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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

December 12, 2010 by Katherine Dacey

Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy!

My Dinner With Fumi: that’s what I would have called the English-language edition of Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! The fifteen stories contained within this slim volume celebrate good food and good conversation, documenting Yoshinaga’s interactions with friends, assistants, and fellow artists at real restaurants around Tokyo. No culinary stone goes unturned, as Yoshinaga — or, as her fictional alter ego is called, Y-naga — visits a Korean restaurant, a French bistro, an Italian trattoria, a sushi joint, an all-you-can-eat dim sum buffet, and a bakery famous for its bagels. (Bagels in Tokyo? Call me a recovering New Yorker, but that sounds horribly wrong, especially since Y-naga views the absence of a hole in a the middle as a sign of quality.)

I can think of few mediums less suited to showcasing food than manga, but Yoshinaga’s drawings of steaming dumplings, seafood stews, and sashimi are convincing, despite the absence of color. She renders the food’s textures and shapes in meticulous detail, in the process suggesting the care with which each item was prepared. Her characters’ obvious enjoyment of the meals also helps sell the conceit; watching them rhapsodize over rare ingredients or extol the virtues of dessert makes the reader feel like another member of the party.

Much as I enjoyed the foodie shop-talk, what really sold me on Not Love But Delicious Foods was Yoshinaga’s willingness to poke fun at herself. Y-naga is a sartorial disaster, wearing a frumpy headband, thick glasses, and a scowl as she toils over her comics; only the prospect of a restaurant meal can persuade her to trade her sweatpants for a dress and to comb her hair. Once transformed, however, Y-naga is just as uncouth as her work attire would suggest, spilling copious amounts of food and wine on herself, talking with her mouth full, and flirting aggressively with a handsome dinner companion after drinking too much wine. Yet Y-naga’s dinner conversations reveal that she isn’t a buffoon; she’s surprisingly self-aware, rejecting one potential boyfriend because he’s indifferent to food (he doesn’t like to talk about it the way she does), farming out an incompetent assistant to other artists so that he can improve his skills, and apologizing profusely to a gay friend for “paying my rent by drawing manga with gay themes,” even though her books contain “no real gay themes.”

And that, I think, is the real strength of Not Love But Delicious Foods: the people remain central to the story, even though the Tokyo restaurant scene is the ostensible subject of the manga. As the characters chatter enthusiastically about what they’re eating, we realize that Yoshinaga’s real objective is showing us the important role that food plays in bringing people together, drawing them out, and cementing friendships. It’s a sentiment that’s expressed throughout the manga, as characters find common ground in their mutual enthusiasm for creme brulee and osso bucco. One contentious conversation even prompts the omniscient narrator to praise good food for its diplomatic value; in Yoshinaga’s world, detente is just a dish away. “But through the power of skirt steak, their hearts resumed beating as one,” the narrator observes. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Review copy provided by Yen Press. Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! will be released on December 21, 2010.

NOT LOVE BUT DELICIOUS FOODS MAKE ME SO HAPPY! • BY FUMI YOSHINAGA • YEN PRESS • 160 pp. • RATING: OLDER TEEN (16+)

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Filed Under: Manga Critic Tagged With: fumi yoshinaga, yen press

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JRB says

    December 13, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    “Y-naga views the absence of a hole in a the middle as a sign of quality”

    I weep for Japan’s bagel-eaters. I mean, seriously, WTF?

    • Katherine Dacey says

      December 14, 2010 at 8:39 am

      I think H&H will ship anywhere in the world — they’re not my favorite, but I think they’d be a revelation to Japan’s bagel-eaters.

  2. Caddy C says

    December 20, 2010 at 9:21 pm

    Reading this made my mouth water!

    But I was reminded of my trip to Europe when I was younger – it was a great trip filled with great experiences, people and food, but when I got home I had to immediately book it to a Mexican restaurant! :) I’ve lived in the Southwest too long to go without some food I could put salsa on!

  3. Katherine Dacey says

    December 21, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    I’m the same way: I love traveling and sampling new foods, but there are certain things I just won’t eat unless I’m on my home turf, especially bagels, chowder, and lobster rolls. The whole bagel episode in Not Love But Delicious Foods had me in stitches.

Trackbacks

  1. Tweets that mention Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! « The Manga Critic — Topsy.com says:
    December 13, 2010 at 12:22 am

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Manga Critic, Katherine H. Katherine H said: RT @manga_critic: New review: NOT LOVE BUT DELICIOUS FOODS MAKE ME SO HAPPY: http://mangacritic.com/?p=8447 @yenpress […]

  2. Upcoming 12/15/2010 « The Manga Curmudgeon says:
    December 13, 2010 at 5:35 am

    […] the Shelf duo of Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith. The book inspired Kate (The Manga Critic) Dacey (who reviews the book here) to host a contest, asking readers to name their favorite culinary […]

  3. Kodansha’s big reveal « MangaBlog says:
    December 13, 2010 at 7:59 am

    […] Kawa! (Kuriousity) Zack Davisson on Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators (Japan Reviewed) Kate Dacey on Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! (The Manga Critic) Connie on vol. 10 of Pet Shop of Horrors (Slightly Biased Manga) Diana Dang on […]

  4. The Drops of God, Vols. 1-2 says:
    December 16, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    […] that The Drops of God is an entertaining way to learn about wine; as titles such as Oishinbo and Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! demonstrate, a skilled writer can fold a considerable amount of educational detail into a story […]

  5. 7 Mouth-Watering Food Manga says:
    May 24, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    […] My Dinner With Fumi: that’s what I would have called the English-language edition of Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! The fifteen stories contained within this slim volume celebrate good food and good conversation, documenting Yoshinaga’s interactions with friends, assistants, and fellow artists at real restaurants around Tokyo. No culinary stone goes unturned, as Yoshinaga — or, as her fictional alter ego is called, Y-naga — visits a Korean restaurant, a French bistro, an Italian trattoria, a sushi joint, an all-you-can-eat dim sum buffet, and a bakery famous for its bagels. As the characters chatter enthusiastically about what they’re eating, we realize that Yoshinaga’s real objective is showing us the important role that food plays in fostering friendships. One contentious conversation even prompts the omniscient narrator to praise good food for its diplomatic value: “But through the power of skirt steak, their hearts resumed beating as one,” the narrator observes. In Yoshinaga’s world, detente is just a dish away.  (Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 12/12/10.) […]



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