Food Comics and Manga

I’ve been reading a lot of food-focused manga and comics recently. Maybe I’m just a hungry person? I do like food, but really, while these manga and comics share the culinary theme they span some wildly different story-telling territory; from D&D-esque dungeon crawlers, to queer slice-of-life stories, to cooking competitions. Some of these stories even include actual recipes (though a few use fictional ingredients).

Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoko Kui
Follow a band of adventurers as they attempt to rescue a party-member from the dungeon’s infamous red dragon, but not before killing and cooking up other monsters along the way. You can try to make these recipes at home, but you’ll have a difficult time finding all of the ingredients…

Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain
The late chef’s first foray into comics writing sees Jiro, who wants nothing more than to be a traditional sushi chef in a futuristic LA, get dragged into murder and mayhem, as culinary crime families vie for his services in order to sustain their trendy menus. Pure Bourdain.

Oishinbo, A La Carte by Tetsu Kariya
The 10^th longest running manga, Oishinbo (a Japanese portmanteau of “delicious” and “someone who loves to eat”) follows the adventures of culinary journalist Shirō Yamaoka and his partner Yūko Kurita over the course of 111 volumes. In the English language, Oishinbo is collected in thematic “best-of” editions, such as Sake, Ramen, Japanese Cuisine, and the Joy of Rice.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
A memoir that depicts moments of chef Lucy Knisley’s life through the sense-memories connected to the foods and meals she was making and enjoying at the time. This food-centered memoir ends each chapter with an illustrated recipe, some family dishes, and some Lucy’s imaginative concoctions.

Rutabaga the Adventure Chef by Eric Colossal
This all-ages adventure, akin to Delicious in Dungeon, sees chef Rutabaga and his magical pot, Pot, follow their new warrior compatriots around a medieval land in search of the most interesting monsters and ingredients to cook up. Saving the day by slaying the dragon is left to the professionals, but Rutabaga and Pot make sure they’ll never have fight on an empty stomach.

What Did You Eat Yesterday? by Fumi Yoshinaga
In this slice-of-life narrative cookbook, we follow the day-to-day goings on of a gay Tokyo couple, through the lens of intricately prepared meals. After a hard day at work, or an awkward interaction with parents, we meet Shiro and Kenji at the dinner table, where they sort through their lives and emotions, while enjoy delicious home cooked meals. The story integrates food by actually taking readers through the process of preparing meals in great detail, with recipes listed at the end of the chapters.