OISHINBO: IZAKAYA – PUB FOOD, VOL. 7 (VIZ MEDIA): The enjoyment of food is a difficult thing to get across in any medium except the one it’s most native too — meaning, taste. Yet media that removes that particular aspect of the process flourishes, from cooking shows on television, to books (think Kitchen Confidential or Julie and Julia), to even video games (Cooking Mama). Clearly, given that we like to eat, oh, say, approximately three times a day, human beings are a little obsessed with food, and will take it however we can get it.

So it’s not that surprising that there’s a whole subset of manga completed devoted to food, including the excellent Iron Chef on ‘roids book Iron Wok Jan, to Korean wine manga sensation Kami no Shizuku, which is so popular that whichever wine mentioned in the book completely sells out immediately. However, both of these books, and many more, owe a substantial debt to the groundbreaking food manga Oishinbo.

Debuting in 1983, with over 102 collected volumes published, and more than 100 million copies sold, Oishinbo is a sensation. Following food writer Shir? Yamaoka as he attempts to put together the “Ultimate Menu” for his newspaper, each short story explores a different aspect of food, introduces various recipes, and follows the lives and loves of the staff of the Tozai News. Over twenty years later, Viz Media is publishing the massive manga as a series of “Best Of” books, arranged by subject, the seventh volume of which is Izakaya, or Pub Food. So how does this book stack up to other food manga, and as a first time reader, is it easy to jump right in to the overwhelming amount of material in the world of Oishinbo?

Well, yes and no. I should get out of the way that I’m a complete sucker for food writing in general. There was a period of about a year and half where I did nothing but read non-fiction, food related travel diaries, and loved every second of it. Plus, I’m a big fan of Iron Wok Jan, which balances its culinary subject matter with the absolutely, hilariously over the top evil of the main character, Jan. So I’m certainly primed already to enjoy a food manga going into Oishinbo. So what’s holding me back from loving it completely?

Part of the problem is the way the book is collected. I’m a “read everything in order” kind of guy, to my own detriment (I often need to wait until series are completely collected, rather than just jumping in the middle… A problem for things like, oh say, Action Comics). Forgetting the fact that this is the seventh volume Viz has collected, the ongoing soap opera involving the employees of the Tozai News jumps all over the place from story to story, to the point that I thought I had missed something. In one, two characters are unrequitedly in love. The next, they’re happily married. And in a third, they’ve given birth to twins. And at a certain point (say, two thirds of the way through the book), I’m guessing they had already finished the Ultimate Menu, as everyone stopped mentioning it. So while the soap opera is but a small part of the book itself (the main focus is the food), it does tear you out of the story.

Another, smaller problem is the art, which contrasts cartoony characters with rather realistic backdrops, and pristinely rendered food. This is far more on par with the slapstick of an Archie comic than say, an Urasawa, or even, yes, Iron Wok Jan.

And then there’s the repetitive nature of the stories, which, like most food manga, boil down to (no pub intended):

[Main Character presents dish to Other Characters. Other characters widen eyes with anger and surprise.]

Other Characters: Whaaaaat? You can’t mix [Ingredient A] with [Ingredient B] in Japanese cuisine!

Main Character: Just try it, and tell me what you think.

[They try it. Their eyes widen with pleasure.]

Other Characters: Mmmmm! I never knew you could mix [Ingredient A] with [Ingredient B] and it would taste so good! The [Ingredient A] really brings out the [fattiness/saltiness/sweetness/etc.] in [Ingredient B]. This is so good.

Repeat ad nauseum.

So, sure sounds like I don’t like it, right? Wrong! Like my suckerfied nature for food manga, I’m also a total sucker for other cultures, and Oishinbo hits that perfectly, as well. The Japanese pub culture (they’re called Izayakas, hence the title) is ever so slightly different from our own, and the differences are fascinating. There’s also good discussion of business practices (I know, I know: I say business practices, and everybody will run out and buy this book immediately, but please RESTRAIN YOURSELVES) that gives great insight into the culture, as well. And beyond all that, there’s the discussion of food.

A large chunk of manga functions as instruction booklets, and if you want a primer on Japanese food, you could do no worse than Oishinbo. As it is told in a light, almost Archie-esque manner, the lessons about sake, skewers, and how to pour a proper beer are easy to swallow (again, no pun intended) and fun to read, as well as intelligently told and informative.

While I have my problems with how this book is collected, and it’s not going to realign my perceptions about, well… Anything, Oishinbo goes down easy, and I can’t wait to consume another volume. And THOSE puns were intended, so take that.