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77th out of 470 books
—
986 voters
Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America
by
Linda Furiya
While growing up in Versailles, an Indiana farm community, Linda Furiya tried to balance the outside world of Midwestern America with the Japanese traditions of her home life. As the only Asian family in a tiny township, Furiya's life revolved around Japanese food and the extraordinary lengths her parents went to in order to gather the ingredients needed to prepare it.
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Paperback, 320 pages
Published
December 21st 2006
by Seal Press
(first published November 30th 2006)
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This is a food memoir- I didn't even know that was a genre! I requested it from my library because I was doing a little research about bento after being introduced to the concept by a friend. There was actually very little about bento in the book, it is more a coming of age story of a Japanese-American girl in small town Indiana. Her writing is very honest and the descriptions are engaging. I finished this in 2 sittings, because it was a very interesting close look into another persons childhood...more
Bento Box is unique and almost reads like a personal ethnography. Because I currently live in Tokyo and spend my vacations in Indiana, there was SO much I could relate to. I appreciated the simple honesty in Furiya's reflection of her upbringing. At the start of the book, I had a hard time adjusting to the style, the way Furiya would jump around a few decades, sometimes all on the same page. As I got more comfortable with the style, I was able to see the bigger picture of why she chose the order...more
This is the story of a young Japanese girl growing up in rural Indiana. Being stuck between two clashing cultures seems to have caused her much trouble. It's an interesting study of historic roles and traditional values that cause problems augmented by the issues her parents had with growing up during the war. Sometimes you just want to yell at the characters to just talk to each other. Many things go unsaid and things that are said are often dismissed to save face. It's kind of infuriating at t...more
This is a wonderfully-crafted book, filled with poignant stories that all come together to form a cohesive impression of the author's young life. The conclusion is very satisfying, as threads from throughout the book are all pulled together.
There are a few technical problems which resulted in the book not receiving a five star rating. Word choice and comma usage were questionable at times, and one of the recipes is included twice, presumably by mistake. The recipes are an essential part of the b...more
There are a few technical problems which resulted in the book not receiving a five star rating. Word choice and comma usage were questionable at times, and one of the recipes is included twice, presumably by mistake. The recipes are an essential part of the b...more
Always interesting to read about other cultures' food; here, specifically, Japanese food. Furiya relates a fairly typical first-generation immigrant tale of discomfort, embarassment, early responisbilities to help parents who don't speak English fluently, and a search for identity. She details aspects of her relationship with each parent and how food was the one common link to her Japanese cultural identity she was able to share with her parents growing up. The book is "a food memoir," but in th...more
I had hoped to get a feel of Japanese life from American eyes, and I got some of that, but mostly I read a handful of encounters of a Japanese-American girl growing up in Indiana. I found the stories very interesting and I felt she did a great job of presenting how outside she felt from the American society around her.
I did have a bit of difficult with how the tales jumped around so much. In one chapter she goes from being a 7 year-old girl in Indiana to a thirty year-old with a child and living...more
I did have a bit of difficult with how the tales jumped around so much. In one chapter she goes from being a 7 year-old girl in Indiana to a thirty year-old with a child and living...more
I'm rating this book as 3.5 stars. I picked up the book on a whim because I saw "Japanese" and "Bento Box" on the cover. As I'm currently studying the Japanese language and culture, I thought this would be an interesting perspective. Plus, I love food! As a food lover, I was overjoyed when I discovered the author had included recipes at the end of each chapter. I plan on making several of them. My favorite part of the book is where Furiya tells about her first visit to Japan. It was interesting...more
Oct 31, 2011
Miz Lizzie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
families,
food,
immigration,
japan,
memoir,
race-relations,
non-fiction,
usa,
world-war-ii,
indiana
A food memoir -- yum! Linda Furiya writes about growing up Japanese American, and in the only Asian family, in a small town in Indiana in the 1960s. Each chapter ends with a recipe for a favorite Japanese food that served to feed her shaky Japanese identity while growing up desperately trying to be as white as possible. A fascinating account of first generation immigrants and the importance food in family and ethnic identity. Also a rich source of information on a personal experience level of th...more
Jun 14, 2012
Lynn
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Lynn by:
book club selection
Shelves:
biographical
Bento Box is the story of the author's childhood in rural Indiana, where she and her family were the only "foreigners" in the area. Linda tells her story through this "food journal, " which includes recipes of favorite dishes.
