And nowhere is this more true than in Japan, where the growing, preparing, cooking, and eating of food seems so important (witness its command of television air time), it's almost a sacrament. That is why this book is such an ambitious undertaking. Richard Hosking has set out to map out, catalog, and provide definitions for almost every ingredient and cooking technique under the rising sun.

As a dictionary of ingredients, it is comprehensive to the point of obsessiveness. You want to know the correct ingredients of o-toso, that traditional New Year tipple which tastes like a mix of mulled wine and cough mixture? Can you enumerate the seven herbs of spring? Curious about the subtle difference between marumero and karin? Need to know the Latin name for konnyaku? It's all in here, from abekawamochi (a form of grilled, sweetened mochi) to zuwaigani (the delectable Pacific snow crabs harvested from the Japan Sea).

Hosking is particularly strong on fish and marine products, although perhaps less confident on the soyfoods that have played just as important a dietary role in Japan. If a certain pedantry creeps in, perhaps it's to be expected from someone who teaches food anthrolopology at the graduate level. There are also a few errors and omissions (kukicha, kibinago, and kanpachi should all warrant their own entries).

The only major grumble has to be the total exclusion of Okinawa and its very localized cuisine. Where is awamori, the potent firewater of the southern isles? Why is goya shunned? Let's raise a chant (to the tune of the old Dire Straits song): "I want my rafuti." This may be an editorial decision, perhaps on the grounds that, historically, the Ryukyus aren't Japanese at all. But since so many of the foods known as Satsuma specialties derive from Okinawa (indeed, from further to the southwest), surely the culinary debt should be acknowledged.

Despite its handy paperback format, this is essentially a book for academics and foodies (or both). Of greatest interest perhaps is the last section of the book: Hosking adds 17 appendices on themes ranging from chopsticks to vegetarianism to a rare form of sugar used exclusively by Kyoto confectioners. These short essays - as detailed on their respective subjects as any ever written in English - help to give a sense of the culture from which these remarkable foods have sprung, and justify the second half of the subtitle. Perhaps we should consider the Dictionary of Japanese Foods as a dry run for a larger volume in future. If Hosking were to enlarge and contextualize all the entries in his book, he would find himself the creator of a masterwork every bit as definitive as Larousse Gastronomique.

Reviewed by Robbie Swinnerton

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