Japanese Foodways, Past and Present

Japanese Foodways is a fascinating history of a culture that produced some of the world's most unique cuisine. This aspect is rarely discussed, but how much richer we all are that Rath and Assmann attempted to put on record the social and religious mechanisms that dictated food consumption in Japan. Sushi has reached the world stage, and justly so but 50 years after Japanese food was equated with sukiyaki. For example, they explain the introduction of meat into the menu, a relatively recent dietary event. There is much in a cuisine that began to develop 1,300 years ago: its natural resources, cultural and religious dictates and taboos.Judith Clancy, author of Kyoto Machiya Restaurant Guide

Superb! Fascinating! Insightful! If you love Japan, Japanese culture, Japanese food this is a must. Give it as a present....to yourslf or to other Japan-o-philes.

Great book.