Magazines

[torakris]

In another thread Hiroyuki replied:

Sorry to have interrupted your conversation, but I've never thought of buying a cooking magazine for just a recipe. I've always thought the essence of Japanese cuisine is a combination of soy sauce and mirin. Beef bowl, yakitori, sukiyaki, and what have you. For someone like me, "recipes" are just... not necessary, simple put.

I like

男の料理　"otoko no ryori" mens' cooking.

Cut this, cut that, put this in, put that it, add soy sauce, add mirin, ... OK, it's done. Let's eat! Itadakimasu! (Do you follow me?)

I read in a book when I was still a teenager that soy sauce delayed the progress of Japanese cuisine by one hundred years because of its perfection.

Don't you agree? (I see disapproval in your eyes.) Sorry. Carry on. I'm out of here.

[torakris]

I think everyone buys magazines/cookbooks for different reasons.

I love the pictures I could spend all day looking at pictures of food........

I also use magazines/cookbooks for ideas, I rarely follow a recipe as written, sometimes I don't even look at the recipe I just get the idea from the picture. Ten years ago it was a different story I followed recipes religiously because I was still unfamiliar with the different tastes of Japanese food as it wasn't something I grew up with.

I really love Japanese magazines and cookbooks they are all filled with gorgeous pictures of every dish and Elle a table has got some of the most incredible food photography I have ever seen in this country.

[Hiroyuki]

A great reply. You must be a good cook.

[bleudauvergne]

I think the photos are just amazing. I am a pretty visually oriented person and photos can do a lot for me to inspire me. Thanks for the link to this page. I'm going to keep checking in.

If anyone's still having trouble getting the page to come up, try this link, it might work a little faster.

click

p.s. I like that pet recipe section!

Edited May 30, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[halalsushi]

Hi, what are the best Japanese food zines? I have this one I brought at the store and it has some good recipes. I notice that the Japanese magazines are higher quality and have better pictures then American magazines that I have seen.

[TofuSal]

I am a huge fan of Orange Page!

It has lots of good home Japanese cooking, great photography & easy to follow instructions. I tend to skip the sections on being the perfect housewife though.

I used to buy it all the time when I lived over there (and had time to stay home cooking all day!) It's only a couple of hundred yen, but it's very expensive to buy here in the UK. Fortunately, all the Japanese guys in my office (& those coming over from head office) are trained to purchase a copy at Narita before they board their flight to London. No matter how embarrassed they may feel!

[halalsushi]

Yeah, I was flipping through Orange Page at the bookstore down here. It costs a dollar here and in Japan it costs 150 yen. The first half of the magazine has recipes and the rest of the magazine has comics and articles right? How much does it cost in the UK?

Edited May 12, 2005 by halalsushi (log)

[TofuSal]

A dollar?

Blimey! It's about 8 pounds here!

[smallworld]

I agree that Japanese food magazines are generally better than American food magazines. I love the step-by-step pictures. Sometimes I find the layout a bit crowded and unattractive, though.

I'll buy the housewifey cooking magazines like Orange Page, Lettuce Club, and Esse once in a while, but I'm not impressed very often. There are far too many ads and non-cooking stuff. Also, most recipes emphasise quick, easy preparation above all else.

Instead, I like Kyou no Ryouri, which is food and cooking only. I like that there is always a mix of classic, traditional recipes and creative new dishes; with quick-and-easy recipes mixed in with more challenging, time consuming ones.

Plus featured ingredients, dishes, cuisines ect. are explored in much greater depth than most other cooking magazines.

I also really like Elle a Table (Japanese edition), not sure if it counts though.

[JasonTrue]

I'm a huge fan of 天然生活 (Natural lifestyles), which is actually publication of Whole Earth.

It's not strictly food focused, but has a beautiful layout, and has a very rustic-contemporary aesthetic that I'm a bit of a sucker for. It has recipes and techniques for things like yuzu marmalade, a "renkon steak" (grilled renkon with soy sauce, olive oil, and pepper), some southeast Asian food, and of course more typically Japanese dishes. It tends to profile a lot of Japanese who live abroad seeking some sort of simplicity. About a third of the pages seem to be dedicated to handicraft and so on, but the food sections are really nice.

http://www.chikyumaru.co.jp/ten.html

Edited May 12, 2005 by JasonTrue (log)

[torakris]

Smallworld mentioned my two favorites, Elle a Table and Kyou no Ryouri, these are normally the only ones I buy now. I used to enjoy Tanto but it disappeared a couple years ago.

I will glance through them all at the bookstores but I rarely find anything worth making in the orange page and similar other ones, they seem to focus too much now on quick foods and not necessarily good.

