Japanese Farm Food, now available in paperback, offers a unique look into life on a Japanese farm through 165 simple, clear-flavoured recipes along with personal stories and over 350 stunning photographs. It is a book about love, community, and life in rural Japan. Nancy Singleton Hachisu's second book, Preserving the Japanese Way, nominated for the 2016 James Beard Award in the International Cookbook category, takes a deeper look into the techniques, recipes, and local producers associated with Japanese preserving.
Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2012: USA Winner, Best Japanese Cuisine Book
Japanese Farm Food offers a unique window into life on a Japanese farm through the simple, clear-flavoured recipes cooked from family crops and other local, organic products. The multitude of vibrant images by Kenji Miura of green fields, a traditional farmhouse, antique baskets, and ceramic bowls filled with beautiful, simple dishes are interwoven with Japanese indigo fabrics to convey an intimate, authentic portrait of life and food on a Japanese farm. With a focus on fresh and thoughtfully sourced ingredients, the recipes in Japanese Farm Food are perfect for fans of farmers' markets, and for home cooks looking for accessible Japanese dishes. Personal stories about family and farm life complete this incredible volume.
American born and raised, Nancy Singleton Hachisu lives with her husband and teenage sons on a rural Japanese farm, where they prepare these 165 bright, seasonal dishes. The recipes are organised logically with the intention of reassuring you how easy it is to cook Japanese food. Not just a book about Japanese food, Japanese Farm Food is a book about love, life on the farm, and community. Covering everything from pickles and soups to noodles, rice, and dipping sauces, with a special emphasis on vegetables, Hachisu demystifies the rural Japanese kitchen, laying bare the essential ingredients, equipment, and techniques needed for Japanese home cooking.
About the Author
An award-winning author of three books, Japanese Farm Food, Preserving the Japanese Way, and Japan: The Cookbook, Nancy Singleton Hachisu has lived in the Japanese countryside for more than three decades.
Hachisu appears frequently in Japanese media, documenting her preserving and farm food life as well as visits to artisanal producers in more remote areas of Japan as an indefatigable champion of shining a light on the value and continuing importance of Japanese traditional foodways. She also assisted on and appeared in the Salt episode of Netflix's runaway hit: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
In his May 25, 2028 review of MTN: Venice, the legendary LA Times food critic Jonathan Gold deferred to 'Japanese cookbook writer Nancy Singleton Hachisu, who knows more about these kinds of things than practically anybody.'
And according to food icon Alice Waters, 'Nancy has ... dedicated her life to finding and revealing the local flavours and ingredients that have been cornerstones of Japanese cooking for centuries.'
Industry Reviews
"This book is both an intimate portrait of Nancy's life on the farm, and an important work that shows the universality of an authentic food culture." (Alice Waters)
"The book offers a breadth of information, with lessons about Japanese products and techniques, and instructions for everything from homemade tofu to udon noodles. But for me, the recipes for simple vegetable dishes, often flavored with only a bit of miso or a splash of sake, are the most fascinating" (David Tanis, New York Times)
"In her sumptuous exploration of Japanese dishes, Nancy Singleton Hachisu expertly blends all of these, creating a memorable collection that will appeal not just to cooks but to anyone who appreciates a simple, lovingly prepared meal." (Elizabeth Millard, Foreword Reviews)
"With simple, nourishing dishes and richly detailed stories of Japanese farm life, Nancy Sington Hachisu creates a whole world between the fabric-bound covers of this book. Once you step inside, it's very tempting to stay." (Emma Christensen, The Kitchn)
"Essays on the author's years in Japan and lush photos make the book as great a pleasure to peruse as it is to cook from." (Karen Shimizu, Saveur)
