In 1960 Shizuo Tsujui opened the first school of French cuisine in Japan, which multiplied the cultural exchanges between the two countries. So much so that in 2000, Alain Senderens remarked "the nouvelle cuisine is now Japanese."
When "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art" first came out 30 years ago, sushi was exotic, teriyaki was the sauce, and miso soup was for the macrobiotic crowd. No one who frequented the few Japanese restaurants in western world could have predicted what would happen in over three decades.
The late Shizuo Tsuji mastered Japanese cuisine, then French. He started the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka in 1960 to train chefs, and it remains one of the well-respected cooking schools in Japan. He wrote this encyclopedic book to share the "essence and spirit" of his native cuisine. In this 25th anniversary edition, the content is the same as the original. There is a foreword by the late food writer M.F.K. Fisher and a preface by Tsuji, both of which are from the first volume, as well as a new foreword by Gourmet magazine's Ruth Reichl, and a preface by Tsuji's son, Yoshiki.
The 25th Anniversary edition celebrates Tsuji's classic work. Beautifully illustrated with eight pages of new color photos and over 500 drawings, and containing 230 traditional recipes as well as detailed explanations of ingredients, kitchen utensils, techniques and cultural aspects of Japanese cuisine, this edition continues the Tsuji legacy of bringing the Japanese kitchen within the reach of Western cooks.
