Mother Tongue
is the first book from Akiko Kurematsu, a project exploring generations of Japanese family and food.
The book is inspired by her mother Kozue’s cookbook “My Mother’s Love", of her grandmother Fusae’s recipes. Written in 2020 during the global pandemic when she cooked and adapted her mother's recipes to the produce, ingredients, tools that she could find abroad, she also updated the recipes for how this generations eats - more local, sustainable, aware.
The book contains nostalgic childhood memories of meals with family, and around 50 recipes from how to cook perfectly fluffy rice in a pot, staples like miso-soup and salads, to stand-alone dishes like okonomiyaki and soba. Everything in the cookbook is made simply, without fancy equipment or ingredients.
Agedashi Tofu
One of my favorite recipes is a warm, comforting tofu dish, best served with rice.
Simple Soba
A recipe for when you just want a simple soba meal for a weekday lunch or dinner.
Japanese Breakfast
I'll also show you how to combine a few recipes together from the book for a meal.