Nancy Singleton Hachisu

Nancy Singleton Hachisu is a native Californian, Stanford graduate married to a Japanese farmer and has lived in semi-rural Saitama prefecture since 1988. She is a James Beard Award-winning author of five cookbooks: Japanese Farm Food (Andrews McMeel, Sept. 2012), Preserving the Japanese Way, (Andrews McMeel, Aug. 2015), Japan: The Cookbook (Phaidon, April 2018), Japan: The Vegetarian Cookbook (Phaidon, April 2023), and The Art and Craft of Japanese Cooking (Tuttle, May 2026)—[a redesigned, extensively edited reissue of Food Artisans of Japan (Hardie Grant, Nov. 2019–OUP from 2021)]. Hachisu’s work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch, and Japanese.

Hachisu had written for Saveur, Food & Wine, Travel & Leisure, National Geographic Food, and BBC Travel. She has appeared frequently in Japanese media, documenting her preserving and farm food life as well as visits to artisanal producers in more remote areas of Japan to advocate for Japan’s disappearing food traditions. Hachisu also assisted on and was featured in the Salt episode of Netflix’s runaway hit: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.