In this volume of Oishinbo the topic of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer is very prevalent throughout. Organic grown vegetables is the way to go. Which is all nice and everything, but I’m not sure if it’d change my grocery shopping habit. I find it hard to justify the double or triple price of organic food for daily consumption. Occasionally, maybe. Or if I cook only for myself, not for a bunch of family members who eat a whole lot more than me and may not appreciate the whole organic thing price-wise.

Perhaps I should read more on this topic?

2009, 268pp

This month’s task for Hello Japan is about Japanese cooking. Contrary to the lack of cooking post in Bookie Mee, I actually love to cook (who doesn’t if you love to eat?!). And Japanese is my favorite type of cooking, at home or outside. Will try to post something else before the end of the month, but if not, I have this post for submission :).

Bacon wrapped asparagus yakitori. My favorite! Yum! (photo source)

My next Oishinbo is Izakaya: Pub Food which I’m currently reading. I’ve committed to reading the whole series and only have a few more to go!

More in the series (links to my reviews):
Oishinbo a la Carte 1: Japanese Cuisine
Oishinbo a la Carte 2: Sake
Oishinbo a la Carte 3: Ramen & Gyoza
Oishinbo a la Carte 4: Fish, Sushi & Sashimi
Oishinbo a la Carte 5: Vegetables (this post)
Oishinbo a la Carte 6: The Joy of Rice
Oishinbo a la Carte 7: Izakaya: Pub Food

Oishinbo (美味しんぼ, lit. “The Gourmet”) is a long-running cooking manga published between 1983 and 2008, but only in 2009 it is published in English in thematic compilation volumes (7 volumes so far), which means they contain “best of the best” and do not follow the original manga chronological order. There are a few minor storylines that jump forward and back. But I guess in the big picture of things, it does not matter that much, because the food is really the central of excitement!

The big question throughout this volume is What constitute real Japanese cuisine? What menu is essentially Japanese? In Oishinbo: Japanese Cuisine we learn more about sashimi, rice, and green tea. (I love sashimi. I can keep eating sashimi if it’s not so expensive!) There are different cuts of sashimi, different fish (obviously), and even different way of “cooking” it, one of them with a complex method of using a special type of rice paper and pouring boiled water over the rice paper and the skin side of the fish so that only the skin is cooked, not the flesh. Definitely not something you can do at home! Then there’s one chapter about cooking rice competition. It’s later revealed that the winner hand-picks the rice so they are all the same size and cooked evenly at the same time. Talking about serious cooking!

So yes they can go a bit over the top, although are seemingly realistic at the same time. As a foodie, I just found it a joy to read a book that treats food with so much respect. The green tea ceremony at the end of this volume was a nice closure that reflects how respectful the Japanese are.

delightful sashimi (source)

2009, 272 pp

The volumes in this series (links to my review):
Oishinbo a la Carte 1: Japanese Cuisine (current post)
Oishinbo a la Carte 2: Sake
Oishinbo a la Carte 3: Ramen & Gyoza
Oishinbo a la Carte 4: Fish, Sushi & Sashimi
Oishinbo a la Carte 5: Vegetables
Oishinbo a la Carte 6: The Joy of Rice
Oishinbo a la Carte 7: Izakaya: Pub Food

A rather late shout for Bellezza’s Japanese Literature Challenge IV which runs until the end of January 2011. I’m not sure if I get a chance to read a Japanese novel before the end of January (so far I’ve read only manga), but I’ll try!

Oishinbo (美味しんぼ, lit. “The Gourmet”) is a long-running cooking manga published between 1983 and 2008, but only in 2009 it is published in English in thematic compilation volumes, which includes: Japanese Cuisine, Sake, Ramen & Gyôza, Fish, Sushi & Sashimi, Vegetables, The Joy of Rice, and Izakaya: Pub Food (7 volumes so far). Thematic compilation means it contains “best of the best” and does not follow the original manga chronological order. There are a few minor storylines that jump forward and back. But I guess in the big picture of things, it does not matter that much, because the food is really the central of excitement here!

I saw some of the volumes at Sydney Japan Foundation Library and picked the Ramen volume out of whim, since I LOVE Ramen.

If you think you don’t like ramen, well, let me tell you, you just have not eaten the good one. Believe me, I know! I used to think I only liked dry or fried noodle, not soup noodle. But then one day, I tasted the BEST RAMEN EVER (I absolutely do not exaggerate). With one sip of the soup, I could hear the birds chirping and see the sun rise in dramatic scene.

It was divine.

The broth, the noodle, the soya egg, the roast pork. Cooked to perfection.

I never look back ever since. It is my mission in life to constantly look for a perfect ramen.

In this volume of Oishinbo, you’d find many people go very serious over a bowl of ramen. Who could blame them?

Look at the soupy goodness.

