Long time no blog! I’ve been working on something other than kyaraben recently, and there have been many very late nights. I do miss making kyaraben, and I will start making them again, hopefully soon!
While I was working on my other project, I started thinking about iconic food in anime and manga. I think food in anime and manga has a big influence on Japanese culture. Most of those food actually exist, and there is even a cook book where they try to recreate the food from anime and manga. (which I ordered and is on the way to my house!)
Have you ever wondered how much rice you have to put in a rice bowl to make it look like the bowl of rice they eat in manga? (Kuusou Kitchen recipe book)
I’ve made a bento of “that meat” (a.k.a. ano niku / manga meat) before, but I just made food that looks like “that meat” and it wasn’t actually “that meat.” (A lot of people actually tried to re-create “that meat” and some companies even sell them too.) I always wanted to cook the food I’ve dreamed of eating when I was little and actually eat it, and my boyfriend being a food lover and an anime fan couldn’t be more excited about this idea.
The theme was of course, food in Miyazaki films. (I’m sure you guessed it from the title of this post.) It’s no fun to just make a couple of dishes, so we decided to have a feast! We went full-out on this. Our main focus was to make the food as close as possible to the original, and tried to make most of them from scratch, and we were going to eat the food as we watched the films.
We picked 8 films for this feast. Originally we wanted to do a marathon, but it’s a LOT of food, so we decided to split it into three days.
1st night (Saturday)
Porco Rosso
- poached salmon with Bechamel sauce with a side of glazed carrots and white wine
- pasta with bacon and red wine
Princess Mononoke
- jerky
- rice porridge
2nd day (Sunday)
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
- toast with sunny side egg and an apple
Kiki’s Delivery Service
- Pancake with sausage and tomatoes
- Herring and pumpkin pie
My Neighbor Totoro
- Mei’s bento
Nausicaa
- Chiko nuts
3rd night (Monday)
Spirited Away
- steamed bun with sweet red bean
- rice balls
- candy (Makkurokurosuke’s food)
The Castle of Cagliostro
- spaghetti & meatballs
I’ll start posting about each meal, starting with Porco Rosso! And I’ll be posting daily for this feast, so check back often!
I was born in Japan, lived in New York for a while and now living in San Diego, California. I love creating things with my hands in my free time whether it’s making character bento or stuffing stuff! And now I'm working for 
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Awesome! Can’t wait to see the pictures. I cannot get enough of Miyazaki films.
OMG! What a great idea! I can’t wait to see how they turn out. I might have to try that idea sometime.
holy crap! genius!! i would say i love you but that’s kinda creepy. i can’t wait to see the pictures!!! did you know you can actually buy mei’s bento box? or something similar.. i guess mei’s box wouldn’t have her face on it.. lol
http://www.jlist.com/PRODUCT/FK102
Oooh! I can’t wait!! =D
Yay! more ghibli for us all!!
D
What about ham ramen in Ponyo?
What an interesting idea! Can’t wait to see the meals…
I wish I understand Japanese, I’d buy that book too LOL
I have all those movies and know exactly what you’re talking about! We bought Ponyo recently and my kids have had Ponyo noodle soup with HAM! a few times since. I’m glad we’re not the only ones who do this.
Wow, I’m surprised to get comments on regular food! I’m also glad that it’s not only us who were thinking about the same thing.
There’re no “official recipes” for the food in Ghibli feast, so if you feel there’s something wrong with it, I encourage you to cook your own version of a Ghibli feast!
Hello!
I am in awe by your blog! You’re such an artist! I love your Totoro-themed bento boxes.
I am intrigued by the manga cookbook. Is it any good? Could you please give me the ISBN to order it? Let me know if it’s worth it!
Great work! Congratulations!
Gabriela,
Sorry for the late reply! The book isn’t so much a recipe book as it is two guys analyzing food from manga, how it could’ve been made, and how they tried to cook some of it in real life. While I still enjoyed reading it, you’ll be disappointed if you’re looking for a cookbook.
This is super late, but I stumbled across this from Tumblr! You are an amazing cook @_@ These are so awesome and inspiring.
This is awesome.. but all I care about is the Howl’s Moving Castle breakfast ;D
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