{"id":1855,"date":"2023-03-24T12:10:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T04:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/?p=1855"},"modified":"2023-04-13T13:19:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T05:19:29","slug":"rice-cooker-how-a-humble-electric-appliance-was-born-and-changed-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/rice-cooker-how-a-humble-electric-appliance-was-born-and-changed-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Rice Cooker: How a Humble Electric Appliance was Born and Changed the World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><style>#primary {width:100%;} #secondary {display:none;} .entry-header {display:none;} .ele-full-title {font-family:cambria !important;} .ele-full-maintitle {font-family:cambria !important;} .ele-full-subtitle {font-family:cambria !important;} .wp-block-column {font-family:arial;}<\/style>\n<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"ele-full-title has-text-color has-large-font-size\" style=\"color:#538135\"><strong>Rice Cooker: How a Humble Electric Appliance was Born and Changed the World<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Written by Lok Hang Fung<br>Published on 01\/11\/2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">It is time for dinner. The sweet smell of rice starts to spread around small households in Hong Kong, and the beeping sound from the timer tells that the rice cooker has done its job. The lid is opened. The rice inside the pot looks a bit moist, round and fluffy \u2013 not too dry nor too watery. Thanks to rice cookers (Cantonese \u96fb\u98ef\u7172; Japanese \u708a\u98ef\u5668 <em>suihanki<\/em>), boiling rice, a staple food so central to food cultures all across Asia, has become much easier and faster. Just a little more than 60 years ago, however, cooking rice was a tedious and labour-intensive procedure. Before the time of rice cookers, in Hong Kong, rice was typically cooked in clay pots over portable kerosene stoves (\u706b\u6c34\u7210) or charcoal stoves. In Korea, people boiled rice with Gamasot (\uac00\ub9c8\uc1a5), cauldrons made in cast iron. In Japan, rice was cooked in earthenware and later metal pots on large stoves called <em>kamado <\/em>(\u7ac8) allegedly introduced from Korea (hence the exact same pronunciation \u201cgama\u201d, which is in fact the North Korean term for cooking range).<sup>[<a href=\"#posts-footnotes\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#posts-footnotes\">1<\/a>]<\/sup> Those who cooked rice (primarily housewives) had to spend long hours paying close attention to the fire and temperature so that the rice would not burn \u2013 to make breakfast in time, Japanese housewives had to start sitting in front of the kamado watching and fanning fire at 5am. Rice cookers are revolutionary, for it liberated housewives in places where rice is so important from the hassle of making it a few times a day. And this is only one of the ways how rice cookers are legendary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1858\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-01.jpg 640w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-01-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fig. 1 &nbsp;Kerosene stove was commonly used for cooking in Hong Kong in the 1960s and 1970s. Source: Wikimedia Commons, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:HK_Kerosene_Stove_HuoShuiLu_%E7%81%AB%E6%B0%B4%E7%88%90_1.JPG\" target=\"_blank\">commons.wikimedia.org<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-02.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1859\" width=\"803\" height=\"536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-02.jpg 1070w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-02-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-02-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-02-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fig. 2 Traditional Korean Gamasot (cast iron cauldron) on a stove. Source: Wikimedia Commons, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Miners%27_kitchen_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">commons.wikimedia.org<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-03.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1860\" width=\"803\" height=\"536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-03.jpg 1070w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-03-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-03-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-03-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fig. 3 A Japanese kamado. Source: Wikimedia Commons, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Kamado4816.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">commons.wikimedia.org<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The tale of the rice cooker began in the 1950s, when Japan, where it was invented, was quickly sailing towards recovery after the Second World War. Before that, in the 1920s, there was a simple version of electric rice cooker but it was unpopular because it, like <em>kamado<\/em>, required full attention from users. Then in the 1950s, Toshiba took on the challenge to revamp the product and develop a fully automated rice cooker. They named the product <em>denki-gama <\/em>(electric pot) and launched it in 1955, a time when pre-war income levels had just been restored in Japan. The denki-gama was a great success. Housewives around Japan welcomed this invention that saved them much time and sleep, despite it being considerably expensive (priced at \u00a53,200, more than one-third of the average monthly income at that time). In just a few years, the Toshiba Er-4 <em>denki-gama<\/em> has gone beyond the Japanese market and reached the American Japanese population across the ocean. Other companies including Matsushita (now Panasonic) and Hitachi also joined the competition. In 1959, the Matsushita <em>suihanki <\/em>entered the market. The product name has become the term with which all Japanese people identify this kind of electronic appliance used to cook rice at ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-04.