Seventeen students from the United States stare at a garden of eggplant. "You can take pictures, just don't touch anything," the group's translator informs them, most of whom are in their early 20s. A minute of silence passes as they gaze at the circular vegetables. Then they pull out their smartphones to snap some shots.

"Wanna get in, bruh," one student says to another. "For the 'gram?" (referring to the popular photo sharing site Instagram).

This is day eight of a 10-day visit organized by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), which found students from the New York state-based college traversing Japan to learn about washoku. It feels partially like a field trip garnering great air miles, as all those coming out plan to take a course called "Advanced Cooking: Japanese Cuisine" this fall. During their stay, CIA faculty who accompanied them pepper activities with phrases such as "You'll be doing this when we get back to Hyde Park."