Sachiko Murakami

Sachiko Murakami, the developer of the recipes in this web site, is a registered dietician, culinary professional, lecturer, author, television personality, teacher and authority on microwave cooking, all rolled into one dynamic individual.

As a housewife and mother who struggled to prepare meals for her husband and three children - all of whom had enormous appetities - she started to experiment with various types of cooking. She hit upon the idea of using a microwave oven for more than just heating up foods - actually cooking gourmet dishes with the microwave.

She wanted to make healthy meals and the microwave oven allowed her to prepare foods almost instantly without oil and low in salt, but which still tasted delicious. abut best of all, the microwave was safe - it doesn't allow foods to flame - so children and elderly can use it with just one simple setting and push of a button.

Thus was born her motto: "Delicious dishes prepared simply and scientifically."

Sachiko's lectures on microwave cooking range from one for senior citizens called "One Soup With Two Dishes: Making a Delicious Meal for a Single Person," to one aimed at 3-year-olds called "The Mini-Chef Club." As the Japanese government promotes a program called "Shokuiku" (a children's education program to teach the importance of food and the right eating habits), Sachiko activiely supports it by lecturing and demonstrating at many elementary and junior high schools through the country.

She conducts cooking classes for those hoping to become nutritionists, for housewifes, for senior citizens who live alone and for men who travel and must live apart from their families. She has lectured and taught throughout Japan and in numerous foreign countries, including visits to the United States in 2004 and 2005, where she conducted classes and lectures at numerous sites, including a Williams-Sonoma store in New York. She also taught microwave cooking classes in Seattle in 2001, and it was after this that she created he English-language Web site.

She has authored 120 cookbooks, and more than 3 million copies have been sold, including 250,000 copies of just one book on making microwave-fermented bread, a process for which she owns a patent. One of her books is about traditional Japanese dishes and covers not only basic everyday dishes but also "Osechi," the traditional Japanese dishes made at New Year's.

Sachiko started making notes on her original recipes when she was asked by the wife of one of her husband's colleagues to teach her the art of Japanese cooking. The woman, Anne, promoted the idea to her fellow members of the American Club, and Sachiko's first class was created - composed of a dozen American women. Her files now contain some 270,000 recipes.

Today she operates cooking salons in Tokyo and Fukuoka, and continues her frequent television appearances and lectures. She also is the subject of numerous print media interviews. In 2004 alone she gave more than 100 lectures and was the subject of more than 200 interviews, resulting in magazine articles, television appearances and numerous recipes printed in magazines. During the year she also published 32 cookbooks.

Sachiko is a native of Fukuoka Prefecture, graduated from the Fukuoka Women's University with a major in home economics, and divides her time between Tokyo and Fukuoka. She and her husband have three grown children.