The first comprehensive cookbook to fully cover all aspects of Japanese cuisine with 600 recipes!

'Maki Itoh has succeeded in creating a treasure trove in her exploration of Japanese recipes and culinary traditions...Perfect for the Japanese food loving home cook.' Elise Bauer, Founder, SimplyRecipes.com

The first comprehensive cookbook to fully cover all aspects of Japanese cuisine with 600 recipes!

This book has been a lifetime in the making. Bicultural author Makiko Itoh was born in Tokyo and grew up in New York, where her mother ran the leading Japanese restaurant for two decades. She has since developed a career as a successful bilingual food writer and translator, uniquely positioned to explain the cuisine to non-Japanese.

Her book answers all the questions foreigners typically have about one of the world's greatest cuisines, including:

• Why is Japanese food so unique? A full overview from umami to seasonality to aesthetics
• Essential ingredients like miso, mirin, dashi, sake and soy how and why they are used
• How to design a Japanese meal from tableware to equipment to etiquette
• Which recipes are right for you? The 600 recipes in this book cover everything from bento boxes to nimono simmered dishes to izakaya, sushi and hotpots. But which ones should you try?

Itoh's mission is to demystify Japanese cuisine for non-Japanese. Her book contains 400 beautiful colour photos with clearly-presented recipes interspersed with fascinating essays and sidebars explaining all aspects of Japan's unique food culture. A must-read book for every Japanese food lover!

Details

ISBN13: 9784805316153
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 512
Edition:
Publication Date: 05 Aug 2025
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Publication City, Country: New York, United States
Dimensions (cm): 22.9(H)x15.2(L)1191
Weight (gm): 1191

Author Biography

Makiko Itoh was raised and educated in Japan, the UK and the US and has lived in Europe for many decades. Despite living abroad, she has always returned to her native Japanese culinary roots. In 2003 she started writing the JustHungry blog to introduce Japanese homestyle dishes to people with limited access to the authentic ingredients. In 2007 she launched a blog dedicated to bento, which led to the publication of her first book, The Just Bento Cookbook, which has become an international bestseller. She now lives in Switzerland and writes a monthly column on Japanese food for The Japan Times.

Reviews

"This excellent compendium from Itoh (The Just Bento Cookbook) offers an encyclopedic introduction to "the complete range of modern Japanese home cooking." […] Alongside the more than 500 recipes, Itoh immerses readers in Japanese food culture, with fascinating sidebars on the science of umami and the history of cheesecake. The result is a one-stop resource that Japanese food enthusiasts will turn to time and again." —Publishers Weekly Starred Review
"Blogger and cookbook author Itoh calls her latest "the only Japanese cookbook you will ever need" […] With love and care [she] goes over each ingredient: its uses, how it came to Japan, how it's cooked, and if it's used in celebrations…A perfect introductory book for anyone looking to learn Japanese cooking." —Booklist Starred Review
"Maki Itoh has succeeded in creating a treasure trove in her exploration of Japanese recipes and culinary traditions…From onsen eggs to ramen, from okonomiyaki to sukiyaki, this book has it all! Perfect for the Japanese food loving home cook." —Elise Bauer, Founder, SimplyRecipes.com