Otaku Champloo

Tag: mmf: oishinbo and food manga

  • Oishnbo MMF: The Final Dish & Oishinbo Legacy

    I feel like this week came and went and as I wrote my last few articles, I really hadn’t realized that the week was almost over.

    I actually thought that I had written so much (many of them have been written prior to MMF), but the week caught up with me well and somewhere along the way I had to give up on some ideas for articles. To be fair, it’s something that is difficult to catch up on because it’s really just a summary on the cute development of Yamaoka and Kurita’s relationship.  And to be honest, I can’t remember much since I crammed 104 volumes in my head.

    The last day is sweet and it’s not because I made dessert with French Pancake. And it’s not because I finally remembered to mention this awesome Japanese site that actually inspired me to hold the culinary aspect of this feast: Manga Shokudo which also has its own book now!

    In writing the list of unlicensed manga that mangavores and foodies could appreciate, it dawned on me that a lot of these titles wouldn’t have been present if Oishinbo hadn’t been written. After the success of Oishinbo, the manga industry found value in discussing and experimenting with food in its pages. Thus, I’m really happy that food manga was born as it gave us more manga to read.

    Food, while integral to our living, hardly finds its presence in other forms of culture other than its kitchens and diners. To see it as an effective tool in educating people about food makes me appreciate its legacy not only in Japanese culture, but in the world as well. While Ed Sizemore might be missing out on experiencing these featured flavors, I’m happy that he sees value in this genre. When we all have forgotten flavors, these comics contribute in reminding us the various tastes and textures that we experience in food.

    In my podcast, I asked about the future of food manga and Erin was talking about astronaut meals and such. Seeing other developments in cuisine also made me wonder if smaller or microscopic dishes will be enough to feed us someday. Perhaps our dining preferences may change and evolve but I think I can feel assured that if the world does end in 2012 and aliens would have to figure out what we ate, they might just chance upon these comics that tried to capture the flavors that changed our life.

    I’d love to give my sincerest thanks to all the awesome folks who contributed for this Oishinbo and Food Manga MMF. Of course, I’d also like to thank the readers for supporting us! I’ll be updating the links in the viking a few hours from now so stay abreast and follow me over at twitter for any other announcements. If you enjoyed this feast and would like to participate to similar (sans the food) Manga Moveable Feasts, join our Google Groups page!

    Next month is honestly just as exciting as mine! Michelle Smith and Anne are hosting the Inoue Takehiko Manga Moveable Feast from June 24 – June 30 at Manga Report and Soliloquy in Blue. With all these food I ate for this feast, I’m going to get my Shohoku trainers back and get myself ready. L-O-V-E RU-KA-WA! \o/

  • Oishinbo MMF: 7 Unlicensed Food Manga Worth Looking At

    This was a difficult set to write because it was difficult to whittle down the list to seven. This week/month, I’ve been reading various food manga and here are the seven titles that I enjoyed… right now. I have a feeling that if I read the other stories, I’d probably go to my wits and them here. But right now, these are the titles that we’ll all probably enjoy, regardless if we love manga or food a little more than the other.

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  • Oishinbo MMF: A pancake from a loving granddaughter

    Oishinbo MMF: A pancake from a loving granddaughter

    I’m not a dessert person. AT ALL. Thus, as much as I’d like to try all these amazing desserts in Oishinbo, I know I will be bound for failure. But I did recognize that my meaty offerings of beef and bacon might not be to everyone’s fancy, this pancake might just be the closest I can get to making a dessert from the series. Besides, it’s fun to end this Moveable Feast on a sweet note.

    By the time you reach the 62nd volume of Oishinbo, you probably won’t be surprised in seeing the Yamaokas (they’ve been married by then!) picking up another lost kid in the street. It’s a common theme in this series and this time, Takako was out searching for her mother.

    While the adults discussed the mother’s difficulties in her household, Takako spends some time with Haru and cooks up an awesome pancake that Takako’s grandmother taught her.

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  • Oishinbo MMF: The Sixth Course of Bread,Spaghetti, and Green Tea?

    Oishinbo MMF: The Sixth Course of Bread,Spaghetti, and Green Tea?

    It’s been a busy day yesterday and I apologize for not compiling the summary any sooner. Despite this, I’m more than pleased that not a lot of people lost heart and still continued to submit to the feast!

    For this course, I’ve taken a look at how Oishinbo is made to look like it’s an exotic cuisine in the English editions. I found this particularly problematic as it made it appear that Oishinbo was a post-colonial manga. In many ways it is but if the editions balanced the presence of the various cuisines present in Oishinbo, then it would have given justice to the series’ faithfulness in showing Japan’s culinary tension and the “globaization” of their cuisine.

