SONOKO SAKAI was born in New York to Japanese parents, and she grew up in San Francisco, Kamakura, Mexico City, and Tokyo. She is the author of Japanese Home Cooking, Rice Craft, and The Poetical Pursuit of Food. She has worked as a recipe developer, producer, creative director, cooking teacher, and lecturer. She is also a grain activist. Sonoko lives in Los Angeles and Tehachapi, California, with her sculptor husband, Katsuhisa Sakai.