“A Whole New World of Possibilities”: Koji Uses and Ambiguities on the Global Marketplace

Abstract

This article analyzes the ambiguity of the term “koji”–as it simultaneously describes a mold spore, a set of enzymes, and a fermented ingredient–across products that make, use, and promote koji in an increasingly globalized marketplace. We focus on three case studies–a koji-based chocolate, a lees-based condiment with koji in its name, and a hot sauce that is doubly fermented with koji–using discourse analysis supplemented by interviews. As practitioners and scholars who work with koji, we are keen to disentangle how koji is used literally and conceptually across new contexts because slippages between koji-the-spore, koji-the-enzymes, and koji-the-ingredients enable an ambiguity that allows the gourmandization of koji to thrive in capitalism. With attention to koji’s material-discursive properties, this paper analyzes the ambiguity of koji across different places and languages. Our findings point to themes of selective storytelling, social distinction, and human-microbe labor relations, which feed into each other.