A Brief History of Japanese American Community Cookbooks
From Epworth United Methodist Church Cookbook
The moment I held the Epworth United Methodist Church Cookbook in my hands, I felt a deeply familiar comfort. Like many Japanese American community group cookbooks, it is printed in black and white on half sheets, spiral bound so you can keep your favorite recipe open, and includes line drawings and prints, in this case of Japanese family crests. These books feel lovingly handmade, but also utilitarian; they’re designed for people to cook from, not to ogle. Most are divided into the same general categories—appetizers, soups, mains, desserts—and in every case, they capture home recipes from real people in their community.
Community cookbooks aren’t unique to Japanese Americans, but over the past seventy years, Japanese American groups up and down the West Coast have been prolific, publishing cookbook after cookbook after cookbook. Most of these books were created as fundraisers by women’s groups connected to churches and temples, time capsules from the kitchens of women who gathered to carve out a space for themselves.
Yet of all the books I've read in the past year, none include narrative about who these people were, the stories behind the recipes, or even details on how the recipes should look or taste. Illustrations are often more conceptual than descriptive: a kid’s drawing of rice balls could just as easily represent sea anemones, step-by-step illustrations for how to devein shrimp include three additional shrimp floating on the page like clouds, as though deveining them freed them to fly away. Did the authors assume Japanese Americans readers would already be familiar with these recipes, and people who were not Japanese Americans would not care? Today, decades later, these cookbooks present puzzles—what is the story of these dishes, and who were their authors? …
