The narrative follows two food journalistsShir Yamaoka and Yko Kuritaat a local newspaper whove been tasked with creating The Ultimate Menu of Japanese cuisine. In addition Yamaoka the male protagonist is bitterly resentful of his father and the abuse his father gave Yamaokas mothers cooking while he was growing up and as such he has a personal agenda of surpassing his father with his knowledge and talent for creating spectacular gourmet dishes without being a selfentitled asshole about it. There are plenty of things to appreciate and relish about Oishinbo. The first is the title itself The word oishinbo is a portmanteau blending of two words to make a new word of the Japanese words oishi or delicious and kuishinbo or someone who loves to eat. I felt that was an imaginative title as the series really is about the passion of yummy foods. Another aspect I loved and one of the mangas greatest strengths is that it offers tons of information on Japanese foods such as preparation methods and techniques different recipes for a specific ingredient e.g.: eggplant seabream etc. and why some methods of preparation are much better than others specifically where sanitation and flavour are concerned. Theres also quite a bit of history that traces how the dish originated which more often than not led to it being brought over to the country via China and how that particular dish has evolved over time to become an inherent part of Japanese identity and culture. The seven English volumes all focus on one particular dish. For example volume one is about Japanese cuisine in general and provides a brief introduction to how the Japanese peopleexplicitly food enthusiastsapproach trying out new meals and the etiquettes they follow. Volume two is about sak going into detail about its history how it was diluted during the Second World War and how to tell the difference between diluted sak and authentic traditionally crafted sak. The good thing about the acute focus given to these dishes is that I obtained plenty of knowledge surrounding them. I honestly never realised how much of Japans most popularised dishes originated in different countries It was also quite pleasant learning about how uniquely independent Japanese traits found their way into the meals to create a brandnew sort of food culture and identity. As a foodie myself its something I appreciate about multicultural cuisines. Other enjoyable characteristics are the authors own anecdotes detailing a personal experience that he had with the relevant dish. More often than not he talks about how he had to adapt Japanese foods and cooking for living in Australia where you may not find the same sort of ingredients or even certain utensils that are necessary to create a faithfully Japanese flavour. Most of these anecdotes are rather hilarious but once in a while I came across one that I found may be construed as offensive to Westerners as it does belittle their foods and ignorance towards Asian cuisine a bit. This leads me to the somewhat bad aspects of Oishinbo. Each chapter is episodic which in and of itself isnt a bad quality. But while I was reading the English volumes back to back it creates a lot of inconsistencies. I did some research into the English translations and discovered that each volume is essentially a collection of the best of the best from the series over time pulling chapters from all onehundredeleven Japanese volumes. This explained all of the discrepancies that sprouted up while reading. For example in one of the volumes a couple of the characters end up getting engaged however in a much later volume they are being teased for being close yet single. Clearly it was pulled from a part of the original Japanese narrative that predated the engagement. Of course this is just one example of such an incongruity. There are others but I dont want to give any spoilers if I can help it. Another thing that I found mildly grating is the conflict that Yamaoka has with his father. It can be entertaining at times and helps to create an element of tension to the overtly simple plotline but more often than not it was irritating and felt too prolonged. His father is also a royally rude fellow which makes it sensationally difficult to like him or enjoy his presence on the pages no matter how shortlived. His arrogance and pompous nature are overthetop ridiculous. The illustrations are also rather hit and miss. Due to the comedic tone and atmosphere for the story the drawings are all done in a cartoonlike aesthetic reminiscent of Barefoot Gen. The facial expressions are silly and comical the reactionspositive or negativeto the flavours of food or interactions with people are very exaggerated. I didnt particularly mind these exaggerations as I know it was done to rouse laughter. Nonetheless when it came to depictions of the most important thingfoodit failed spectacularly. For some dishes the details are marvellous and I could almost imagine the dish in real life or at the very least in an anime form. But that was an uncommon occurrence. Usually the shading on the dishes or the use of black to help develop texture was too heavy blurring all of the minute details together to make is extremely difficult to decipher what the dish entailed. This made me sad. One of my main reasons for wanting to read the manga was because of my foodie passion. All in all I recommend Oishinbo A La Carte for people interested in learning about Japanese cuisine and how it has shaped and contributed to Japanese culture and identity as we know it today. Just go into it with the awareness that the English volumes have their shortcomings. If you decide to read the Japanese editions please note that the manga in Japan was put on an indefinite hiatus in 2014 after the author received much criticism for his treatment of the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster. 6.5 udon noodles outta 10.