Emi Kazuko

This is a beautiful book. Lovely photos, and tons of them, which show you the food being talked about and the techniques to prepare it. The writing is very readable, and although I did not try any of the recipes, they also looked clear and easy enough to follow. I liked reading about the history, the culture and the reasons Japanese cuisine is what it is today.

All that being said, this did not inspire me to cook Japanese food. I don't think it is the fault of the book. It is because there is show more no fresh seafood (or fresh that I trust) near me, nor are there many of the other fresh or specialized ingredients used in this book. It is a book for cities, preferably cities on the coast. Although I am not inspired to cook out of the book, I appreciate having a better understanding of what the cuisine is so that the next time I visit a city with a Japanese restaurant I will know what to order! show less

I got this for super cheap from a remaindered table - it was pretty much worth the price. The best part of the book is the glossary at the beginning - handy if you don't know much about typical Japanese ingredients, but very basic. The recipes are just not very good, although the pictures are lovely and if you just take ideas from their dishes and modify the recipes quite a bit, you can come up with some pretty nice meals. If you're looking for a Japanese cookbook, look elsewhere.

http://pixxiefishbooks.blogspot.com/2...

A book I sorely wanted to bring with me to Japan, but couldn't spare the space for. But I look oh-so-forward to using it when I return home to Canada - it will help me recreate some of the Japanese meals I have eaten here and loved! It's a really nice cookbook. There is a whole first section explaining various Japanese meats, vegetables, noodles, and cooking utensils. Then many, many recipes organized by type. Some of these seem somewhat complicated, show more but others quite simple. Plus, if you've ever wanted to find out the difference between all those kinds of tofu sitting on the shelf at the grocery store, this book will surely be able to tell you. show less

Excellent book. Now you know what Katsubushi, Myoga, Oden, Takuan are! You will understand "what is", "what does it look like" and "How do you eat it" of unique Japanese foods through tons of all color photgraphs.