Oishinbo A La Carte, Volume 2 - Sake (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
In this collection of stories from the long running manga series, the central theme is alcoholic beverages - in Japanese, as they explain in one of the notes in the book, "sake" means not just the rice based beverage that we know by that term, but any alcoholic beverage. So wine and champagne form the subject matter for a couple of these stories. But sake, based on rice, is the main drink dealt with here, and the author has strong opinions on both the beverage itself and on the Japanese sake industry which critics of the large American breweries and fans of craft brewing will find it easy to relate to. Both the intricacies of the sake brewing process and the history of sake brewing in the twentieth century make for the most interesting reading in the book. Beyond that, the plotting is somewhat on the rudimentary side. I've elevated my opinion of the artwork in the series - it's actually pretty good, in this volume anyway. But the real draw for the series is the information given on Japanese cuisine and related topics, so if that has no interest for you, this isn't the book for you. I didn't like this quite as much as the previous two volumes, mostly because I found the stories and the information about sake to be somewhat repetitive. Much of this is because of the way the series is "packaged" in the US, since we are getting excerpts on a particular topic rather than the entire Japanese manga. But it was still enjoyable, and it made me want to try a whole lot of sakes. Incidentally, I have tried exactly 2 sakes. One I didn't like, one I did.
What do You think about Oishinbo A La Carte, Volume 2 - Sake (2009)?
Liked this significantly better than the first volume, probably because I'm a lush.
—aj01211
fascinating look at Japanese culture through food.
—Renae
