Japan: The Vegetarian Cookbook

Product Information

Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience.

From the author of global bestseller Japan: The Cookbook, more than 250 delicious, healthy vegetarian Japanese recipes for home cooks. In this handsomely designed book, more than 250 recipes for vegetarian, often vegan food from Japan are presented by Nancy Singleton Hachisu, an American who has lived in the country since 1988.White soy sauce enhances soups, sauces, marinades and countless other dishes by adding depth of flavour and white miso is famously flavourful and versatile. or who want the author to hold their hand the whole way refusing to learn the actual Japanese words for ingredients. More pictures would have been helpful and added to the experience in ways words are inadequate to express they are often even in the way.

Nancy Singleton Hachisu is a native Californian who has lived with her Japanese farmer husband in Saitama prefecture since 1988. This book is not for those who like dumb-downed Asian cuisine (hello, people who use ketchup to make pad thai!Gorgeously produced with lush photography, it’s the deepest of deep dives into Japanese vegetarian cooking. Kansha is an expression of gratitude for nature’s gifts and the efforts and ingenuity of those who transform nature’s bounty into marvelous food. Japanese food equals sushi, some people think; others focus on the fried stuff, and don’t take the time to explore beyond tempura, karaage, and katsu.

The last few pages of the book include a glossary that explains major ingredients as well as attempts to provide some sourcing information. Reading through this plant-forward volume, you get a rich sense of the diversity of Japan’s cuisine and the “less is more” mentality behind a lot of it. Our vegan ponzu is packed with citrus and umami and with 3 Gold Stars (a coveted prize from the Guild of Fine Food) you know the quality is going to be sublime. Outside of Japan itself, Japanese food seems to me—an admitted novice when it comes to the country’s vast offerings—to be frequently oversimplified, subject to pigeonholing (or overemphasis on its “greatest hits”) in America and abroad. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged.

The book is divided up by types of dishes: dressed, vinegared, deep-fried, steamed, stir-fried, grilled, soups, sweets, and so on. It’s got great flavour from a sauce that uses dashi powder and ketchup, among other more likely ingredients like mirin and sesame oil. Of all nationalities, the Japanese have to be those who do vegetarian to perfection, mainly because of their particular attention to all things seasonal; and there is no better person to guide you through the seasons and how to make use of the earth's bounty than Nancy Hachisu.

i am probably my least experienced when it comes to Japanese cooking, ramen alone seems like an unfathomable treasure, but this book does a great job of taking you through some major categories. However, this cookbook took me multiple days to peruse as Singleton Hachisu provides a truly in-depth exploration of vegetarian Japanese cuisine.We carefully wrap each item in bubble wrap and traditional Japanese newspapers (you’ll often find a Japanese crossword or sudoku to solve! Tim describes how to wield nori seaweed and dried mushrooms to impart that umami ‘meatiness’ without using meat. The author gives the example of using an entire daikon radish, from the trimmings and leafy top to the entire part of the root itself. Hachisu links the country's vegetarian traditions to its religious practices, particularly Buddhism and Shinto, as well as to its emphasis on seasonal progression.