Food History

How long have humans been eating tuna?

Actually, tuna has been eaten since the Jomon period, 6,000 years ago. Tuna has been found in shell middens (places that serve as garbage dumps today) dating from the mid-Jomon period, and most of them are Pacific bluefin tuna. The Manyoshu, a collection of poetry also mentions tuna fishing.

Tuna seems to be a food that has been eaten and loved for a long time. In the Edo period (1603-1867), tuna became inexpensive and commonly eaten due to the advance of fixed-net fishing. At this time, the most common cooking method was salted tuna, but "zuke", a cooking method in which raw fish is marinated in soy sauce to improve preservation and reduce odor, was also practiced. However, lean tuna was preferred, and fatty toro (fatty tuna) was considered a "low-life's food" and not popular. It is said that toro became popular as the Japanese diet became westernized and fatty foods became more desirable.

After World War II, tuna came to be treated as a luxury fish after freezing and refrigeration facilities became widely available. With these facilities in place, people began to eat tuna as sashimi. In the Showa period (1926-1989), technology to produce processed products such as frozen and canned products was developed, and the eating of tuna became more widespread.

You see, tuna has been eaten and loved for a long time. Tuna became commonly eaten because it was supported by many technologies, including the development of techniques for manufacturing processed products and freezing technology.

Literature and Tuna

The Manyoshu is the oldest extant collection of Japanese waka (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. Akahito Yamabe, a famous poet of the Nara period, visited Inamino (now Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture) on October 10, 726, to accompany Emperor Shomu, and fishermen caught tuna. It seems that a poem that reads the state of being in the Manyoshu (volume 6, part 938) is published. This indicates that the Japanese had a culture of eating tuna since the Manyoshu period.

You have found that tuna has been eaten and loved for a long time. Tuna became commonly eaten because it was supported by many technologies, such as the development of manufacturing techniques for processed products and freezing techniques. Another reason for the popularity of tuna is that after World War II, people's diets became more Westernized, and fatty foods became more desirable.

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