The Folk Art of Japanese Country Cooking: A Traditional Diet for Today's World

I love this cookbook, and, unlike several other cookbooks which I also love but don't use very often, I use it all the time.The first half or third of the book is a long essay on the eating of traditional working people--farmers and fishermen--in Japan. By the time you finish it, the whole domestic economy, the nature of the simple Japanese home, and the origins of the cuisine will have become clear. There is no superficial gauziness here--we get facts, delightfully presented.Next we get the recipes, arranged by meal. These recipes are mostly simple, and they use the same few ingredients again and again, so that once you buy the handful of staples called for you can try most of the things in the book. In fact, the recipes encourage thrifty recycling and practical use of left-overs--the dried shiitakes and kombu and fish from your dashi can themselves become side dishes for the next meal. There are a few strangely baroque recipes--one chicken dish calls for the same chicken to be successively simmered, then fried, then simmered again--but most of the recipes are such that a busy person can make most of them in a short time. This is also a cookbook for the amateur: there is none of the fussing with precise measurements, and cutting things into exactly the right shape, and simmering things for a precise amount of time, which many Japanese cookbooks involve. Remember, this is peasant cooking--the cooking of people who have a fire in the middle of their kitchen and eat sitting around that same fire. The amazing thing is that Homma makes that cooking accessible to us. And it tastes great!

This is an impressively laid out book, with excellent photos and text about Japanese folk cooking. I find myself rarely using it, though, because to me the indexing and arrangement of the various types of dishes is a bit confusing and not so user friendly. Also, there are many ingredients that are hard to find (at least in Cincinnati). I suppose, though, that for those who are serious about authentic Japanese cooking, it is a very valuable source. It does offer many types of recipes, not just sushi, which I'm not that fond of. To me raw seafood might taste okay raw, but it's even better steamed or broiled.

It would be quite a boring cookbook if you were looking for nice photos of food taken, basically this book has little. But don't judge the book by the illustration side. This cookbook are well described from some personal story behind to recipe and methods. Most of the dishes are well detailed and i find it not so difficult to use. You will still need some head scratch and smart when comes to finding the ingredients. Japanese ingredients are somehow kinna difficult to get in some countries.

Mr. Homma does a great job of describing traditional japanese rural cooking in his book. His style of writing is informal and friendly and gives one the impression that he really enjoys cooking. The only problem that I had with this book is that the recipes seem to be either hit or miss. Some are quite good while others don't seem to work out as well.

This is a great book for those interested about the simple side of Japanese life, primarily of country folks. I thought I'd be interested but in the end, it wasn't for me. Some recipes were outstanding; others were not, and nearly impossible because of the difficulty of obtaining necessary ingredients. Overall, it just wasn't for me, but it contains a wealth of information of Japanese culture not commonly seen in other publications.

Damaged cover

My daughter used to own a Japanese restaurant, and she really liked this book.

This is the best book for true, traditional Japanese cuisine from the ground up. I can't think of any way to improve upon it except to give more of the same in a new edition. One of my absolute favorites!

I have travelled in rural Japan and learnt traditional cookery from village women - this is a virtually unknown cuisine outside of Japan yet fantastically nutritious, inventive and delicious. This is beyond doubt the definitive book about this food culture, a wonderful and detailed account of a vanishing rural way of seasonal eating and the associated customs and traditions. Its recipe range is exhaustive, and whilst the indexing / grouping is tricky to grasp at first (e.g ingredients listed in Japanese and according to cooking technique) this is a very minor gripe against what is a phenomenal anthropological and cultural survey.

Worthwhile addition for anyone wanting to understand the ideas/feeling behind traditional Japanese cooking. Some may not want all the philosophy and hanker after just recipes; but along with traditional country recipes, we can start to understand the cultural depths of a wonderfulcuisine.

A great book which deserves a wide audience. Full of interesting facts & great recipes. A brilliant investment.

Fantastic book for those who want, not just a list of recipes but other info about tradition, food processing and real fundamental basics of japanese food.

Also Lieferung usw. war top.Das Buch enthält viel Text, der unglaublich detailierten Einblick in Gedankengänge usw. ermöglicht.Mein Manko ist, dass es kaum Bilder enthält, und das macht das Nachkochen etwas schwierig, da man nicht genau weiß, wie e aussehen soll.Fazit: Für Kennner, die ihr Wissen erweitern wollen geeignet.