Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares's Umai Cookbook Opens the Doors To Japanese Home Cooking

Vogue

15-05-2025

Undulating crowds traversing busy crossroads and neon-streaked skyscrapers are just some of the images that might spring to mind when thinking of the Japanese capital of Tokyo—its chaos, energy, and spirit of adventure. But for Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares, it's the calmness, serenity, and beauty of Japan that she has long wanted to celebrate. And Umai, her debut cookbook, offers just that.
The book, which could sit well-thumbed and dashi-streaked on a kitchen counter as easily as it could in a curated coffee table tableau, features recipes rooted in the home cooking Legares does in her little kitchen, as well as from her childhood. There are also striking film photos of Kyoto by Lucy Laucht, and several personal essays and reflections by Legares. 'This book is just as much for a novice cook as well as a chef,' she tells Vogue.
Legares had wanted to write a cookbook for years, but was never sure what her 'niche' was. During the pandemic, she began making small cookbook zines and collaborating with friends who would send recipes that she'd illustrate. She doubled down after moving to her mother's home of Japan in 2023, where she immersed herself in food, getting inspired by local ingredients, and trying the local fare in izakayas and hole-in-the-wall restaurants.
Legares spotted a gap in the market for a book exploring Japanese home cooking. 'I think I found it majorly lacking in the cookbook scene as there are only a few authors that come to mind,' she says. A lot of people would tell her how they found the prospect of making Japanese food intimidating. 'I guess because a lot of the time you think about more high end Japanese restaurants, or ramen that takes days of labor to make a perfect stock,' Legares explains. 'I just wanted to make it as accessible as possible with a few store cupboard staples. There's a lot of what I grew up eating as a child and then things I made in the house of five of us when I first moved to Japan.'
Many dishes feature under 10 ingredients, with mostly pantry flavorings like soy sauce, mirin, sake, and dashi. 'Not everything is so prim and proper,' she says. 'A Japanese meal is all about having different textures, colors, and temperatures in one meal: That's why so many home cooked meals will be based around rice, miso soup, a room temperature salad, or simmered vegetable element, a fish, or meat main—whether it's fried, grilled, simmered—and maybe a slice of perfectly chilled fruit.'