My 7 volumes of Oishinbo mangas turned up and I have difficulty putting them down!
Produced in the following order, but need not necessarily be read them in the same order:
1. Japanese Cuisine
2. Sake
3. Ramen and Gyoza
4. Fish, Sushi & Sashimi
5. Vegetables
6. The Joy Of Rice
7. Izakaya Food
The pictures are very well-drawn and the content is written in a serious, comical, informative and easy-to-digest style. Reading the mangas is such a fun way for us (well, the husband is also hooked) to learn about Japanese cuisine (although the author discourages the use of nihon ryori (meaning ‘Japanese cuisine’) to refer to Japanese food as he finds that the phrase doesn’t quite represent the spirit of Japanese food. He prefers to use the word ‘washoku‘).
I am now reading the volume on sake. The manga makes it so easy to learn about the history of sake, the types of sake and how sake is made traditionally in Japan. I love to drink sake and am so happy that I can finally understand the different classes, subclasses of sake available out there and the Japanese jargon and system used to classify them.
Nothing like sipping a junmaishu while reading the manga. Not sure how good this bottle is in the sake world but it tastes yummy to me.
