The Japanese Pantry is a follow up to Gohan: Everyday Japanese Cooking, Emiko’s tribute to her mother’s family and her soul food — Japanese home cooking.

In The Japanese Pantry, Emiko explores the pantry items essential to Japanese home cooking. Simple, easy-to-find ingredients that can be combined with fresh produce and a few other basics like tofu, rice and noodles to create delicious and authentic Japanese food no matter where you are.

Each chapter explores one of these essential ingredients – soy sauce, miso, rice vinegar, seaweed, sake, sesame and tea – including information about the history and production of these in Japan, as well as Emiko’s thoughtful and approachable recipes.

In helping readers get to know these pantry essentials, Emiko hopes to give home cooks the confidence to make authentic Japanese dishes that are inherently simple and full of flavour.