Oishinbo: Sake: A la Carte by Tetsu Kariya
I’m still in love with this series – however there were a few things in this volume that got to me and made my opinion of it drop just a little.
This book was much more technical than Volume 1. Parts were incredibly interesting – learning the different types of Sake and how WWII impacted Japan with its lack of rice and the “need” to still make Sake. The story also attacks the perception that French white wines are to be paired with fish and challenges the reader to try sake instead.
There was less focus in this volume on the relationship between son and father, and more education being offered, sometimes ad nauseum (I counted the story of WWII three times).
All that being said, I learned quite a bit about sake. It probably would have been more had I been more familiar with wine names and sake types, but even as a beginner I took quite a bit.
I think my favorite story in this volume was the one dealing with Champagne. I laughed out loud at the end of it and this volume is worth reading if only for that story alone.
