Customer Reviews

Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America

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I adored this book and devoured it like delicious sushi! Even though I am not Japanese-American I felt so much of Linda's story rang true to me as I also grew up in the heartland during my early teens through college. It may not have been the "country" as it was a suburb of Cleveland; but there is a small town feeling in the mid-west that is unlike anywhere else in this country. It was difficult enough for me to adjust coming from the East Coast - never mind a family with roots in Japan!

I especially identified with the cruelty of her classmates when she was young and then even later during a terrible occasion in high school that let her know no matter what - she was somehow, still on the outside, not accepted by her classmates. She must have felt very alone.

There was so much pain that her parents endured, so much suffering and to watch the older, grown-up Linda identify this and come to terms with it with such eloquence and respect was heart-rending.

Her characters are achingly real; I cared about them - even minor characters like her Grandmother and Aunt Jane. I cared about everyone who was a part of this experience, part of her experience.

Linda never makes herself the hero of her own tale. In fact her harshest words are about herself and the regrets she has. What this book is ultimately is a stripped away volume of the truth of a life, of a time in a life. It is all laid bare and exposed with no saccharin, no filler, clean, beautiful, and natural, very much like the Japanese cuisine that is so much a part of the telling.

As a passionate lover of Japanese food, the seamless integration of the role food played in her life and her family life makes this book a unique achievement. It's not a gushy foodie diatribe; but a rich first-person accounting of food as love.

Linda Furiya's "Bento Box in the Heartland" is a candid, personal, and revealing memoir about the inextricable role of food and eating in the creation of her identity as an American of Japanese descent. Her upbringing in the homogeneous rural mid-west makes her tale of food, eating, and identity all the more rich. In her memoir she chronicles her journey of food and eating during the first 16 years of her life. She begins with a Japanese culture food metaphor where fish bones, and whether they choke on them or gracefully deal with the bones in their infancy, correlate with a person's health and future. She intimates the importance of Japanese food ingredients had to her parents as they tried to hold onto their Japanese culture. She parallels food with her racial insecurities, introductions to bigotry and racism, and a sense of self actualization and pride that she feels later in life. I found the chronicle of her pre-teen eating history, including a trip to Japan, to be the most solid and interesting material.

Furiya's writing ranges from inspired to mediocre. In general, her use of food imagery is on point; so often in writings of food authors over spice their gastro-metaphoric language, making their points seem contrived, cutesy, and less relevant. I was ignorant about Japanese food as I began this book, but I now feel more versed in Japanese home-cooking. The recipes included at the end of each chapter are great, and since the dishes are incorporated into the narrative they take on more meaning for the reader.

The weak points of the work are occasional, though infrequent, lapses into mediocre writing and problems with editing. For example, failure to consistently spell her grandmother's name left me confused about whether her name was Obachan or Obachen. The most disappointing lapse in editing is that she includes the recipe for Japanese dumplings (Gyoza) two times. On the second inclusion I'm sure she meant to included the recipe for for a Japanese dish akin to pizza (Okonomiyaki), which would have been very interesting to learn about. Overall a worthwhile read that I will recommend in the future.

As a Japanese-American raised first in California and then in Texas, I can relate to many of the experiences that author Linda Furiya, a food columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, shares in her childhood memoir of growing up as a Nisei in a small Indiana community, in particular, the complex interdependency evident in her relationship with her Japanese-born mother. In fact, Furiya spends little time writing about her father or her brothers because of the especially symbiotic connection with her mother. Her particular back story as an atypically liberated woman in a male-dominated society lends an intriguing twist on the stereotype one usually associates with the traditional Japanese woman.

Similar to Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate, the book is a series of vignettes organized around selective memories of preparing and eating food reflective of the author's heritage. Whereas Esquivel opened each of her chapters with a recipe, Furiya chooses to close each chapter with one for family favorites such as Chinese Home-Style Tofu and Japanese Pot Stickers. Although the recipes make nice transitional points within her episodic structure, they actually aren't that necessary since she otherwise captures the pervasive dichotomy of having a racial identity utterly different from her surroundings in ways that are both poignant and painful. Some of the episodes felt so familiar to me that it made me wonder just how well Asian-Americans in general have assimilated into the mainstream.

