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Japanese Cooking with Manga: 59 Easy Recipes Your Friends will Love!
Three friends walk you through their best Japanese recipes—in expressive, humorous illustrations!
Cooking should be fun, and this highly entertaining Japanese cookbook for beginners is packed full of humor and whimsical illustrations. Japanese Cooking with Manga started out as " Gourmand Gohan ," a hand-drawn and hand-bound edition that the three co-authors circulated among their friends in Barcelona. Each author has a unique take on Japanese food preparation, but they are all equally passionate about food and how it brings people together.
Simple, step-by-step Japanese food recipes are accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations and commentary on each page—making this manga cookbook read more like a graphic novel than your average collection of recipes. Information about Japanese culture and traditional Japanese cuisine are presented in a charming and accessible way, making learning a new style of cooking as educational as it is entertaining. The colorful manga art and comic-style stories within this illustrated cookbook will appeal to the serious foodie and experimental chef alike.
Easy home style recipes with a Japanese twist These three home cooks took on the world of Japanese food culture—and now, with the stories and recipes in this adventurous cookbook, so can you and your friends.
Cooking should be fun, and this highly entertaining Japanese cookbook for beginners is packed full of humor and whimsical illustrations. Japanese Cooking with Manga started out as " Gourmand Gohan ," a hand-drawn and hand-bound edition that the three co-authors circulated among their friends in Barcelona. Each author has a unique take on Japanese food preparation, but they are all equally passionate about food and how it brings people together.
Simple, step-by-step Japanese food recipes are accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations and commentary on each page—making this manga cookbook read more like a graphic novel than your average collection of recipes. Information about Japanese culture and traditional Japanese cuisine are presented in a charming and accessible way, making learning a new style of cooking as educational as it is entertaining. The colorful manga art and comic-style stories within this illustrated cookbook will appeal to the serious foodie and experimental chef alike.
Easy home style recipes with a Japanese twist These three home cooks took on the world of Japanese food culture—and now, with the stories and recipes in this adventurous cookbook, so can you and your friends.
128 pages, Paperback
Published September 25, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 19, 2020
The approach is unique in that the cookbook is a story of their connection as gourmands and creating the narrative and art around learning to cook Japanese dishes. But it's extensively prepared from the ingredients to gather to tidbits of historical relevance to certain dishes that was insightful.
It's a way to approach trying food from other cultures for the adverse. Likewise the organization into types of dishes (fish, meats, soups, etc.) paces the book and the stories interjected so it's not lopsided but a true reading of a Japanese cookbook. The artwork is fun and the color palette words so well plus the font choice and words on the page were easy to read and the actual recipes easy to follow.
It's a fun one whether you're trying the recipes, simply learning about the cuisine, or reading a "cooking with friends" graphic novel.
It's a way to approach trying food from other cultures for the adverse. Likewise the organization into types of dishes (fish, meats, soups, etc.) paces the book and the stories interjected so it's not lopsided but a true reading of a Japanese cookbook. The artwork is fun and the color palette words so well plus the font choice and words on the page were easy to read and the actual recipes easy to follow.
It's a fun one whether you're trying the recipes, simply learning about the cuisine, or reading a "cooking with friends" graphic novel.
February 1, 2019
This was a very creative book – I loved that they included comic-type illustrations to teach the recipes. The book starts out with a story of how the book came to be.
The book then follows with an introduction to Japanese-style cooking, with clear instructions and illustrations to help.
We made a few recipes from the book using as many ingredients as we could find. We had to substitute some things – like orange pepper instead of green. But mostly we had what the recipes called for. There is a section in the front of the book that lists essential ingredients (like sesame oil and shiitake mushrooms). Fortunately we had most of those things.
We made the ham and cheese potstickers, broccoli miso soup, and soy braised vegetables (the recipe called for serving with rice but we served the dish with rice noodles.
The entire family enjoyed the meal and are anxious to try other recipes. We fought over who got the last serving of the miso soup. I found the recipes easy to follow and I enjoyed the snippets on Japanese culture the authors included. The illustrations were nice and were helpful in following the recipe.
It’s a good starter cookbook for kids or adults not familiar with Japanese-style cooking. The book is a great choice for younger kids, but they will probably need adult supervision to help with some of the recipes.
Now excuse me while I go make the mushi-pan banana muffins mmmmm
*Please note I received a free review copy of this book
The book then follows with an introduction to Japanese-style cooking, with clear instructions and illustrations to help.
