The Pokémon Cookbook: Easy & Fun Recipes

by Maki Kudo

Fun and easy recipes inspired by favorite Pokémon characters!

Create delicious dishes that look like your favorite Pokémon characters—from desserts to pizza—with more than 35 fun, easy recipes. Make a Pokéball sushi roll, Pikachu ramen or mashed Meowth potatoes for your next party, weekend activity or powered-up lunch box.

Create delicious dishes—from desserts to pizza—that look like your favorite Pokémon characters with more than 35 easy, fun recipes. Make a Poké Ball sushi roll, Pikachu ramen, or Meowth mashed potatoes for your next party, weekend activity, or powered-up lunch box.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food, Childrens

80 pages, Hardcover

Published December 6, 2016

Reviews

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just had to have this Pokemon cookbook when it was announced months ago. And now that I read it I love it even more!

Not only do we have gorgeous photographs of all the delicious foods (though some look delicious, but in truth aren't food I will be trying due to allergies). There are a whole lot of recipes, varying from lunch to dinner, to desserts and sweets, and much more. I definitely loved that they added such a variety of foods. Not only add one kind, but just add all them, so you can even make a whole day a Pokemon day.

I loved that there is a lot of help, tips, and little diagrams to help you out with how to place stuff the right way so that it will look correctly. I have to say that some stuff was pretty tricky, so I am glad there were diagrams to help out.

They also added a few pages on equipment, some foods that will be used. That definitely will help those that are new to cooking/cooking with Japanese foods.

Also added were explanations of various Japanese foods on the recipe pages themselves. For instance they would explain shortly what sushi rice is, or how you can make sushi rice.

There were just two things I didn't quite like:
1. So much stuff gets microwaved. I prefer just cooking stuff the normal way (a stove), not shoving stuff in the microwave.
2. Most of the finished products on the photographs looked fantastic, but there were a few that didn't look that good/not like the Pokemon at all.

But all in all, a wonderful book that I would highly recommend. Easy recipes, fun Pokemon images, and really, your stomach will growl and demand that you make these recipes, and soon! :P

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com

[Anna Nesterovich]

Oh! My son was so excited when he saw this book in the library! Now, the recipes:
p. 14 - 4 stars - Pikachu Happy Face Cake - Since "readily available in Japan" castella is not readily available to me (and I never even saw one), I would appreciate some details. Like, the thickness of the cake... We just made a simple lemon cake, but it was a bit too thick. But still delicious!
p. 15 - 5 stars - Chocolate Unown Cookie - Very easy to make, if you're an adult. For a 6-year-old it turned out to be challenging, but what's a life without challenges? They look better on a picture than in reality, but still very good.
p. 26 - 5 stars - Carnivine Cabbage - Sure way to get your kid all excited about cabbage!
p. 38 - 1 star - Pickachu Creamed Corn - The low rating is a good indicator that this didn't go too well.
p. 54 - 2 stars - Turtwig Fruit Yogurt - Too much fuss over not so cute a Pokemon.
p. 71 - 4 stars - Pikachu Sweet Potato - It looks so perfect in the book, but I guess I lack the required motor skills to make it, my pikachus looked more like blobs with questionable-quality faces.
p. 76 - 4 stars - Swinub Ohagi - I'm not a huge fan of kinako ohagi, but it can be replaced in this recipe with almost any bite-size cake. They are extremely easy to make. And yes, we all love swinubs, they are so cute.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

My son loves Pokemon, so he picked this cookbook up at the book fair.

The foods are very cute, however for a book that says "The ingredients and recipes in this cookbook have been adjusted so that even children who have never cooked before can try these out" (p. 2), there are an awful lot of ingredients I have never heard of! Presumably, one would need access to Japanese convenience foods to make several of these recipes.

Bottom line: fun to look at, not so great to cook from.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So...cooking things to look cute is not normally my thing, but oh my goodness was my kiddo excited about these. So far we've cooked two recipes, and neither was especially hard, though it did take extra time. The Bellossom Chirashi Sushi was really quite tasty. Anyone looking at this book should be aware that it's a very Japanese book, and that might throw some folks. (Like, in the bellossom recipe: the flowers on the head are, I assume, supposed to be cut out with the flower-shaped carrot cutter that according to my consumption of Japanese media are popular in Japan, but the book just says to assemble as shown in the picture).

Anyway. I'm still kinda dissapointed the kiddo hasn't asked to make Psyduck omelet rice. These have been fun family projects, and I imagine we'll cook up some more.

[Dani]

This is a Japanese cookbook, and so it features Japanese flavors, styles, and staples. For example, rice is a main feature in several of the recipes, seafood is not unusual as an  ingredient, and the "lunch box" chapter has a few omelette rice recipes (very common for Japanese lunches). 