Though Linda writes of her experiences as the only Asian family in this community, her experiences are universal. For example, she complains about having to assume letter writing responsibilities as a 3rd grader since her mother could not write in English, and the embarrass...more
Though Linda writes of her experiences as the only Asian family in this community, her experiences are universal. For example, she complains about having to assume letter writing responsibilities as a 3rd grader since her mother could not write in English, and the embarrass...more
This is closer to 2.5, but since I found it decent, and the recipes look good, I bumped it up.
Furiya tells the tale of her childhood growing up in Indiana and being raised by two Japanese parents. She integrates food into the story quite a bit (happily), detailing family meals, certain customs, trips to special markets to procure Japanese ingredients, along with the embarrassment of bringing a school lunch that is so different than everyone else's.
I appreciated Furiya's honesty in what she thoug...more
Furiya tells the tale of her childhood growing up in Indiana and being raised by two Japanese parents. She integrates food into the story quite a bit (happily), detailing family meals, certain customs, trips to special markets to procure Japanese ingredients, along with the embarrassment of bringing a school lunch that is so different than everyone else's.
I appreciated Furiya's honesty in what she thoug...more
A wonderful memoir about a first-generation American growing up in the rural Midwest. Writing the memoir with the food theme/thread was especially joyful, given my interest in cooking and my proclivity to associating certain food/dishes with certain memories.
I found so many similarities between the stories about Linda's life growing up and and mine that I often caught myself smiling (and wincing) as I relived some of those moments in my mind. To highlight a few: the comedy, trials and tribulati...more
I found so many similarities between the stories about Linda's life growing up and and mine that I often caught myself smiling (and wincing) as I relived some of those moments in my mind. To highlight a few: the comedy, trials and tribulati...more
Engaging book for anyone who has an interest in either Japanese food or culture. It was nice to see how the food became something that the author used to help identify her own Japanese-ness. The recipes were a nice touch and I plan on making most of them as they all sound delicious! The only complaint I have is more about the flow of, particularly, the last half of the book. The memories she was explaining jumped around a bit and I feel it lost a little bit of the focus on the food. Not so much...more
Of all the things I miss about living in Japan, the food is on the top of the list. So a memoir about Japanese food, by a Japanese-American being reared in America's heartland, was right up my alley.
Furiya grew up in rural Indiana, in one of the few Asian-American families in her Versailles community. She takes us back to her early childhood and describes her unique family upbringing, of which food was central. Furiya's parents felt closer to home (Japan) when they could eat Japanese food; howev...more
Furiya grew up in rural Indiana, in one of the few Asian-American families in her Versailles community. She takes us back to her early childhood and describes her unique family upbringing, of which food was central. Furiya's parents felt closer to home (Japan) when they could eat Japanese food; howev...more
The author uses food to tell the story of her childhood growing up in rural Indiana. She retells experiences of struggling with identity, torn between her immigrant parents and the white community in Indiana. Her experiences are funny, heartwarming, painful and always centered on food. I appreciated that the author tapped into the powerful emotions and memories that we associate with food. A particularly striking incident involved lunch at school. Linda was embarrassed that her mother packed tra...more
I picked up this book because I am on a Japanese kick right now after reading "The Big Book of Sumo" and "The Street of a Thousand Blossoms", and it looked interesting. It was about an Japanese American girl growing up in rural Indiana and how it was to be the only Asian family in a small town in the Midwest during post-WWII. It was interesting seeing how her family grew up, especially her parents before they came to the US, for example her parents had an arranged marriage and her dad was a POW...more
I LOVE how this woman writes about food, its filled with so much longing and respect that you can't help but feel the need to try it immediantly. The fact that this book contains recipes from her childhood is just too good to be true, even for someone who doesn't eat meat besides fish lol.