We made a few recipes from the book using as many ingredients as we could find. We had to substitute some things – like orange pepper instead of green. But mostly we had what the recipes called for. There is a section in the front of the book that lists essential ingredients (like sesame oil and shiitake mushrooms). Fortunately we had most of those things.
We made the ham and cheese potstickers, broccoli miso soup, and soy braised vegetables (the recipe called for serving with rice but we served the dish with rice noodles.
The entire family enjoyed the meal and are anxious to try other recipes. We fought over who got the last serving of the miso soup. I found the recipes easy to follow and I enjoyed the snippets on Japanese culture the authors included. The illustrations were nice and were helpful in following the recipe.
It’s a good starter cookbook for kids or adults not familiar with Japanese-style cooking. The book is a great choice for younger kids, but they will probably need adult supervision to help with some of the recipes.
Now excuse me while I go make the mushi-pan banana muffins mmmmm
*Please note I received a free review copy of this book
April 2, 2019
What happens when a Japanese woman moves to Barcelona, finds work as a chef in a restaurant, and sparks up a friendship with an illustrator and a designer? The most fun book of Japanese recipes I’ve read yet!
One concern I’m sure many people have about trying Japanese recipes is if there are any ‘weird’ or hard to source ingredients, and I’m right here with you on this! I have good news for you: even here in north-east Northern Ireland, I can source the majority of ingredients in one store in Belfast.
The recipes aren’t complicated or pretentious, they’re down-home ordinary-folk meals, which suits me perfectly!
To date, we've tried and enjoyed:
-Japanese Ginger Pork (Buta No Shogayaki)
-Mashed Potato Salad
-Meat Stew With Vegetables (Nikujyaga)
-Matcha Frappuccino
There are many more recipes my family would like to try out, too! In addition to the recipes, there is also some additional information included on the origin of the recipes, etc., which is interesting.
A fun read and make book for food and manga lovers everywhere.
One concern I’m sure many people have about trying Japanese recipes is if there are any ‘weird’ or hard to source ingredients, and I’m right here with you on this! I have good news for you: even here in north-east Northern Ireland, I can source the majority of ingredients in one store in Belfast.
The recipes aren’t complicated or pretentious, they’re down-home ordinary-folk meals, which suits me perfectly!
To date, we've tried and enjoyed:
-Japanese Ginger Pork (Buta No Shogayaki)
-Mashed Potato Salad
-Meat Stew With Vegetables (Nikujyaga)
-Matcha Frappuccino
There are many more recipes my family would like to try out, too! In addition to the recipes, there is also some additional information included on the origin of the recipes, etc., which is interesting.
A fun read and make book for food and manga lovers everywhere.
April 19, 2023
The recipes seem fine and are presented in an easy to read and understand way, but God, I hated the art! The cover looked like a charming, simple style...but the longer the book went on the more annoyed I got with the very limited expressions these characters had and all shared every time they appeared. The ever-smug eyes used for all the talking, or the classic 'one arched eyebrow' got old really fast. It's hard to enjoy a comic where like three facial expressions are reused like twenty times. Also, for a food 'manga' plus recipe book, the actual art of the food should have looked way more appealing than what is drawn on the page. This book was a miss for me as a food/recipe comic/manga but as a cookbook, the writing was lovely and interesting.
March 30, 2026
Recipes for Japanese food, illustrated into a cookbook by the chef’s friends in Barcelona. Highlights the need for fresh ingredients and gives some historical context. Not bad, but as other reviewers have noted, the art isn’t the best and doesn’t make the food look particularly appetizing.
April 24, 2019
It was very fun and entertaining. I like how the author added some history behind the recipe. Especially one of the soups remade by an lieutenant.
May 25, 2020
Cute, but the actual drawings of the food didn’t look very appetizing. Too bad more detail couldn’t have been put into the “finished” dish.
November 7, 2020
Explained a variety of basic ingredients in a simple to understand and concise manner, with plenty of recipes! Hoping to try them out soon.
January 7, 2021
If you like to read Manga but can also cook, this would be a good book to read. I cannot cook, so the pictures just made me hungry.
September 29, 2021
Loved it, love the subtle tastes of Japanese cuisine
April 8, 2025
Very fun format for a cookbook! I can't wait to try the broccoli miso soup and the ham&cheese potstickers!!
May 19, 2026
Straightforward recipes a lot of which seem to be fusion style. I love the manga style as that is something I started with my own recipe book before I got discouraged by my terrible art.
December 14, 2023
So fun, the step-by-step illustrations are very helpful. Super clean and easy instructions. I've made half of the recipes already!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews