The Manga Cookbook is a lovely little collection of Japanese recipes, illustrated with manga-style drawings and accompanied by notes about Japanese culture. The dishes run the gamut from simple steamed rice to complicated multistep affairs, and following the Japanese tradition, the authors pay attention to appearance as well as taste.
 
The book begins with a few simple decorative tricks, converting an apple to a rabbit, a hardboiled egg to a bird, and a hot dog to an octopus. Next up is steamed rice and onigiri (rice balls), with the obligatory shout-out to Fruits Basket, in which onigiri are a small but important plot element. Other common manga foods include chicken yakitori (kebabs), okonomiyaki (vegetable pancakes), and three-color dango (pastel dumplings on a stick). Several pages are devoted to the construction and decoration of bento box lunches. And no manga book would be complete without Naruto—specifically, Naruto rolls, spirals of ham, cheese, and nori (seaweed) that recall the decorations on the famed boy ninja’s jacket.
 
The recipes are presented by three supercute manga characters: perky Miyuki; her boyfriend, Hiroshi; and their cat mascot, Coo. Each section begins with a full-page cartoon followed by a list of ingredients and step-by-step illustrations of the dish being prepared. Many are followed by cultural notes. Unfortunately, the last 26 pages are just blank notebook pages with the heading “Cook’s Notes,” which is a lot of empty space in a book that is just 160 pages long.
 
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) chose The Manga Cookbook as one of their Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers, and it’s easy to see why. The subject matter is naturally interesting to manga fans, and the text is accompanied by pictures that help get the information across. Hattori’s illustrations and a clean, simple design make for an attractive package.
 
The recipes themselves present a few problems, however. Many rely on ingredients that are not readily available, and the ingredient lists are often vague. The Gyudon recipe, for instance, simply calls for “beef,” without specifying which cut. Sometimes ingredients on the list aren’t in the instructions that follow, or vice versa. In addition, some of the recipes simply aren’t suitable for young children to prepare on their own, especially ones that involve sharp knives and deep-fat frying.
 
On the other hand, a child who is assisted by an adult with a little cooking experience can do pretty well with this book. I field-tested the recipes for Steamed Rice, Gyudon, and Okonomiyaki. All were delicious, and I knew to use sirloin steak in the Gyudon and to put one teaspoon of baking powder in the Okonomiyaki (baking powder was left off the ingredient list).
 
With its cartoon characters, intriguing cultural notes, and attractive food arrangements, The Manga Cookbook is an enticing little volume. It’s too bad the recipes weren’t edited better, but with a bit of help from an adult, most children over 10 will be able to prepare these real-life manga goodies.

written by The Manga University Culinary Institute
illustrated by Chihiro Hattori