Miso Mama

This chapter considers how pregnancy manuals and literature, from the Edo period until present day, advocate strict weight management and a restrictive dietary regime for the mother, warning that maternal and fetal well-being are dependent upon the mother's ability to control her appetite and engage in self-sacrifice. Despite the medicalization of birth practices in the Meiji era (1868–1912), folk wisdom restrictions on pregnancy foods remains unchanged; traditional Japanese foods, such as brown rice, tofu, and fish are considered the proper diet for the pregnant body, while “foreign foods” endanger maternal and fetal health. The chapter also notes the increasing association between the maternal and national body with the advent of modernity.