Are you sure about the price of Orange Page?

It is cheap but not that cheap... The picture is small but it looks like it is 260 yen (about $2.50)

[jamiemaw]

Hi,  what are the best Japanese food zines?  I have this one I brought at the store and it has some good recipes.  I notice that the Japanese magazines are higher quality and have better pictures then American magazines that I have seen.

←

Is EAT magazine (English/Japanese) still going?

[halalsushi]

Yeah, it costs a dollar here at the Japanese bookstore in Los Angeles. Hmm, I never saw that Japanese/English magazine before. I see it when I'm at the bookstore again, I'll tell you.

[torakris]

Hi,  what are the best Japanese food zines?  I have this one I brought at the store and it has some good recipes.  I notice that the Japanese magazines are higher quality and have better pictures then American magazines that I have seen.

←

Is EAT magazine (English/Japanese) still going?

←

I remember paging through this a while ago (maybe as far back as a year) and I can't find too much about it on the internet past 2003....

Once I can walk again I am heading straight to a book store!!

[torakris]

Just a note to let everyone know I have merged this with our previous Jaapnese magazine thread, so you may want to scroll up if you missed it the first time.

[JasonTrue]

Their US distribution, at least in Barnes in Noble, seemed to fizzle early 2003 and I couldn't easily find it in Japan either. I never actually succeeded in finding it in Japan even when they were up-and-coming. I remember their web site outlasted their US distribution, but I can't find it anymore.

http://www.i-eatsite.com/ was their old web site.

I remember paging through this a while ago (maybe as far back as a year) and I can't find too much about it on the interent past 2003....

Once I can walk again I am heading straight to a book store!!

←

[jamiemaw]

Their US distribution, at least in Barnes in Noble, seemed to fizzle early 2003 and I couldn't easily find it in Japan either. I never actually succeeded in finding it in Japan even when they were up-and-coming. I remember their web site outlasted their US distribution, but I can't find it anymore.

http://www.i-eatsite.com/ was their old web site.

I remember paging through this a while ago (maybe as far back as a year) and I can't find too much about it on the interent past 2003....

Once I can walk again I am heading straight to a book store!!

←

←

According to a blogsite called The Scent of Green Bananas, EAT went down in April, 2004. What a shame--many of the issues were beautifully produced, and on varnished paper that we are no longer allowed to use (for environmental reasons) here.

[halalsushi]

When I buy the Japanese cooking magazines down here occasionally though, I cannot sign up for a subscription since they are based in Japan. Are there any good Japanese magazines that allow subscriptions from United States?

[Kiem Hwa]

Yeah, it costs a dollar here at the Japanese bookstore in Los Angeles.  Hmm, I never saw that Japanese/English magazine before.  I see it when I'm at the bookstore again, I'll tell you.

←

Would that be Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo? I love going there!

[torakris]

When I buy the Japanese cooking magazines down here occasionally though, I cannot sign up for a subscription since they are based in Japan.  Are there any good Japanese magazines that allow subscriptions from United States?

←

I tried looking at a couple of the big ones and none mentioned overseas subscriptions....

Magazine subscriptions aren't very popular here, I subscribed to Kyou no Ryouri one year but I got so mad because I would get it a week after I saw it in the stores....

[halalsushi]

Oh okay, thanks. Lol, you got it a week after? That's really lame. I had a subscription to this one American magazine called National Geographic, it was good since I got it before it hit the stores.

[Culinista]

Thanks for the link. Any recommendations for restaurant magazines (as opposed to home cooking)? I have a few old issues of DANCYU.

I don't know if you can get a home subscription in the US, but I know Japanese bookstores like Kinokunya in NY and CA carry the magazines.

I have a cousin send me magazines out here to Finland. I get them months late

[anpanman]

For restaurant magazines, I really like Otona no Shumatsu. They concentrate on Tokyo, but do features on other areas. Dancyu, as you probably know, have great features. I'm enjoying this June issue about all kind of Tachi-gui (eateries without seating) places. I also like Serai (Sarai if read in Japanese) for their features. Serai is a biweekly lifestyle and food magazine that concentrates on highly seasonal and regional foods, with really good features.

[torakris]

has anyone picked up the new magazine wasabi?

I keep seeing it advertised but haven't had a chance yet to see it...

[helenjp]

Magazines like "Croissant" quite often have issues devoted to restaurants, and often have a lot of traditional Japanese restaurants (since the readership is elderly and well off).

At the other end of the scale, magazines like Tokyo Walker, Hanako etc. cover smaller and more accessible eateries, usually aimed at young singles.

Kris, how's that foot? Not ready to hit the restaurant trail yet?