Oishinbo: The Joy of Rice

Title: Oishinbo a la carte: The Joy of Rice
Author: Tetsu Kariya
Artist: Akira Hanasaki

This is volume 6 in the Oishinbo series, it seems readable in any order and each appear to have a real recipe from the book IN the book so that you can try your hand at making the cuisine illustrated therein. (The one featured here is Scallop Rice. I don't eat seafood or anything from the water and thus it is lost on me.)

This book once again makes a very good point of bringing the environmental cause to center stage, making people look at cause and effect; showing them aspects about their food that they may never have thought of before. The last volume I read Vegetables, didn't teach me much that I didn't already know of the cooking and the culture. This one however taught me a little bit about rice. Including but not limited to: How brown rice can be nutritionally detrimental due to pesticide residue, how healthy deciduous forests can make oysters taste better, how different areas of Asia eat rice at the table, and what a "matsutake of the sea" was. 

Very informative while keeping with the basic storyline.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Oishinbo-Carte-Vol-Joy-Rice/dp/142152144X

ISBN: 978-1-4215-2144-2

OISHINBO: vegetables

Title: Oishinbo a la carte: Vegetables
Author: Tetsu Kariya
Artist: Akira Hanasaki

This was a quick and easy read. It looks as though you may be able to read this series in any order, as each book is a different food subject.
As an informative comic this one does an ok job. It is a bit heavy handed with the willingness to eat simply as well as the enforcing of "everything tastes better without genetic modification or pesticides."
The characters are likable enough, and it even includes a recipe or two outlining foods found within the book.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Oishinbo-%C3%A0-Carte-Vol-Vegetables/dp/1421521431

ISBN: 978-1-4215-2143-5