Cross-posted at Reb's Reading Rants and Raves I am working my way through two Japanese cookbooks right now, both of which are filled with insight and craft (my review of Sonoko Sakai's Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors coming soon!). Nancy Singleton Hachisu's Japanese Farm Food is, as advertised, very much about farm life in Japan and the food that grows there. For that reason, it resonates more as a narrative for me than a cookbook, as many of the ingredients are specific and connected to the life of the farm. She is not as free with the substitutions as Sonoko Sakai, but there are a few (blackstrap molasses for kuromitsu, for example). To call her a purist wouldn't seem totally correct, and that's largely because of the beautiful narrative she constructs about life on the farm and learning how to acculturate in meaningful ways. In truth it is inspiring, if somewhat a bit daunting at times. In addition to spending massive amounts of time pr...
On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro' the field the road runs by To many-tower'd Camelot; And up and down the people go, Gazing in the oven low, Round a kitchen island there below, The kitchen of Shallot. (With apologies to Tennyson)