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Diet and the comparison of living standards across the Great Divergence: Japanese food history in an English mirror

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  • Francks, Penelope

Abstract

The assessment of relative living standards, dominated by food, has been central to analysis of the timing and causes of the Great Divergence. Comparative quantitative measures of real incomes and food availability have generated the conclusion that living standards on the western side of Eurasia, in particular in England, were already higher than those observable on the eastern side by the seventeenth century, with the divergence widening thereafter. However, in the English case, research based on evidence as to what people actually ate suggests that the path of dietary change was by no means a straightforward matter of rising calorie consumption. When viewed in the light of this, evidence derived from the work of food historians of Japan can similarly be used to reveal a more complex pattern of dietary development than can be encompassed in quantitative estimates, even if along the lines of a very different diet and cuisine. This needs to be taken into account when living standards are compared across the divergence.

Suggested Citation

  • Francks, Penelope, 2019. "Diet and the comparison of living standards across the Great Divergence: Japanese food history in an English mirror," Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 3-21, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:jglhis:v:14:y:2019:i:01:p:3-21_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Mark Hudson & Junzō Uchiyama & Kati Lindström & Takamune Kawashima & Ian Reader & Tinka Delakorda Kawashima & Danièle Martin & J. Christoper Gillam & Linda Gilaizeau & Ilona R. Bausch & Kara C. Hoover, 2022. "Global processes of anthropogenesis characterise the early Anthropocene in the Japanese Islands," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Penelope Francks, 2022. "Industriousness and divergence: Living standards, housework and the Japanese diet in comparative historical perspective," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 26-46, March.

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