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1861\" width=\"480\" height=\"636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-04.jpg 640w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-04-226x300.jpg 226w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fig. 4 An early model of Toshiba\u2019s rice cooker in 1950s. Source: Wikimedia Commons, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Electric_Rice_Cooker_1956.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">commons.wikimedia.org<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The principle behind the technology of rice cooker is straightforward \u2013 a heating plate heats up the rice and the water; a thermostat regulates the temperature and switches off heat supply to prevent rice from burning; an outer casing made from aluminium or steel keeps the inner pot warm; and a lid tight enough keeps moisture of the rice. The science is easy, but the details can be unimaginably complicated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Many experiments were carried out to find answers for the problems like \u201chow long does it take for the rice to be cooked?\u201d \u201cHow can temperature be regulated accurately?\u201d and \u201cwhen should the heat supply be switched off?\u201d What makes things even more difficult is that rice is very different across Asia: the species of rice are different, and people\u2019s standards for \u201cgood\u201d rice are different. If the Japanese rice cookers were to be exported overseas, they ought to be changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>Glocalising Rice Cookers \u2013 Adapting to Local Needs and Habits&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">It was 1960, way before the term \u201cglocalisation\u201d was even invented. The Matsushita team and William Mong (\u8499\u6c11\u5049), Japan-born Chinese trader already started revamping Japanese rice cookers to adapt to how Hong Kong people cook and eat rice. Being the one who first introduced rice cookers to the Hong Kong market, Mong insisted that the design of the product must be amended to cater to Hong Kong people\u2019s needs and tastes, and the Matsushita team was determined to meet Mong\u2019s expectations. The end result was historic \u2013 the National (\u6a02\u8072\u724c) rice cookers sold in Hong Kong have a unique glass viewing pane that allows users to peek inside the pot and know the exact timing to add all sorts of savoury delicacies like Chinese <em>lapchong<\/em> sausage (\u81d8\u8178), salted egg (\u9e79\u86cb) and salty fish (\u9e79\u9b5a) on the rice. The glass lid also gave skeptical potential customers a chance to see how rice cookers work. Starting from Hong Kong, the gateway to Asia, this model of National rice cooker was welcomed later by Chinese diasporas in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. An undoubted commercial success, the rice cooker made the National brand a household name; and the brand name a symbol of rice cookers. Even when the name National was later replaced by Panasonic, it has been kept solely for rice cookers. On the eshop of William Mong\u2019s Shun Hing Group, we can still find \u6a02\u8072\u724c\u96fb\u98ef\u7172 (National rice cookers), likely because the idea that \u6a02\u8072\u724c = rice cooker is too deep-rooted in Hong Kong people\u2019s hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-05.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1863\" width=\"803\" height=\"602\" srcset=\"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-05.jpg 1070w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-05-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-05-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/30-rice-cooker-05-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fig. 5 A National rice cooker with a transparent glass panel on the lid. Source:<br>Wikimedia Commons, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:HK_National_RiceCooker.JPG\" target=\"_blank\">commons.wikimedia.org<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The early localisation attempts paved the way to even greater international sales of National rice cookers. The Matsushita team surely learned a good lesson from cooperating with William Mong who taught them that to cater for local taste and cooking habits is the key to success. Before expanding to a new overseas market, the National rice cooker team would always send staff to visit the locals and hire local taste advisors to ensure an authentic rendition of rice.<sup>[<a href=\"#posts-footnotes\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#posts-footnotes\">2<\/a>]<\/sup> With this strategy, National rice cookers were able to reach countries where rice is cooked and eaten extremely differently from Japan, for example India and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>Genderising Rice Cooker \u2013 the Ones Who Use and Design It<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Who is the one who cooks rice in your home? Grandma? Your mom? Or your Filipino domestic helper? Whoever that is, cooking has been a strongly gendered task seen as a woman\u2019s duty in the household. Frankly speaking, I am highly skeptical about whether my father has actually touched our rice cooker even once. He is not necessarily chauvinist, but he certainly has no idea what using and not using the rice cooker implies for the gender dynamics in the house. Therefore, the rice cooker is a conspicuously gendered appliance \u2013 mainly used and decided to be purchased by women. The Japanese rice cooker manufacturers knew this very well. Since the early days, manufacturers have targeted young Japanese females through advertisements that featured a cute, feminine tone or chic, well-dressed female models. The introduction of rice cookers along with other electronic appliances, most notably washing machines and refrigerators in Asian households revolutionised the lives of housewives, who can now save some time from routine tasks like going to the market several times a day to buy perishable food; or paying attention to the fire three times a day fearing the rice would burn. Not only are lives a little bit easier, they can also now divert some attention to themselves and to maintaining a \u201cmodern\u201d, hassle-free middle-class lifestyle. Some other housewives might even choose to enter paid part-time employment, supplying the much desired labour to the then rapidly growing Japanese manufacturing industry.