Oishinbo

Oishinbo

by Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki

Oishinbo is a series about food. The main character, Yamaoka Shiro, is a journalist whose father is a famous gourmet. The newspaper Shiro works for is about to celebrate its 100th birthday, and as part of the festivities, the publishers would like to create the “ultimate menu” that features the absolute finest examples of Japanese food. Somebody figures that since Shiro’s dad is a food expert, Shiro must be the perfect person for the job. Well, maybe.

There are a few potential flaws in the plan. First, Shiro and his dad hate each other. Second, Shiro is kind of lazy. Plus, he’s often a jerk. Of course, when you meet his father, you see that being a jerk runs in the family.

Fortunately, Shiro does know a lot about food, so (with the help and encouragement of some of his colleagues), he sets off to find all the pieces for the ultimate meal.

A lot of Japanese food manga are based around cooking duels, and Oishinbo has plenty. These aren’t always formal cooking competitions, but each episode usually requires Shiro to outwit, or help someone else outwit, his father. Along the way, we learn a lot about Japanese cuisine, and we get to see several of the important themes for Japanese food. Taste isn’t the only sense in Japanese cooking. The appearance, scent, and even the feel of the food in your mouth are all important. Fresh ingredients are vital. Also, local ingredients are taken very seriously – in Japan, pretty much every town has its own special ingredient that either can’t be found anywhere else or is way, way better than what you find anywhere else. There are also a couple of recipes at the start of the book, and there are a lot of notes in the back, just in case you want to know more about Japanese culture and food.

Oishinbo is a very long series in Japan, but when it was published in the United States, Viz decided not to release the whole thing. What we get instead are volumes that each focus on one specific topic. The first one looks at the fundamental ingredients of Japanese cuisine. Others focus on sake (rice wine), rice dishes, and ramen and gyoza (potstickers), among other things. This means that some of the story is missing, but the individual episodes all share a common theme.

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Where to Find It

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