A Dictionary of Japanese Food: Ingredients & Culture

Rating:
Summary: Not totally comprehensive, but still excellent
Review: If you have an interest in Japanese cooking, this book is a must. The dictionary does not contain every ingredient, utensil and dish that may be found in Japanese cuisine, but it makes a valiant attempt to do so. Entries are listed with a romanized pronunciation as well as the Japanese characters, sometimes with several variations of how to write the same term. In addition the excellent appendices explain in detail how such staples of the Japanese kitchen, such as shoyu and katsuobushi, are made and used. An invaluable reference for anyone who does not read Japanese at native-level fluency.

Rating:
Summary: An absolute gem of a book, comprehensive and enlightening.
Review: It is unique in a field that is not well documented in the English language. The main body is a Japanese-English dictionary of Japanese foodstuffs. Entries go: Japanese name in romaji (Roman alphabet), kana, kanji, (Chinese characters), then the English translation, then any scientific name. Each definition is several lines long, including details of preparation, culinary uses, and cultural, regional and seasonal notes. The book is profusely cross-referenced and illustrated in black and white. There is an Engish-Japanese glossary at the back and seventeen appendices covering key items such as katsuobushi, miso, Buddhist vegetarian cuisine and so on in greater detail.

This is not a cookbook, there are no recipes or instructions. Rather, it is a treasure-chest of culinary detail, illuminating a great deal that was previously hidden. The Japanese cuisine is vast and varied, but largely mysterious and unknown outside Japan, because there are very few definitive books written in languages other than Japanese. I am not certain that a comparative book exists even in Japan; it was compiled from Japanese sources but some of these were very old or quite obscure or scholarly. I can recommend it to anyone who knows anything about Japan or Japanese food and wants to make a quantum leap of knowledge and understanding.

Rating:
Summary: An absolute gem of a book, comprehensive and enlightening
Review: It is unique in a field that is not well documented in the English language. The main body is a Japanese-English dictionary of Japanese foodstuffs. Entries go: Japanese name in romaji, kana, kanji, (Chinese character), then the English translation, then any scientific name. Each definition is several lines long, includes details of preparation, culinary uses, and cultural, regional and seasonal notes. The book is profusely cross-referenced and illustrated in black and white. There is an Engish-Japanese glossary at the back and seventeen appendices covering key items such as katsuobushi, miso, Buddhist vegetarian cuisine and so on in greater detail.

This is not a cookbook, there are no recipes or instructions. Rather, it is a treasure-chest of culinary detail, illuminating a great deal that was previously hidden. The Japanese cuisine is vast and varied, but largely unknown outside Japan, because there are very few definitive books written in languages other than Japanese. I am not certain that a comparative book even exists in Japan; it was compiled from Japanese sources but some of these were very old or quite obscure. I can recommend it to anyone who knows anything about Japan or Japanese food and wants to make a quantum leap of knowledge and understanding.