    Over at Experiments in Manga, Ash Brown looks at the budding romances in Oishinbo. It’s a really fun and light-hearted view of the comic. To add, in the Japanese editions, many of Kurita and Yamaoka’s female officemates actually found their husbands in either an Ultimate Menu trip or a foodie adventure. Food definitely binds people together!

    I am quite pleased that there are a lot of dishes submitted for the sixth course and most of them are from Kitchen Princess! Now, isn’t this a nice proof that these dishes are actually feasible? 😀 In Reading is Delicious, Izandra tests two dishes from the series: Yoghurt Bread and Neapolitan Spaghetti. She really made it appear like baking bread is easy peasy! The Neapolitan spaghetti is also something quite interesting because for a dish that names itself after an Italian town, in Japan, it has ingredients not used in Italian cooking! Neapolitan spaghetti is to meat spaghetti or spaghetti Bolognese to Americans. It’s an easy dish that everyone loves to eat and make in Japan. Except… if you’re Aoba. In Anime B&B, Marina tried making a Green Tea Creme Brulee! I’m honestly impressed with all these budding chefs who make an effort in cooking such complicated dishes! Good job, guys!

    Some people were moved to review thanks to the feast. Lori Henderson looked at Neko Ramen, a title I’m curious about considering how adorable it looks and how cute it is to see a cat making their own ramen stall! However Lori’s funny bone didn’t get tickled with this title. Sweetpea from Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses looks at Kitchen Princess, a title we know we could learn a lot of good food from! Terry Hong from Book Dragon started his own wine journey by reading through the first three volumes of Drops of God. And in Heart of Manga, Laura Mucciarone looks at The Manga Cookbook which uses manga as a means of instruction in making Japanese food.

    That’s quite a heavy serving and quite rightfully so as we begin to wrap up this Moveable Feast. Tomorrow (err… today for some) is the last day for the MMF, so if you have any other dishes, do send ’em over with the hashtag #oishinbommf at twitter or email my gmail: punkednoodle. Thankies!

  • Oishinbo MMF: Orientalizing Oishinbo

    Oishinbo MMF: Orientalizing Oishinbo

    In a dinner where Japan’s most elite gathered to discuss Tozai News’ plan for the Ultimate Menu, most men proclaimed that the most luxurious cuisine, there the most ultimate menu in the world is French. Each man was not short of giving their compliment on French ingredients and cuisine however one man couldn’t handle this pretext for the Ultimate Menu.

    Yamaoka Shiro, Tozai News’ Ultimate Menu journalist called them and said Japanese Cuisine and this pretentiousness was all a . He asked the man to give him a week to find the ingredient that was just as luxurious as a French foie gras. Many in the room were not having any of it, but a week later, Yamaoka gives them a plate that almost fooled everyone. What they had thought was French foie gras was in fact the liver of a monkfish, ankimo.

    Stories of East vs. West often line up in the pages of Oishinbo. If you consider the time that Japan has been open to the West, this whole East-West foodie tension should have been done and over with by the time Oishinbo was written. But does the fact that the comic continues to question the superiority of Western cuisine make Oishinbo a post-colonial text? Is the comic a tale of Japan’s own battles in preserving their own food culture?

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  • Oishinbo MMF: The Fifth course of curry and more

    I was a little worried that there wasn’t going to be any post today because I decided to take a break due to bad eyestrain last night.

    Fortunately, the community didn’t disappoint and still gave me a slew of posts to share with you! Thank you guys! \o/

    The slew of food manga that we have been sharing has brought people down memory lane in recounting their own food manga favorites. Kate Dacey noted down her list of 7 Mouth-watering Food Manga in Manga Critic. I am not going to contest to her list and it’a quite a great mix of both established and new titles. Although I would probably add some other titles like Moyashimon. Justin from Organizational of Anti-social Geniuses also looked into his own food manga journey that goes way back to Iron Work Jan!

    Over at Manga Theraphy, Tony Yao shares his love for Addicted to Curry, a personal favorite of mine as well and it tackles one of my favorite cuisines. He thinks the time is right in bringing this curry series into the US however, I’m not sure how far Tony has read but Addicted to Curry doesn’t tackle so much of Japanese curry style but is more involved in varieties of Indian curry as well as experiments with the spices. Nonetheless, this is a must for curry lovers and Tony’s right, there’s some great health benefits to curry.

    Kitchen Princess gets a spotlight from Izandra and while this is a shoujo title, it’s also a wicked cooking manga that’s great for introducing girls to cooking! And over at Cucina Giaponese, an Italian fan of Japanese cooking shares Oishinbo’s legacy in Japanese culture. The entry is in Italian but isn’t it fascinating how there’s also a curiosity for Oishinbo elsewhere in the world? Then again, I myself am a litany of that given I’m all the way here in the Philippines.