<sup>[<a href=\"#posts-footnotes\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#posts-footnotes\">3<\/a>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The popularisation of rice cookers also created new job opportunities for women. Unsurprisingly, engineers who designed and produced rice cookers (and other female-oriented appliances alike) were predominantly male (although the invention of the first ever Toshiba rice cooker ought to be attributed to the contribution of a woman named Fumiko, wife of a small factory owner). The National rice cooker team did not hire their first female staff until 1979. The female engineers, later known as \u201crice ladies\u201d in the company, gave the National rice cookers a total appearance and technological makeover. For example, the 1979 model named <em>mai-con denshi jar<\/em> (in Hong Kong, it is named \u897f\u65bd\u96fb\u98ef\u7172 by William Mong after Xishi, one of the Chinese Four Great Beauties) that is known for its cute, rounded appearance and a handbaglike handle is designed by young female designer for her fellow young Japanese housewives. Another example is the world\u2019s first cake-baking rice cooker launched by National in 2002. This model was developed by a Thai \u201crice lady\u201d employed by the Matsushita subsidiary in Thailand, where baking was a class privilege because not every Thai family could afford an oven. In a time when engineering was men\u2019s business, the rice ladies proved with their high calibre and unique flair that they are no less than their male counterparts. Still, it would be too optimistic to say that rice cookers would bring any fundamental change to the gender social structure. Indeed, a rice cooker being such a convenient appliance has the risk of reinforcing the conventional gender role.<sup>[<a href=\"#posts-footnotes\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#posts-footnotes\">4<\/a>]<\/sup> Imagine what the chauvinists might say: \u201cif it is so easy, why should they not do it\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>A Hope for the Modernised Future&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Rice cooker was invented when Japan was just a decade into recovery from the war. Electric appliances like the \u201cThree Sacred Treasures\u201d (television, washing machine and refrigerator) and the rice cooker symbolised a better, prosperous future and a modern, comfortable life. In 1950s and 1960s Hong Kong as well, owning these appliances was a huge privilege and a symbol of middle-classness. My mother can still lucidly recall how kids from her neighbourhood all gathered in front of the gate of her flat in a 7-storey resettlement building, because they wanted to peek inside and watch the TV with their envious eyes. As the post-war economy grew, families \u201cbelow the Lion Rock\u201d moved up the social ladder and worked hard to purchase the appliances one by one, maybe first a refrigerator, then a rice cooker, then a television and finally a washing machine, in the hope and desire of a better future and an easier life. Today, rice cookers have become kitchen essentials in many households around the world. Apart from rice, people have developed with their creativity many recipes to be used in only rice cookers. Cakes, curry, soup? You name it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>Footnotes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol id=\"posts-footnotes\">\n<li>Kim, Kwang-on (Autumn 2017). \u201cA Family Tree: Traditional Kitchens of China, Korea and Japan\u201d. <em>Koreana<\/em>. 31 (3). <a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/the_korea_foundation\/docs\/koreana_20-_20autumn_202017_20_28en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/issuu.com\/the_korea_foundation\/docs\/koreana_20-_20autumn_202017_20_28en<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nakano, Yoshiko. Where There Are Asians, There Are Rice Cookers. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, HKU, 2009.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Macnaughtan, Helen (2012) \u2018Building up Steam as Consumers: Women, Rice Cookers and the Consumption of Everyday Household Goods in Japan.\u2019 in: Francks, Penelope and Hunter, Janet, (eds.), The Historical Consumer: Consumption and Everyday Life in Japan, 1850-2000. Palgrave Macmillan.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Matinga, Margaret N., Bigsna Gill, and Tanja Winther. \u201cRice Cookers, Social Media, and Unruly Women: Disentangling Electricity\u2019s Gendered Implications in Rural Nepal.\u201d [In English]. Original Research. <em>Frontiers in Energy Research <\/em>6, no. 140 (January 24 2019).<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fenrg.2018.00140.\"> https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fenrg.2018.00140<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/article\/10.3389\/fenrg.2018.00140.\">. <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/article\/10.3389\/fenrg.2018.00140.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/article\/10.3389\/fenrg.2018.00140<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<form>\n <input type=\"button\" value=\"Back\" onclick=\"history.back()\" style=\"border-block-color: #71ea00; border-color: #71ea00; background: white; color: #71ea00; float: right; height: 40px; border-radius: 100px; padding: 0.333em 1.333em; box-shadow:none; text-shadow:none; border-width: 2px 2px 2px 2px; font-size: 1.125em;\"\n\">\n<\/form>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<style>.excerpt-style {color:#538135;display:inline-block;font-weight:bold;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"excerpt-style\">Rice Cooker: How a Humble Electric Appliance was Born and Changed the World<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>It is time for dinner. The sweet smell of rice starts to spread around small households in Hong Kong, and the beeping sound from the timer tells that the rice cooker has done its job.  &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1855"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2112,"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855\/revisions\/2112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelaleung.site\/mmea19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}