A Dictionary of Japanese Food: Ingredients & Culture

For those of us who love food, Japanese food is exquisite and mysterious. So many ingredients have no counterpart in Western kitchens. When someone translates konnyaku as 'Devil's Tongue Jelly', you are still left wondering what 'Devil's Tongue Jelly' is! <br /> <br />A Dictionary of Japanese Food gives the Japanese kanji, kanna, and romajii along with the Latin, and English common names (if there is one). Detailed descriptions of each term are combined with common usages in food preparation to enlighten us and help bring culinary understanding to the masses. <br /> <br />As for cultural understanding, this book was a life-saver! Japanese are surprised and delighted when I express an indepth understanding of their ingredients and usage. Food is ever a bridge to understanding and acceptance. Anyone for shiokara?

This book is very detailed. It helped me a lot when I got to a Asian Market to look for food. Plus at least when I know what it is. I recommend.

This ten-year old dictionary remains unsurpassed <br />as a guide to the ingredients, methods and utensils <br />used in japanese cooking. It is a portable volume <br />with romanized, kana and kanji versions of all the <br />names and so is ideal for a trip to the market <br />where many unfamilar ingredients may be presented <br />to the english--speaking food lover. <br /> <br />There are seventeen useful appendices that cover <br />topics like: <br />Chopsticks <br />Katsuoboshi <br />The kitchen and its utensils <br />Kombu <br />The Meal <br />Miso <br />Sake <br />Salt <br />Sansai <br />Soy sauce <br />Sushi <br />Tea <br />The tea ceremony <br />Umami and Flavor <br />Vegetarianism <br />Wasabi <br />Wasabon Sugar <br /> <br />In addition, many of the entries have enough <br />detail to be useful to the Western chef who <br />wants to incorporate Japanese ideas into his <br />or her cooking. Hoskins is an admirably concise <br />writer who packs a lot of information into a <br />small amount of graceful prose. <br /> <br />Be aware that this is not an encyclopedia. If <br />you use the English-Japanese section to look <br />up `mushroom' for instance, you'll find the <br />translation `kinoko' but not a comprehensive <br />list of Japanese mushrooms or techniques for <br />cooking them. <br /> <br />So leave the browsing to other books and keep <br />this one for trips to the market You'll be glad <br />to have it. <br /> <br />--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and the forthcoming novel bang-BANG from Kunati Books. ISBN 9781601640005

This book was the connection I needed between the recipes in my Japanese cookbooks and the local Asian market. Many of the packages have no English word on the package. I have used this book every time I have shopped; when I can't figure out what I am looking for, I take the Japanese word (the book cross references in English and Japanese) to the service desk. The young Japanese woman takes me to exactly what I am looking for. It has saved hours of decoding the ingredients. <br /> <br />This is great for descriptions and translations, not for cooking assistance; it discusses pairings of flavors for ingredients you look up. It is the perfect dictionary to keep close to the Asian cookbooks. <br /> <br />