Posts Tagged ‘oishinbo’
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/
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?
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
Guest on 
d4rkn on 
Ash on 