    Erica Friedman shared to me this last minute addition which I got quite excited about because it does fit with how manga serves as a mean of instruction when it comes to food. Chef Taro.com is a website that teaches people the “foodamentals” of Japanese cuisine. Their blog is quite insightful when it comes to some recent Japanese food trends but I treasure their manga a little more because it’s so adorable!

    Hopefully this serving can whet your appetite! Again, if you have your own food manga or Oishinbo journeys, do share with me over at twitter with the hashtag #oishinbommf or send it to my gmail: punkednoodle.

  • Oishinbo MMF: The Main Course with Bacon!

    Oishinbo MMF: The Main Course with Bacon!

    Wow, today kind of made up for our light courses. Folks in the community have been riling up and are giving it their all for this MMF! Hopefully, I don’t miss any of them! We wouldn’t want to keep you hungry, yeah?

    At our homebase, I served folks with probably my most favorite dish from Oishinbo: Bacon Nabe. Seriously, any dish with bacon is perfect! I also assembled some foodie mangavores and we spent an hour babbling about Food manga and how we’re embracing the genre.

    Ash seems to embrace Oishinbo’s Ramen and Gyoza quite well. But more than just the dish, he actually appreciates how the series values sustainable food culture in the title. I think Oishinbo’s one of the more vocal titles about their opinion on food. There were a couple of chapters dedicated to whaling and while a good number of protesters (including their friend, American sushi chef, Jeff Larson) Tetsu Kariya still conveyed his thoughts of supporting whale consumption granted that whaling is regulated (he even made suggestions at how Japan was quite reasonable with their whaling).

    Lori Henderson also gave her take on Oishinbo’s Japanese Cuisine and thinks that the feud between the Kaibara’s animosity towards his son lacks depth. I think I can’t blame her because a lot of these are unexplained in the ala Carte editions. On Kaibara’s end, Yamaoka’s severance from his family was a great disrespect to the legacy of what he and his wife had built, a gourmet association that had the high standards of taste and cuisine. I think these were not greatly explored in the ala carte editions, but Kaibara, towards the middle part of the series, has spoken to Kurita that if she was involved with Yamaoka, then maybe she can change him and bring him to greater culinary heights.

    Over at Animemiz, Linda Yau talks about how she appreciated  Oishinbo: Joy of Rice as it seems that she has nothing but affection for this ingredient. Hopefully, Viz publishes an Ala Carte edition for Japanese Sweets (Wagashi) because those will definitely tackle mochi and dango!

    In Manga Out Loud, Ed Sizemore also hosted his own awesome podcast about food manga (and OEL) with Johanna Draper Carlson, Michelle Smith & Deb Aoki! I honestly wanted to have a talk with Deb as well as she always keeps me hungry when she posts her food expeditions over at twitter! But I’m happy to hear this podcast as they also discuss what does food manga entail before digressing to Drops of God. I must agree with Michelle’s opinion about how the series seems to focus on branding wines, and while this isn’t clear in the earlier volumes, as more wines were unveiled as part of the 12 disciples, the narrative in the wine becomes more apparent. The series has been blamed for sparking a wine boom in China, Japan, and Korea. I think it’s more fascinating for Asian cultures who have never appreciated wines and mostly drank it either as a sign of social status or sucking up to their boss.

    Johanna herself also gave her own contribution by listing down the various reviews she’s done for food manga. And these are lot but if you do host a site named Comics Worth Reading, I’m quite sure many of you will definitely find a food manga you’d like to grab for this feast.

    Izandra, who has been my partner in crime in cooking for this feast has submitted for the Ultimate Menu by going to her favorite bakeshops that cook some pastries that appear in Antique Bakery. I do love going to bakeshops and more often than not, I taste their cakes that are similar to those in Antique Bakery. In the Philippines we have a shop named Bizu whose opera cake reminded me of those served in Antique. After seeing Izandra’s entry, I kind of wanted to get a piece of cake. ; 3;

    We’ve still got a few more servings for the MMF! We’re running until the 27th so do keep on sending your entries with #oishinbommf over at twitter! Or send me an email over at punkednoodle at gmail!

  • Oishinbo MMF: Manga Foodie Podcast

    Oishinbo MMF: Manga Foodie Podcast

    Put four mangavores (Ed Chavez, Erin Finnegan, Noah Fulmor, and myself) in a show talking about food manga, Japan’s foodie culture, and the future of food manga and you’ll definitely have another batshit crazy edition of Mangacast and Ninjaconsultant shenanigans.

    I greatly apologize for some recording trippings. ;3; podcast n00b much!

