About A Taste of Culture

Born, raised and educated in America, Elizabeth Andoh has made Japan her home for more than half a century. A graduate of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Andoh’s formal culinary training was taken at the YANAGIHARA School of Classical Japanese Cuisine (Tokyo).

Andoh is the author of six books on Japanese cooking, including two IACP award-winners, An Ocean of Flavor (Morrow, 1988) and Washoku (Ten Speed, 2005). She was Gourmet’s Japan correspondent for more than three decades and was a regular contributor to the New York Times travel section for many years.  Currently, Andoh’s WASHOKU ESSENTIALS, a series focusing on the building blocks of Japanese cooking wisdom, appears in the Japan Times every other month.

In October, 2024, Elizabeth began contributing WASHOKU KITCHEN WISDOM blog posts with recipes for The Japanese Pantry, an online store dedicated to making the best quality artisanal Japanese ingredients available to cooks in the United States. 

Andoh lectures internationally on Japanese food and culture and directs A Taste of Culture, a culinary program based in Tokyo, Japan that offers customised cookery and tasting workshops for visitors and residents. Details here.

Regardless of where you reside, I hope you will continue to pursue your interest in Japan and its food culture at KITCHEN CULTURE , the coordinated kitchen projects at Kitchen Culture COOKING CLUB. and subscribe to my newsletter. For self-paced, home-learning options, consider Craftsy and LESSONS.

Photos taken during various programs at A Taste of Culture. Clockwise from top, left:  Intensive Workshop 2012; Osechi tasting for residents during the pandemic December 2021; Intensive workshop (vegan) 2009; showing student how to flip a thin omelet 2008; demonstrating 2015; Osechi tasting 2006.