Review: OISHINBO A LA CARTE VOL. 1: JAPANESE CUISINE

Oishinbo is a long-running manga (Japanese comic) about Japanese food. Though I have no desire to eat it -- most of it sounds pretty disgusting to me -- I like the manga. In recent years it's been repackaged for Americans by not only translating it, but by collecting stories with similar themes into volumes.

The story centers around Yamaoka, a newspaper reporter and gourmet who's been assigned the task of putting together an "Ultimate Menu". As far as I know it was never completed, so it's hard to believe he'd be employed there very long, but the menu project is just an excuse to tell stories about cuisine.

The art is reminiscent of many manga from the 70s and 80s, in that the characters are simple and cartoonish, and the backgrounds more detailed. The food in particular is carefully rendered,which makes sense given that it's the real star of the book.

Overall, I found the book very interesting and entertaining, and I recommend it.