of propaganda during the war. On your plate multiple bowls rest as you spread propaganda in the form of soup around your bread bowl based townships. The bretzel bread bowl is of German origin. Miso soup originated in China, but hundreds of years ago has thought to have been brought to Japan via trade. The action of spreading propaganda is represented by the consumer pouring the soup into each bread bowl.
As the soup sits in the bowl for more and more time, the bretzel bread bowl becomes softer and saturated with a stronger flavor. The bread bowl has a bland flavor, but a strong texture that soaks well with the flavorful soup. It is soft and doughy with a hard exterior. The soup has a savory salty flavor. The green onion on top once given enough time is absorbed into the soup and bread adds a strong complexity to the flavor. With time, as the propaganda sets in the dish develops into a one mass while it starts as separate components.
Ingredients:
Pretzel bread bowl
Green onion
Miso soup
Salt
BRETZLE MISO SOUP
SKETCHES
BRETZLE MISO SOUP
PROTOTYPES
Digital Model
3D Printed Positive
BRETZLE MISO SOUP
FABRICATION
MOCHI LEBKUCHEN
Poor communication, resource shortages, and failure to adapt all led to Germany and Japan's defeat in WWII. Germany's poor coordination-especially between Hitler and his generals-caused disasters like the split during Operation Barbarossa (1941), while both nations often declared war without consulting each other.
Japan's navy was crippled after U.S. embargoes and blockades cut off vital oil and rubber supplies, and Germany's invasion of the USSR to seize oil fields led to the bloody Battle of Stalingrad and its downfall.
Their refusal to adapt-Germany's outdated blitzkrieg tactics and Japan's failure to modernize its air strategy —sealed their fate. The Mochi Lebkuchen dessert reflects this story: mochi's rice bread symbolizes lost rubber, chocolate the seized oil, and Lebkuchen chunks the rubble and collapse of the Axis powers.
Ingredients:
Lebkuchen bits
Vanilla Ice Cream
Chocolate Syrup
Mochi Rice Bread
MOCHI LEBKUCHEN
SKETCHES
MOCHI LEBKUCHEN
PROTOTYPES
Digital Model
3D Printed Positive
MOCHI LEBKUCHEN
FABRICATION
USE DIAGRAMS
NEXT STEPS
Finsh our molds, Pour Slip
Add 2d desgins and glaze
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USE OUR DISHES!
This project connects research on propaganda and deception in fascist Germany and Japan to a creative food and design experience. A three-course meal represents the rise and fall of these regimes: the appetizer reflects false justifications for war through misleading presentation, the main course symbolizes the overwhelming spread of propaganda with bold, heavy flavors, and the dessert represents collapse using unstable textures or bitter contrasts. Ingredients, colors, plating, and even how the food is eaten all carry symbolic meaning, while the ceramic tableware reinforces these ideas through shape, weight, and surface design, turning history into a sensory, visual story about power, manipulation, and consequences.