Umami is the fifth taste of Japanese cuisine. This bilingual concept cookbook is about the heart and soul of Japanese food. English being the primary language and Chinese being the secondary language of the book. The heart being dashi-japanese stock and soul being umami-the fifth taste. The book introduces the origins of umami, its use in the world and health benefits.

motifs: Being an essential component of Japanese cuisine, it is symbolically represented by a delicate diagonal line permeating through a circle motif, dashi. Dashi is stock made from 5 key ingredients, kombu, katsuobushi, niboshi, shiitake and water. From this 5 different ingredients, 5 types of dashi can be made. The book features in depth information about the ingredients and recipes for each dashi. It concludes with 5 accompanying cooking recipes for each dashi.

interaction: The recipe section has additional recipes printed on perforated pages for ease of use. Users can refer to the recipe slips that can be torn and taken into the kitchen when cooking. Each recipe slip has a ingredient shopping list that users can bring along on grocery shopping trips. Users can keep the torn slips into the compartment at the back of the book after use.

The meticulous ways of a Japanese chef is not only translated in content but also in the thoughtfulness of the book’s visual and interaction design. The hand-bound book captures the intricacy of Japanese cuisine and shares it in English and Chinese.