The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN is my 8th cookbook of vegan recipes inspired by my travels, stays with families, and cooking in the kitchens of homes & restaurants worldwide.
This is definitely my most ambitious & adventurous cookbook! After 4 visits to Japan – I feel confident, experienced, and energized enough to realize this project with skill, respect, and appreciation.
The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN
- My 8th cookbook of vegan recipes inspired by my travels, stays with families, and cooking in the kitchens of homes and restaurants worldwide
- based on 4 visits to Japan – and adventures in 50+ other countries
- 192 pages with 100+ vegan recipes and over 80 full-page color photographs
- packed full of quick eats, appetizers, mini-dishes, salads, soups, street food, soulful breakfasts, boxed lunches, delicious dinners, memorable set meals, fantastic feasts, and delightful desserts
- travel stories & tales from my international adventures & experiences
- compact, no-nonsense, easy-to-follow recipes designed to satisfy and impress eaters of all ages, tastes, and minds
- created for cooks of all levels, from beginner to advanced
- recipes feature easy-to-find ingredients
- lots of variations for simplification & substitutions
- extensively tested & approved by cooks, foodies, friends, families, and hungry recipe testers in over 25 countries
- available in ENGLISH… und auch auf DEUTSCH!
PRE-ORDER:
The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN
(English Edition 🇺🇸)
Pre-order a signed copy from me
includes sticker/bookmark set, JAPAN e-book & worldwide shipping!
€30
(Shipping: April/May 2025)
VORBESTELLEN:
The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN
(Deutsche Ausgabe 🇩🇪)
signiertes Kochbuch von mir vorbestellen
mit Sticker/Bookmark Set, E-book & Versand!
€30
(Versand: Apr/Mai 2025)
Adventures in Japan
My first visit to Japan was in 1999, followed by travels in 2019, 2023 & 2024 – riding the trains, exploring cities, cycling towns, trekking between villages, shrines, and temples, immersing in homestays with families, exploring local kitchens, eateries, markets, and streetfood scenes… and even cooking for exclusive dining events in Tokyo, Fujisawa, and Ishikawa.
Recipes in The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN
Basics:
- Kombu Shiitake Dashi – kelp & mushroom broth
- Shichimi Togarashi – seven spice mix
- Furikake – sesame seaweed seasoning
- Rayu – red chili oil
- Tonkatsu Sauce – savory sauce
- Mayo – tofu mayonnaise
- Ponzu – sweet, citrus soy sauce
- Ten Tsuyu – sweet soy dipping sauce
- Panko – dried breadcrumbs
Tsukemono & Salads:
- Benishoga – red pickled ginger
- Gari – pickled ginger
- Takuan – pickled daikon radish
- Menma – seasoned bamboo shoots
- Hakusai no Shiozuke – quick pickled cabbage & carrot
- Kimchi – pickled cabbage with chili & garlic
- Wakame Saladu – seaweed salad
- Cucumber Saladu – cucumber salad
- Tomato Saladu – tomato salad
- Potato Saladu – potato salad
- Abokado Asuparagasu Saladu – avocado asparagus salad
- Wafu Dressing – simple vinaigrette
- Goma Dore – sesame dressing
- Cherry Hill Dressing – carrot ginger dressing
Onigiri & Nigiri:
- Onigiri – Umeboshi – pickled plum rice ball
- Onigiri – Gari – pickled ginger rice ball
- Onigiri – Kyuri – salted cucumber rice ball
- Onigiri – Hijiki Doufu – seaweed & tofu rice ball
- Onigiri – Negitoro – soy mince rice ball
- Yaki Onigiri – grilled rice ball
- Nigiri – Awabi – grilled oyster mushroom
- Nigiri – Toro – roasted tomato & avocado
- Nigiri – Akami – roasted red pepper
- Nigiri – Unagi – roasted aubergine
- Nigiri – Salmon – steamed carrot
- Inari – sweet, fried tofu pockets stuffed with seasoned rice
- Sumeshi – seasoned, steamed short-grain Japanese rice
Bento & Okazu:
- Tamagoyaki – sweet omelette rolls
- Hiyayakko – cold tofu with soy sauce, ginger, radish & spring onions