I knew halfway through that this was going to be added to my favorites what with the writing being fantastic and the feeling of being there with her in her flashbacks. I could never understand what it would be...more
I knew halfway through that this was going to be added to my favorites what with the writing being fantastic and the feeling of being there with her in her flashbacks. I could never understand what it would be...more
I must admit that I liked this adult memoir more than I thought I would. I won't be giving away copies of it for Christmas or anything, but I read in a few days. Linda Furiya is Japanese American and grew up in a small town in Indiana. This food memoir (tons of yummy Japanese recipes are included) describes her experiences growing up and how she had to adjust to being Asian in a small Midwestern town. Food is very important to her family, and so food is discussed in detail. But so is her mother'...more
Linda Furiya grew up in Versailles, Indiana, with her two brothers and their parents. Linda and her family were, for some time, the only Asian people in their community, and Linda often felt out of place. Her parents’ marriage was arranged and they bonded over their common love of Japanese food – Linda’s mother enjoyed preparing it and her father enjoyed eating it. Many of Linda’s memories have strong associations with particular Japanese dishes, and the difficulties her parents went through in...more
Linda Furiya is second generation Japanese-American born and raised in Indiana. As the only daughter in the only Asian family in town, many of Furiya's experiences and heartaches are predictable - the kids at school make fun of her slanted eyes, the people in town mock her parents' accents. But, she finds a different lens through which to view her experiences. In becoming conscious of her own identity, and reconciling her desire to belong with her love for those things that make her different, F...more
In this memoir of growing up Japanese-American in rural Indiana, Furiya's memories have a way of conjuring up the Japanese food that her mother lovingly prepared even as they had to travel many hours to get the ingredients needed to make these dishes. The memoir resonated most for me in the sections where she talks about being the child of immigrants with limited English and having to play the role of translator for them. She grew up fast because she had to deal with complex adult issues, even h...more
Apr 29, 2007
Susan
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those who like food writing, multicultural memoir
I'm a sucker for a food memoir, so I snatched this off the library's "New" shelf on a whim. It was both better and not as good as I was hoping.
The good:
This didn't need to be a food memoir, though the food was a powerful symbol of the author's "otherness" within the community, while underscoring the unity of her family. (This look at otherness reminded me a bit of Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, about a Lubavitcher community in Iowa.
I come from a fairly liberal community...more
The good:
This didn't need to be a food memoir, though the food was a powerful symbol of the author's "otherness" within the community, while underscoring the unity of her family. (This look at otherness reminded me a bit of Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, about a Lubavitcher community in Iowa.
I come from a fairly liberal community...more
The author is first generation American. As you might guess from the title, her parents were from Japan. Linda Furiya offers an intimate, interesting account of growing up in a Japanese household, but in a small town in Indiana. I found her mother's story extremely interesting. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who hasn't yet read it so I won't reveal too much information. But it broke my heart that it took her mother fifteen years from the time she moved to Indiana into this unknown cul...more
I was given this book by another Amerasian woman on a knitting forum, if you can imagine. The protagonist in this book is first generation American born to Japanese parents -- living in Ohio. From the first page I felt a kinship with the author; food is so important in Asian cultures -- and it really defines you, even outside your cohort (i.e. for this woman in Ohio).
The book has a few recipes, too -- which I thought was very clever.
The book has a few recipes, too -- which I thought was very clever.
Part food memoir, part exploration of growing up in a small rural Indiana town, Furiya's book was fascinating. I was taken by her descriptions of her family and her own struggles to reconcile her Japanese heritage with her American culture.
I also enjoyed her family recipes at the end of each chapter. Between those and the luscious descriptions of cooking & eating, this book made me crave Japanese food.
I also enjoyed her family recipes at the end of each chapter. Between those and the luscious descriptions of cooking & eating, this book made me crave Japanese food.
It was interesting yet, sad in some respects, to read of Linda's childhood standing out as she did as the only Asian American in a small Midwest community. I enjoyed the food memories she evoked and the recipes she shared. Some of the measurements seem a little off, but I will adjust and try some of them. And what kind of job did her editor do, in having the gyoza recipe appear twice!
Excellent account of a 1st generation American girl of Japanese ancestry growing up in a "whitebread" community in the midwest in the 60s/70s. However, she discusses universal themes like how food comforts and triggers memories, the adolescent search for peer acceptance, child/parent struggles as one grows up, quest for independence, etc. An excellent book -- highly recommend.
This was a wonderful, very engaging book and made me immediatly run out to get her follow up book that I am currently reading. This book is essentially about the author's life growing up first generation Japanese-American having her parents at home who are Japanese and her friends outside who are American and how she manages between the two, her writing style is wonderful.
Since I like things to do with heritage and genealogy, I enjoyed this lots. It didn't have genealogy, but told a bit about her dad's trials with his American citizenship, his troubled years in Japan, as well as her own growing up in heartland America, and figuring out how she fit in. Added bonus: each chapter ended with a Japanese recipe!
This is a memoir of a young Japanese girl living with her family in rural Indiana. The focus is on her family's attempts to find Japanese food as a way of keeping her connected to her culture. Very interesting read, but it makes you want the food right now! I am headed to the Japanese steakhouse/sushi bar!
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Dec 07, 2010 11:16am