Long before Iron Chef morphed into Iron Chef America, I enjoyed the grandaddy of televised culinary throwdowns in its original format. No, that doesn't mean Food Network's dubbed Japanese version. I watched Iron Chef sans dubbing on UHF. Back then I was hardly a gourmand and my knowledge of Japanese was gleaned from watching Godzilla. Nevertheless, I was fascinated by the show's fierce competitive spirit and exotic ingredients. Those episodes and the film Tampopo convinced me that Japanese people are crazy about food. I hadn't given too much thought to the role of food in Japanese popular culture, until yesterday. Not that I hadn't seen such snacks such as Calbee Pea Crisps with its happy cartoon legume, dancing across the package before. What shocked me out of my cocoon of hipster-foodie complacency was a friend telling me of a manga hero whose feats revolve around baking bread. That's right, bread. I'm no student of manga, but the last time I checked these Japanese comics featured darker plots often involving sex and gore.
Yakitate!! Japan, now has more than 20 volumes. It's even given rise to a TV show. The title of Takashi Hashiguchi's epic translates to "freshly baked Japan." Japan, in this case, is a pun on the hero Kazuma Azuma's quest to create an artisanal style of Japanese bread, Ja-pan.
Like all good superheroes, Azuma is endowed with a superpower, Solar Hands. When he kneads dough, it rises faster because his hands are much warmer than those of mere mortals. With a full complement of villains and a judging panel Yakitate!! combines cartoons like Pokémon with Iron Chef. One of the bread judges is a graduate of Harvard's food science program. Another is a world-class clown who can speak 135 languages.
And the breads these anime artisans cook up are quite diverse ranging from such clearly Japanese varieties as soy-milk toast and okonomiyaki-sandwich with Yakisoba filling to non-Japanese specialties as croissants and naan. Then there are the breads that don't seem to fit into any category: Eel, Nori, Silk and Black-soybeans Sports bread for Racecar Drivers and Red Turtle Sports bread (with Snapper Turtle blood and red wine). My favorite among these oddball creations has to be the Cannabis Bread Donut. Did I mention that the Japanese strike me as a bit food-crazed?










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-15-2006 @ 9:07PM
Vitor Hugo said...
Yakitate Japan is soo funny and awsome! I don't read the manga, yet. But I'd watched all episodes and I can say: a good mix of food and anime. =D
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11-15-2006 @ 11:26PM
Tolookah said...
I haven't seen/read Yakitate Japan, but if you haven't yet (also for people who read this) I suggest Cooking Master Boy if you can find it. It is a story of a young boy who goes around china cooking, most episodes involve a cooking battle, and some of the things they do is actually informative (if you ignore their superhuman fast cutting skills)
That's the series that showed me to use bean sprouts to refresh the pallet (when done right, it does work pretty well)
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11-16-2006 @ 1:29PM
Jim Kosmicki said...
this is a good manga, but even better is "Iron Wok Jan," which is up to 17 or 18 translated volumes easily available through any bookstore in the US. It really builds on the "Iron Chef" model -- the main character is a fairly unlikable young man who wants to be the greatest Chinese chef in Japan and will do anything to anyone to prove his superiority. He regularly enters into cooking contests, and one of his regular nemeses is a top cooking critic. It's a lot of fun -- Yakitake Japan looks like it's going to be good too, but Iron Wok Jan is fabulous.
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11-16-2006 @ 4:41PM
momotaro said...
Just to add some gamer madness to this post, Nintendo is releasing a game for the Wii called "Cooking Mama". There is already a GameBoy DS version, but the newest port involves using the Wii's multi-axis controller, so when the game calls for you to flip a pancake, or break some eggs and whip them in a bowl, you're doing that with the remote. After seeing a few videos, it seems the people playing them are having a load of fun. Might be worth a look.
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12-21-2006 @ 11:28PM
The Postindustrialist said...
you gotta mention Osen when talking about fantastic cooking related mangas.
http://kotonoha.monkey-pirate.com/ongoing-series/osen/
enjoy!
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