May seems to have gone on forever for me and I’m really ready for it to be over. I’ve been traveling so much recently that all I really want to do is to curl up at home for a good, long manga binge. Happily, the end of May finally is approaching, which means it’s time for me to help someone else out by providing manga to read. For this month’s giveaway I offer you a chance to win a copy of Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki’s Oishinbo, A la Carte: Japanese Cuisine. As always, the giveaway is open worldwide!
With Vertical’s release of Fumi Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday?, I’ve recently been thinking quite a bit about food manga. And when I think about food manga (which, like food, I love) I think about Oishinbo—the long-running, award-winning series by Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki. In fact, just a few weeks ago I brought the series up in my random musings about sake. (Also, Oishinbo specifically and food manga in general were the subjects of May 2012’s Manga Moveable Feast two years ago. There were some great posts, so I encourage you to check it out!) Oishinbo made headlines not too long ago, too: it’s publication was suspended due to the controversy over its depiction of health issues in the Fukushima area. It’s not the first time that the manga has made political or social commentary, either. I’m actually rather fond of Oishinbo. The series hasn’t and probably never will be released in its entirety in English (it’s already over 110 volumes long in Japan), but seven A la Carte volumes have been published by Viz Media. Basically, these are thematic, “best of” collections. Oishinbo, A la Carte was the first of these to be released in English and it makes a great introduction to Japanese food culture as well to Oishinbo itself.
So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Oishinbo, A la Carte: Japanese Cuisine?
1) In the comments below, simply tell me a little about your favorite food manga. (If you don’t have one, or haven’t read any, you can simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).
There you go! Each person can earn up to two entries for this giveaway and has one week to submit comments. If you have trouble leaving a comment, or if you would prefer, entries may also be submitted via e-mail to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. (The comments will then be posted in your name.) The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on June 4, 2014. Bon appétit!
VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.
Contest winner announced—Manga Giveaway: Oi, Oishinbo! Winner
1) I was always fond of Delicious! when it was running in Nakayoshi. It was really cute because it combined a cooking/food manga with elements you usually find in idol stories, plus the artwork was adorable. I’ve always wondered why it never got picked up in English, since Kitchen Princess seems to have done fairly well here.
2) RTed you at @bunnycartoon! :D
1. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Kitchen Princess when I read it a few years back. It’s shojo with a flair for drama and character relations which reminded me a bit of Fruits Basket in places, even if it had way more melodrama than FB ever had which is saying something!
2. And I also retweeted you as @wanderindreamr (tell me if you want me to make a whole new tweet instead)
I think the only manga I’ve read that featured food is Antique Bakery. *g*
I quite liked Wonton Soup. Even though most of the ingredients are entirely fictional, it really gave a good sense of the cuisine and culinary tastes of the characters. It was my first food manga, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.
I love cooking/food manga. I have been wanting to read this for a looooooong time. But my favs are Mixed Vegetables & Kitchen Princess (my daughters fav of course!)
IT’s gotta be Antique Bakery. I think “What Did You Eat Yesterday?” tends to get a bit too wrapped up in the preparation for my taste, and celery was a big star latest volume, a food I hate with a passion and appear to be allergic to (the smell alone makes me want to hurl). Actually, most of the recipes seem nasty to me, glad there’s the occasional dessert! But I can skip it fairly easily and still enjoy the other parts I found. But with Antique Bakery, I totally mourn the lack of such a bakery near me as I can practically taste everything they mention. And then we get all the awesome characters bouncing off of each other and it’s just a recipe (pardon the pun) for pure success (though the anime could’ve done without the weird CGI building and cat, it’s just as much fun).
It’s not exactly a food manga, but Setona Mizushiro’s Heartbroken Chocolatier contains plenty of chocolate-focused food-porn (plus lots of heartbreak and misery, seeing as it’s a Setona Mizushiro series). It’s one of my top “whyyyy isn’t this in English?” titles, but it is out in French.
Yakitate!! Japan was absolutely amazing in the early volumes. End was good too, but it lost it’s touch, I think. Still, gotta love those reaction shots.
The only food manga I’ve read is What Did You Eat Yesterday? so I guess that would be my favorite by default. Unless Soul Eater counts…
I used to love Yakitate!! Japan. Those early volumes are still one of the most hilarious manga I’ve ever read, and all the different breads make my mouth water! It got too repetitive toward the end but it never got bad enough to ruin it IMO.
My fave is definitely Antique Bakery. I am big fan of Yoshinaga Fumi, so it theoretically could be any other of her food manga…but it’s Antique Bakery because there is no other type of food i care for and love more than cakes,desserts and sweets in general:). Also,the story and characters are very very nice.
(i retweeted you on @busha69)
My favorite food-focused manga is Toriko, in which the world has entered the Age of Gourment, where dangerous yet delicious monsters roam the world and fierce hunters struggle to bring back new delicacies.
After I thought about it I realized I have never read a manga specifically about food =(. I really should try to broaden my horizons one of these days….But I will say that I really enjoy the way food is portrayed in One Piece, particularly the reverence that Sanji has for cooking and his insistence that no food is ever wasted and that you should always cook for anyone who is hungry =)
1) The only food manga that i’ve read (just 1 or 2 chapters) is shokugeki no soma .
2) RTed you at @hocine_cheniki1