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

    File Download: Manga Foodie Podcast

    Opening theme: Sora from Chuuka Ichiban
    Ending theme: To all you dreamers from Yakitate!! Japan!

    The Manga Foodie Podcast Index

    00:00 – 1:00 – Introduction
    01:00 – Popularity of Food Manga in Japan   
    04:00 – Anpanman as Food manga?  Manga before for Oishinbo 
    06:00 – “U” & The “Chi” Food Manga Crossover
    11:17  – Hatsukoi Lunch Box
    12:00 – Naruto Kyaraben
    14:00 – Elements of food manga
    15:03 – Melon Spaghetti from Kishoku Hunter
    17:58 – Ramen Manga
    22:22 – The need to say something is delicious in Japan
    27:03 – Favorite Food Manga (Erin: Kitchen Princess, Ed Chavez: Addicted to Curry)
    30:00 – Chew & Bambino Corps. Police
    32:48 – Are American readers ready for food manga? 
    36:00 – The issue of terroir in following food manga recipe
    38:00 – Experiencing food manga through cooking or visiting the restaurants
    44:00 – Manga-themed cafe in Japan
    46:13 – Future of Food Manga
    51:13 – Possible food manga licenses (not by Vertical, okay!): Shinya Shokudo, Kodoku no Gourmet, What did you Eat Yesterday (Kinou Nani Tabeta)
    56:50 – Drops of God, support from the wine community
    1:00:00 – Mario Batali supporting Bambino?
    1:05:00 – Hulk smashing food, Thor tenderizing hammers?
    1:07:00 – Coffee, milk tea, cafe boom (Hyougemono)
    1:08:00 – End

    You can listen to more of Erin & Noah’s podcasts in Ninja Consultant. Erin’s a regular contributor in ANN with Shelf Life too! Ed Chavez is all over the internet under Vertical but you can catch his fangirling in his tumblr, or go through archives of his old podcasts in mangacast. You can all follow us at @khursten, @mangacast, and @erinf on twitter.

  • MMF: Oishinbo Cooking: Bacon Nabe

    Guys, what’s not good without bacon?

    We all know how everything tastes better with bacon and even Oishinbo recognized this fact!

    When Kurita’s grandmother was getting suspicious of her friend’s disappearances, she asks Kurita to investigate what her friend was up to. They ended up looking in a shack with nothing but an empty nabe in the middle. Unable to solve this mystery, Kurita turns to Yamaoka for help.

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  • Oishinbo MMF: A Vegan Amuse Bouche?

    Midway through the week and don’t you think it’s time for an amuse bouche?

    While I live down south, I’m starting to have a better grasp of American time, posting these with absolutely no idea what day it is for most of my readers.

    So, today we’ve got quite a good lot of amusing contributions. And yes! I’m not the only one cooking, you guys!

    Izandra was nice enough to share her own experience in cooking the Asparagus with Walnut dressing and Asparagus Kabayaki from the Vegetable ala carte edition. I’m a bigger fan of the kabayaki because walnuts are expensive here in Manila. That said, those dishes do look lovely and as this is the second dish for the Oishinbo Cooking, isn’t it amazing how these dishes turn out to be easy to cook!

    Sticking to vegetables, Sara K. speaks out in behalf of vegans for this MMF. She shares her position as a vegan and why it’s particularly difficult for her to appreciate titles like Antique Bakery and Not Love but Delicious Food because of how mindless they are about the ethics involved in food. And I think Sara’s point is valid for some titles, particularly for gourmet manga that seem to just keep on tasting meals and build stories around it. There is absence in some food manga about the ethics of food production. I’m particularly fond of Sara’s strong entry because it’s also a reminder that there are different eaters out there and there are people who chose to to abide particular ethics with food.

    I’m not much of a strong ethical eater in the same respect as Sara, but Oishinbo and food manga has shaped a lot of my own food principles. Will it ever be proper to eat meat? Personally, I think that as long as the ingredient has been given much care and respect, I’ll keep on eating. And I think catching up food manga is a great way in showing that respect. Don’t be hatin’ the veggies. Think carefully about what you eat. Organic can be a way to go, but I think, what we learn mostly from Oishinbo is we have to be critical of the food we eat and in appreciating our food, we also respect the ingredient. I think that’s where becoming an Oishinbo comes into play.

    Sean Gaffney gives us his double take on Oishinbo ala carte: Sake and shares how the only thing the comic has pushed him to do was look for those meals. I think it’s generally the same for everyone but it does take some courage to find some of these items.

    Things seem to be rolling for this feast, and I still look forward to everyone’s entries before the week ends! Send me a tweet over at twitter or tumblr with the hashtag #oishinbommf, or send me an email at punkednoodle at gmail!