- Ohitashi – blanched spinach in soy sesame sauce
- Nasu Dengaku – miso-glazed eggplant
- Kinpira Gobo – stir-fried burdock root & carrot
- Miso Broccoli – sautéed greens with sweet miso glaze
- Ingen no Goma-ae – sesame green beans
- Imo no Goma-ae – sesame sweet potato
- Mekyabetsu – sautéed orange-glazed Brussels sprouts
- Kabocha – stewed pumpkin
- Negi – grilled spring onions
- Pasinippu – grilled parsnips
- Shiitake – sautéed shiitake mushrooms
- Mixed Mushrooms – stir-fried mushrooms
Agemono & Izakaya:
- Agedashi-dofu – batter-fried tofu
- Tempura – batter-fried vegetables
- Karaage – batter-fried soy chunks
- Gyoza – steam-fried dumplings
- Hambagu – hamburger steak with tomato sauce
- Yakitori – grilled seitan skewers
- Okonomiyaki (Osaka) – grilled pancake with cabbage & mushrooms
- Okonomiyaki (Hiroshima) – grilled pancake with cabbage & noodles
Donburi & Kare:
- Gyudon – spicy seitan rice bowl
- Tamagodon – scrambled tofu rice bowl
- Tendon – vegetable tempura rice bowl
- Karē Raisu – vegetable curry with rice
- Karē-pan – deep-fried bun with curry potato filling
- Katsu-kare – cutlet in vegetable curry
- Katsu-sando – cutlet sandwich
- Katsu – breaded seitan-bean cutlet
- Tofu Katsu – breaded tofu cutlet
- Gohan – steamed short-grain rice
Sūpu & Men:
- Miso-shiru miso soup
- Kabocha Pasunippu Supu pumpkin & parsnip soup
- Nabe vegetable & tofu hot pot
- Shoyu Ramen noodles in soy sauce broth with tofu, spinach & mushrooms
- Miso Ramen noodles in spicy miso broth with corn, cabbage & soy chashu
- Tantan Ramen noodles in roasted sesame broth with greens & soy mince
- Tomato Ramen noodles in tomato broth with greens, soy mince & nut cheese
- Tonkotsu Ramen noodles in tomato broth with greens, soy mince & nut cheese
- Mori Soba buckwheat noodles & sweet, tangy soy sauce
- Kitsune Udon / Kake Udon noodles in broth with tofu & mushrooms
- Yaki Udon stir-fried noodles with tofu & vegetables
- Yaki Soba Pan stir-fried noodles in homemade buns
- Wafu Pasta noodles with miso soy mince & mushroom sauce
- Naporitan stir-fried noodles in tomato sauce
- Bolo Udon noodles with soy mince tomato sauce
- Ramen (Chukamen) – thin alkaline wheat noodles
- Udon – thick wheat noodles
- Somen / Soba – thin wheat/buckwheat noodles
Okashi:
- Nashi poached pears in sweet lemon syrup
- Sakuranbo – cherries in syrup with black sesame
- Ichijiku Dengaku – miso-glazed figs
- Matcha Cake – green tea almond cake
- Pineapple Cake – pineapple upside down cake
- Peanut Fudge Brownies – peanut fudge brownies
- Mitarashi Dango – sticky rice balls with sweet soy sauce glaze
- Manju – steamed buns with sweet red bean paste
- Matcha Kakigori – shaved ice with green (tea) syrup & sweet red bean paste
- Mango Kakigori – shaved ice with fresh mango & syrup
- Matcha Mochi Aisukurimu – green tea sticky rice ice cream
- Blueberry Cheesecake Aisukurimu – berry soy-cashew ice cream
- Kaki Aisukurimu – persimmon soy-cashew ice cream
- Yuzu Macadamia Aisukurimu – citrus nut ice cream
Decades of dedication & inspirations
This cookbook is a tasty tribute to my life-long love and appreciation of Japanese cuisine and culture. It is inspired by childhood memories and youthful curiosity, solo and family adventures, a lifetime of global friendships, personal connections, and culinary exploration in more than 50 countries.
As with all of my cookbooks: I have written, illustrated, photographed & designed this book myself. The Lotus and the Artichoke is the ultimate combination of my life-long passions: travel, vegan cooking, art, photography, and design.
The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN is more than a cookbook. Sure, it’s a collection of unique, extensively-tested recipes, solid tips, and tricks to try in the kitchen. It’s also my life’s art, a taste-based, sense-oriented, personal journal of my worldly and culinary exploration, an expression of love, compassion, and connection.