Although many ingredients will be familiar to most Americans (and also widely available), some ingredients may require a visit to a Japanese food store, or a least a larger grocery store with more options. Some of the required ingredients have substitute options that are much easier to access.


The book has lots of colorful pictures, a clear layout and design, and a few extra cooking technique lessons between recipes.

[Kelly Lynn Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a cute book! It's a Japanese cookbook, so it relies heavily on mochi, rice, sushi, nori, eggs, etc. to make the Pokemon shapes. There are plenty of recipes with ingredients Americans will probably have lying around, but I think this book will be best enjoyed after a trip to an Asian grocer. The author does offer suggestions for substitute ingredients, though.

I didn't have a chance to make any of these recipes, but the directions are clear and come with lots of visual aids.

[Sarah Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was perfect for my younger cousin as it manages to hit several of his diverse interests. He likes playing video games and watching cooking shows, so I thought he might enjoy this book. The recipes are very creative, but there were a lot of salads based on grass-type Pokemon and not as many desserts/junk food options, so it didn't keep his interest as long as I hoped. I found it interesting, at least. A good option for late elementary schoolers who enjoy step-by-step how-to books.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids loved this book. Pros: Got them to try new veggies and flavors. Not super hard. Cons: Not super easy. The measurements are way off in some of these recipes. Some of the ingredients are not widely available in the USA.

If you love Asian food and Pokémon and have access to an Asian market, check this out.

[cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO cute. The majority of the recipes feature 'lesser' known Pokemon if you are not familiar with Pokemon. Although most of the recipes are more traditional Japanese entrees there were a couple that I'd be interested in trying out. As a pasta lover I must say I loved the Magikarp pasta ;)

[gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is amazingly adorable! But like most of everything I pinned on Pinterest, I'll probably never do any of these. But if you're in the market for cute ways to fix a kiddos lunch box, this book is for you.

[B Zimp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted this to tempt my kids into trying new foods, but the recipes were very different than most American kitchens. Perhaps we will try when they are a little older, as some of the ideas looked fun.

[Boom! · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids are unfortunately very picky eaters and there were not many recipes in this book that my children would eat. The creations were very impressive but not something we would make in our house..

[Genesaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and adorable recipes!!!! Even though I’m an adult now, I still have the heart of a Pokémon trainer~

[Dianna Am · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun and healthy recipes! I’ve had a ton of fun making them ^^

[Loryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Love It! My brother is currently practicing to be a chef and I love pokemon! It's perfect for begginers!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so cute! I can't wait to try some of these.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creative recipes with explanations of how to create shapes. Translated from Japanese. Most ingredients can be easily found.

[Jen Selinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

As both a fan of Pokémon and a writer of cookbooks, I simply could not pass up this title. The author displays great creativity with the use of ingredients, as evidenced by the beautiful photographs placed all throughout the book. While the ingredients used to make the pokémon are filling and healthy, a lot of them are rare and difficullt to find, especially for those who live outside of Japan. Though the book is geared more toward children, some of the recipes are very involved and require constant adult supervision. "The Pokémon Cookbook," however, is a must have for the most ardent fans of the entire franchise.

[kerrycat · Rating 5 out of 5]

sooooo cute

not sure about some of the foods - but the presentations are super adorable. I really want the Pikachu Pocket Monsters thermos, Pikachu plates, and Tupperware-ish containers pictured - how many times can I say how cute all of this is?

[Stella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but I can't find a lot of the ingredients locally, so could likely only make one or two recipes. Also, not easy enough for kids to make by themselves.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how I feel about this one really. The recipes do look like the Pokemon shown, the problem is that I really only recognize the first generation ones and there aren't many of them represented here. There are also a bunch of recipes for sushi or things wrapped in eggs which doesn't sound super exciting to me. Overall the recipes seem easy to follow and I think if you were a bigger Pokemon fan they could be really exciting to make, especially for kids.

[Aleece · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately this cookbook was just ok. Nothing really special about this book. Some of the items were really cute but overall very underwhelming.

I received this advanced copy from VIZ Media through Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

[Cassi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love it, because it's exactly what I was looking for: Japanese recipes for bento boxes and beyond featuring Pokemon I'm familiar with.

Most Americans will not find some of these recipes appealing, and most 90's kids will not recognize the new Pokemon. However, about a third or so of the recipes are only of Pikachu anyway.

There are American substitutes for the Japanese ingredients, and there are a lot of healthy options (a good way to get kids to eat their vegetables!)

It invites children into the kitchen with you, which is a good idea, but you have to be a patient parent (or sibling) with some time on your hands, to want to do that.