Tetsu Kariya & Akira Hanasaki — Oishinbo A la Carte : Japanese Cuisine
I was so psyched when I found this book online! Loving food and food pictures made it a perfectly delicious and interesting combination for me. It follows Yamaoka-kun, a depicted “lazy” journalist, but very passionate about food. His dad is a world-renowned food connoisseur. Having to work in his dad’s restaurant from early age, Yamaoka-kun developed deep knowledge and high interest for food.
The storyline in the English edition is divided into 7 big themes in 7 books. Light yet heavy with some fundamental moral grounds, I really like the general idea that we can certainly learn a lot from the way and what we eat.
I was going to give all my intake on 7 books at once, but rather than doing that, I prefer to divide them into 7 separate writings. Why? I enjoyed the books so much, I savoured them bits by bits. And I wanted to embrace them bits by bits as well.
Food certainly has the unique power to evoke feelings.
Oishinbo is loaded with stories of using food to trigger memories. We often make a correlation between events and the food we were having, and subconciously we recalled them once we encountered the familiar taste or scent. Whether it was the reminiscence of a simple lunchbox made by mom, or the happy feeling of gathering together with friends when drinking cold beer, food certainly has the unique power to evoke feelings.
Different results we could get when we do something wholeheartedly…
There was one story in the book that showing how chopsticks were made. The maker was putting his heart and soul in making wood chopsticks, doing most of the final touch by hand. We have heard japanese could be quite extreme in putting their heart and soul into their occupancy. It got me thinking: wow they are very lucky to do something they love. But then again, maybe at first they did not love their job. Maybe they hated the first time, and then learned to love it through time.
I worked in a big corporation, and some of my colleagues hated the politics and the everyday hustles. I have seen they bickered every time I met them for nearly three years. I left the company briefly, and then came back two years later. I do not know for sure what happened, whether it was some epiphanies from reading the Bible or just got tired of bickering, but they changed. Instead of squabbling around on the petty things at work, they tried to see it from the other perspective. They acknowledged that some things were not perfect, but that did not mean they could not get any good out of the process. They started to do their job wholeheartedly, with a thought that at least they were doing their job on their maximum capacity. They got their satisfaction from well-done jobs, and most importantly, they felt good. And they made their surrounding felt good as well, because positivity could be contagious.
Lastly, from this first book, I really liked this picture: clam miso soup with warm rice. I can already imagine how I will enjoy them: I slurp the soup first, enjoying the warmth and umami flavour from the miso and dashi. I take a clam and enjoy its texture and chewiness. By then, I will already crave something to cut the richness of the clam soup flavour. That is when the warm rice comes into play. Oh my, I cannot wait to go to Japan and experience the real deal!
