The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of confectionery in cookbooks for children in Japan, through a comparison of five books published in Japan, three in Australia, and two in the United States. The kinds of confectionery, ingredients, cooking equipment, and the cooking methods in these cookbooks are categorized and analyzed.
Among five cookbooks published during 1998-2004, it was found that in the Japanese ones, sugar, oil, and bean paste were mentioned more often as ingredients, and an oven and a blender were less used than in the Australian and American cookbooks.
In the cookbooks published in Japan during 1971-2004, fewer eggs, less sugar and less vanilla were used in the recipes, whereas more chocolate was used. Microwave cooking came into use in the cookbook published in 1996. Judging by the smaller number of ingredients and processes used to prepare a certain dish, the Japanese seemed to prefer simple and easy cooking.
