When my mom moved to the US from Japan (some 40+ years ago), she figured out how to make traditional Japanese dishes in an American kitchen by experimenting with different ingredients to quasi-replicate tastes of home. It wasn’t like you could find edamame or miso paste in your local grocery store back then. She teaches cooking to Japanese women so all of her recipes are written in Japanese, which I can’t read. Happily, whenever I ask for a recipe, she sends them to me loosely translated into English.
Guide to the Foreign Japanese Kitchen by Moé Takemura is what I think my mom wishes she and I would do together: Her recipes, my compilation. This book is a similar story of homesickness; Ms. Takemura was attending grad school in Sweden and yearned for some comfort foods. She experimented with Swedish ingredients, trying to find the closest approximation to ones she would use in Japan. The recipes are translated into Swedish, English and Japanese. Maybe one day I’ll have enough of my mom’s recipes to make a simple book for our family because like most recipes, the ones from moms are the best - and my mom can cook!
(Thanks for the news bite, Amy! Images via Guide to the Foreign Japanese Kitchen)