Students cooked up a better understanding of the world around them, including the foods they eat and the people who prepare them, during the CHEM 270: Food and Drink in Japan course during the spring 2023 quarter.
The course, taught by Luanne Tilstra, PhD, and Fumie Sunahori, PhD, blended analysis of foods' common chemical structures, experimentation with food components in the Rose-Hulman food science lab, and slices of Japanese culture.
The course then traveled around Japan for two weeks in the summer of 2023, where students explored the chemical bonds of food while also creating social bonds of their own.
"The biggest lesson I learned throughout the course is to pack an umbrella and to not go walking in a typhoon without one! But, more seriously, it’s that different cultures can have a lot that is different (food, customs, etc.), but at the same time there can be many similarities since people are people." -Jacob Graves, CHE '24
Sunahori, who grew up in Japan, wanted the students to feel confident enough to navigate the Japanese transportation system on their own, so she designed a strategic orienteering scavenger hunt for their first full day in Tokyo.
In small teams, students worked together to determine their routes and visit landmarks around the city, snapping a photo at each location to prove their triumph.
Tasty Tours
They poured over processes during a tour of a soy sauce factory, dipping into knowlege about the fermentation of soy beans.
They brewed new knowledge at a sake factory, learning more about the ancient Japanese practices of distillation.
Some of the students even actively applied what they learned to become their own food critics. The students learned early in the course that, when cooking meat, it is best to let it rest before cutting it to keep it moist. Tilstra recounted a student's dubiety when their observations didn't line up with the class discussion.
Kanazawa Institute of Technology
The Rose-Hulman students enjoyed a delightful dinner party learning alongside their Japanese counterparts at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology.
Paired to prepare, the KIT students guided the Rose students through making several traditional Japanese dishes, including sushi and miso soup.
Roka Brovick (right), a junior mechanical engineering major pursuing a minor in Japanese, was stirred by the opportunity to blend cultures with his peers.
"Sometimes, I'd be talking to them in Japanese and they'd be responding to me in English so we could both practice…We would switch between the languages interchangeably," Brovick said. "It was really interesting to hear the questions they had for us and ask them questions."
"It was just so cool to be able to communicate with someone that isn't fluent in your language, but still laughing with them and learning so much about them"
-Kaitlyn Chandler (third from right)
Free Time and Fuji Climbs
For Chandler, one of the most memorable experiences is also one of the most seemingly mundane.
The students also ventured to Mount Fuji on a free day, successfully implementing their navigation skills from the orienteering activity.
"Visiting the area around Mount Fuji involved a confusing train departure, a hectic bus journey, and a bit of time, but it was a trip well spent. The area was gorgeous and the clouds moved enough that we were able to see the peak."
-Jacob Graves
Hiroshima
One of the most powerful experiences of the international travel was visiting the town of Hiroshima and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to pay tribute to suffering and destruction caused by the United States' atomic bomb in 1945.
The group spoke with the last living survivor of the attack, who was a small child at the time. She was evacuated away from the epicenter and separated from her mother, who, though she survived the initial blast, later died from her injuries.
The Atomic Bomb Dome, riddled with destruction, is the last building remaining from before the blast. Its ruins stand as a memorial to the tragedy and as a permanent call for peace.
"It's hard to picture how much devastation and how much got absolutely destroyed until you're in that city….You can't really comprehend the scale without being there." - Roka Brovick
"It was a life-changing experience for me...The people of Hiroshima are so strong and so positive and so focused on the 'never again' aspect... Those were not just words. It was in the attitudes of the people we encountered." - Luanne Tilstra, PhD
"Seeing what they've made it now…it's beautiful. It was probably my favorite city that we visited." -Kaitlyn Chandler
The annual Hiroshima Flower Festival celebrates peace, filling the city with flowers and the warmth of human relationships.
The students also learned to appreciate their own culture from a new perspective. After two weeks of traveling Japan without knowing Japanese, Chandler described how surprising it was to return to her own country.
Intercultural interactions give students a recipe for success in their careers.
"A picture's worth a thousand words, but an experience is worth a million pictures. They experience something and it changes them." -Luanne Tilstra, PhD
"They were so nervous about going to Japan, and then after the trip, they were so comfortable traveling by themselves. Many of them said they want to study abroad more." -Fumie Sunahori, PhD
CHEM 270: Chemistry of Food and Drink in Japan is open to students of any major who have taken CHEM 112 or CHEM 111 and CHEM 111L or equivalent credit. The course is planned for the Spring 2024 quarter, with travel to Japan scheduled for May 27 - June 11, 2024.
Photos courtesy of Rose-Hulman students Roka Brovick, Jacob Graves, and Kaitlyn Chandler