The book's title refers to the Japanese box lunches that her mother would meticulously prepare for her to take to elementary school where her classmates had their regulation sandwiches. Rather than face embarrassing stares and questions, she would hide in the bathroom eating her mother's homemade onigiri. That palpable sense of isolation informs many of the anecdotes Furiya shares here, as they highlight the subtle forms of racism and sexism she experienced firsthand while attempting to make sense of her place between two distinct cultures. Moreover, she makes precisely calibrated observations on the generational conflict that seemed inevitable in serving to alienate her from her heritage only to embrace it later through her love of Japanese food. Despite some heavy-handed passages, the book is a relatively light read that taps into darker themes in a most affecting manner.

I grew up half-Japanese in a whitebread small town in Illinois during the same period author Linda Furiya lived in her small Indiana town, and I can relate to much of her story. Was that the old Star Market in Chicago that her family made special trips to just like my family did? The author paints quite a revealing portrait of her life, wanting desperately to be like the other kids and confused about where she belongs and how to merge her two cultures. The racism she encounters and must deal with on her own will pull the heartstrings of readers. Her dream trip to Japan as a ten-year-old where she discovers her roots and her family is a deeply felt learning experience and creates a bond with her somewhat distant mother. Perhaps it is a typical immigrant story where children raised in America have a difficult time understanding the ways of parents of a foreign culture. Furiya offers a no-holds-barred commentary on this difficulty as well as the frustrations and confusion she felt as an alien in the country she was born and raised in.

Despite the disjointedness that often occurs in the flow between chapters, the subject of food and its meaning in her life provides a connectivity that culminates in a beautiful final chapter where Furija is able to look back on her childhood and come to a sense of understanding and peace. I quite enjoyed this book and plan on trying out some of the recipes.

As an Asian immigrant who has lived in the US for almost a decade, I identify a lot with the experiences the author shares with us in this book; ranging from having to deal with practical grown-up stuff due to parents' lack of English proficiency and the stares I get just for looking different in a suburban mall. But, what I enjoy the most in this book is when Furiya writes about the sights, scents and tastes of the foods of her childhood. I love that some of the recipes for these mouth-watering dishes are also included in the book so that I can try my hands at recreating them at home.

I think "Bento Box in the Heartland" is a gem of a read about growing up as a second-generation immigrant in America and the conflicts and enjoyments of that experience. Throughout the book, I can't help but identify with many aspects of her life and emotions that she felt. I really like this book and read it in a mere two days. I would recommend this as a light read to everyone craving for some good home-cooked Japanese food!

Furiya has a voice that is warm, approachable, and intimate. Reading her work, you feel in the company of a friend who also happens to be a masterful storyteller. She weaves a tale that's both exotic and profoundly American, one that combines family and food in a way that's lyrical but never sentimental. Wherever you grew up, and whatever you mother put in your lunchbox, this is a treat to savor.

I took a chance in reading this book since I am a guy and I usually read mysteries and thrillers. It really surprised me that I enjoyed this book so much. Maybe since I am Japanese I identified with many of the customs and foods that the author described.

Bento Box in the Heartland is a coming-of-age memoir telling the story of a young girl's struggle to assimilate in her tiny Indiana town as the only Asian student in her school. Each day, as she takes out her lunch, Linda Furiya feels self-conscious about her parents' insistence on sending their native Japanese cuisine in her lunch box. Looking around, she realizes that her lunches are different from her peers. Yet at the same time, the rice balls that her mother packs, rather than a sandwich like all of the other students, bring much comfort and delight to Furiya. Each chapter closes with a recipe of one of the author's most treasured meals. Bento Box in the Heartland is more than a story about food. Most importantly, it is the story of a young woman trying to find herself as the only Asian in her school during the 1960's. In addition, it is the story of growing up with immigrant parents and trying to figure out who she is, as well as better understanding her parents' connection to Japan. Beautifully written, Bento Box in the Heartland is a fantastic conflation of stories, recipes, and self-discovery.

This was an incredible journey for me as I lived two blocks from the Furiyas until 1977 when my family moved from Versailles, Indiana. I remember the family fondly and this book put the rest of the story to many of my childhood memories.

I remember the summer Linda went to Japan and had always wondered what the trip was like. Now I know!

I bought the book this morning and finished it this evening. It's a great read and I'm now looking forward to trying some of the recipes.

this book was amazing! i gobbled it up....and then craved sushi all week. it will make you hungry for more. thanks Linda for sharing your story.