(Photo from actual ramen that I ate)

Apart from ramen, there are also gyōza (dumpling) episodes. Being a huge foodie that I am, it was fascinating to learn so much from a manga. There are many comparisons to Chinese food (chūka ryori), since many Japanese food are originated from Chinese food. There are history of Japan and China relationship, making of noodles, miso, bonito, kurobuta (black pig), the sauces, and more.

The food names are all in Japanese and there are notes at the back of the book that explain everything, which is exactly the way I like it (notes at the bottom of the pages would be more convenient, but some of them are obviously too long). I hate it when they translate food items to English. Not only on food, the notes also explain cultural elements that may not be obvious to foreigners, for example sempai-kōhai (senior-junior) relationship.

One interesting note is about how the word used for the title is not “ramen” in Japanese, but rather chūka soba, or Chinese noodles. Although the term chūka soba can be used interchangeably as a name for ramen, it also refers specifically to the noodles themselves, which are Chinese in origin. Because “ramen” is the name by which almost all Westerners know the dish, that’s what they’ve decided to use in Oishinbo.

I have fallen in love with the series, so I’ll continue reading the others. Highly recommended if you’re interested to learn more about Japanese food and culture, in a fun way at that.

2009, 272 pp

Challenges
Japanese Literature 3 (book #4), Graphic Novels 2010 (book #1)

I love Japanese cooking shows. They make everything so dramatic. Have you watched Iron Chef? You should watch Iron Chef. It’s the most exciting cooking show ever. The Japanese one, not the US remake one (though the latter is not so bad). For anime, Yakitake!! Japan is very fun series about a boy whose dream is to become a bread master. I kept wanting to eat bread the whole time I watched it. When I was small, I used to watch Cooking Master Boy (or I think that’s what it was). I love to watch the reactions of the people eating the food. I think that’s how I learned to be excited about food.

This is my last book for Japanese Literature Challenge 3, which ends today. I’m going to post my wrap-up tomorrow. So see you then!

I’m rather sad that The Spice of Life Challenge has ended (it ran from 1 July to 31 December 2009). I’m a huge foodie and though I only ended up reading 3 books, I had lots of fun thinking about books that could fit into the challenge.

There are 4 categories:

1. Cookbooks
2. Nonfiction
3. Memoirs, autobiographies, or essays
4. Fiction

I joined A Taste level, means you’ll read and review just read two books from any of two of the above categories (different categories).

The 3 books I read:

Nonfiction
Squeamish About Sushi by Betty Reynolds (finished 08/09, rating )
Main food: Japanese food

Fiction
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (finished 09/09, rating )
Main food: Cocktail, party drinks for Breakfast at Tiffany’s and fruitcake for A Christmas Memory, a short story that is also in the same book

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (finished 09/09, rating )
Main food: Christmas feast!

Books that I’d love to read but didn’t get a chance to (and would fit nicely with other challenges): (links to either Amazon or Book Depository)

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1001 books, Italy)
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1001 books, Mexico)
The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones (China Challenge)
The Uninvited by Geling Yan (China Challenge)
Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China by Jen Lin-Liu (nonfiction, China Challenge)
Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto by Victoria Abbott Riccardi (nonfiction, Japanese Challenge)
The Noodle Maker by Ma Jian (China Challenge)
Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery (France)
Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin (Rwanda)
French Milk by Lucy Knisley (graphic novel, France)
Confections of a Closet Master Baker: One Woman’s Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado (non-fiction)

I just have to share some of their delicious covers! Don’t they just make your mouth water?!

I have to stop myself now, and eat a cake or something.

One book I’m reading now:

Can you believe there’s a whole manga (graphic novel, if you like) on just Ramen and Gyoza? Mee LOVES ramen! :D

Big thanks to Rebecca for hosting The Spice of Life Challenge! If you decide to host another one, I would definitely join again!

I LOVE THIS BOOK! I was trying to lose a couple of kilos when I came across this book, which was perfect for me, because it’s more of eating/life style book rather than dieting (I’m always worried of the wrong way of dieting). So the tips and messages in this book can definitely be sustained for a long time, unlike unhealthy yo-yo dieting which you can probably do for a short while before going back to your old eating style and gaining your weight back.

She makes a lot of comparison between American and French women (being sort of both by living in New York and Paris most of the time). She also had personal experience of being fat the first time she went to America as an exchange student. How I’d love to see her picture that time :D!

In short, great book! Oh and there are a lot of healthy recipes in the book too. So I went to type some of them down to try them later (the book belongs to library). Some are a bit hard to try in Singapore because they use a lot of oven and grill. I’ll try them later when I go back to Australia. After reading this book, I somehow got to love bread so much more. Went to Delifrance many times during and after the reading ;). Combined that with Yakitake Japan anime and I’m totally into BREAD now more than ever!

~Finished on 04 April 2007

Rating: 4.5 out of 5