Nancy Singleton Hachisu is a native Californian, Stanford graduate who moved to Japan in 1988. She lives with her Japanese farmer husband in an 85-year-old traditional farmhouse in rural Saitama. They have three young adult sons.

Hachisu served as a leader of a local Slow Food convivium for more than a decade and is active in the artisanal food movement all over Japan. Her first book, Japanese Farm Food (Andrews McMeel, Sept. 2012), was praised in The New York Times, London Times, and Los Angeles Times, and was translated into French, Dutch, and Japanese. Her second book on Japanese pickles and preserves, Preserving the Japanese Way, (Andrews McMeel, August 2015) was shortlisted for The Art of Eating Prize, a James Beard Award, and a Gourmand Best of World Award. Nancy-san’s Working Japanese Kitchen（ナンシーさんの和の台所事情), a Japanese-language cookbook, was released by Wani Books November 2017. And now, Japan: The Cookbook (Phaidon, April 2018) is her third English-language book, with French, Italian, Spanish, and German translations following in Autumn 2018.

Hachisu appears frequently in Japanese print and television media, including episodes on NHK, TBS, and Fuji TV that document Hachisu’s preserving and farm food life as well as her visits to artisanal producers in more remote areas of Japan to advocate for Japan’s disappearing food traditions.