A child’s heart and a mind of mastery
The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN is a love-letter to a country and ethos which has shaped me and my world views, taught me so much, and offered endless enjoyment and excitement. It is an unconventional representation of my diverse and whimsical approach in the kitchen, as well as life-long desire to match curiosity, playfulness & intuition with enduring fantasies of mastery, perfection & precision.
I seek to share with you my experiments with a cuisine, which defies dimensions, bends the imagination, and challenges expectations.
In this cookbook (or any of my works) you won’t find hyper-organized, meticulous masterpieces, or perfectly styled arrangements destined for glamorous, glossy print and big-budget bonanzas. Nor will you find repetitious clichés, or an expert’s unchallengeable advice on how to accurately achieve – or perceive – traditional Japanese cuisine.
I am, quite literally, just a guy who went to art school – not culinary school. I’ve had more jobs in galleries and design studios than restaurants and cafés, but I’ve always loved cooking and being in the kitchen since I was a kid – it’s messy and beautiful, chaotic and calming, wacky and wonderful, meaningful and meditative, a gift and a service – all at the same time.
The recipes in this cookbook are artistic adventures meant to honor the incredible individuals, families & friends who’ve invited and instructed me. They represent my gaijen 外人 (outsider) devotion to learn, express my gratitude as a guest, and showcase my willingness to immerse, explore, and share with others.
My connection to Japan
In the cookbook, I explore my early – and ongoing – relationship to Japanese history, culture, cuisine, and of course – the Japanese citizens, students, expats, immigrants, descendants, friends, and fellow travelers throughout my life and travels.
I’ll give you a taste of my childhood on Kwajalein, a Marshallese island in the Pacific – once occupied by Germany, then Japan – and later an American outpost still populated with WWII ruins, memorials, ghosts of conquests and colonization… and families like ours. Rocket scientists, radar engineers, moms, dads, whiz kids, and military brats a million miles from mainland USA – in between Japan and Hawai’i.
It was in Honolulu, where I had my first contact with enthusiastic Japanese travelers (amazingly dressed and with the coolest cameras) – and where I got my first taste of Japanese hibachi 火鉢 (grill) restaurants, sushi すし bars, snacks & sweets in mesmerizing packaging, arcade video games, and anime アニメ (animation).
I’ll tell you more about overseas friends, tofu for the first time, shogun warrior toys, pachinko パチンコ machines, an enduring fascination for Japanese language, films, fashion, art… and, of course – Japanese food!
Hey, wait… is this ‘authentic’?
These personal recipes are a unique mix of what I’ve learned from everywhere I’ve been. I listen to and watch locals, ask questions, do ridiculous amounts of research and experimentation, eat at hundreds of restaurants, get into kitchens, hang out with chefs, cook with families, take notes, sketch meals, talk to travelers, make friends, memorize menus… and re-create what I’ve experienced at home in my kitchen.
Is that ‘unique‘? Is that ‘authentic‘?
This entirely depends on individual assumptions of authenticity, accuracy, and ownership. Cuisines evolve like languages – they flow and grow. I don’t seek to define (nor defy) these things. I want to appreciate and share, and to highlight and honor those that have guided and inspired me.
My recipes are interpretations inspired and influenced by local and distant flavors from countless adventures abroad – 4 trips to Japan, extended stays in India, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Malaysia, West & East Africa, backpacking across Southeast Asia, all over Europe – many visits to Netherlands, France, Italy, an upbringing in the USA South & Northeast, 20 trips to Hawai’i, six years living in Micronesia, life in the New Jersey suburbs, cities of Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, a cross-country America motorcycle odyssey, and over 20 years of zig-zagging between Berlin & Munich in my adopted homeland of Germany.
I go into more detail about my eclectic upbringing & adventurous résumé in the WORLD 2.0 cookbook. Of course, to really know the full story, you’d have to digest the entire series with the Virtual Master Collection (currently 7 e-books… soon 8, including JAPAN) … or all of my printed cookbooks!
PRE-ORDER:
The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN
(English Edition 🇺🇸)
Pre-order a signed copy from me
includes sticker/bookmark set, JAPAN e-book & worldwide shipping!
€30
(Shipping: April/May 2025)
VORBESTELLEN:
The Lotus and the Artichoke – JAPAN
(Deutsche Ausgabe 🇩🇪)
signiertes Kochbuch von mir vorbestellen
mit Sticker/Bookmark Set, E-book & Versand!
€30
(Versand: Apr/Mai 2025)