is a long-running cooking manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 written by Tetsu Kariya and drawn by Akira Hanasaki. The manga's title is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for delicious, oishii, and the word for someone who loves to eat, kuishinbo. The series depicts the adventures of culinary journalist Shirō Yamaoka and his partner (and later wife), Yūko Kurita. It has been published by Shogakukan

Shogakukan

is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...

 between 1983 and 2008 in Big Comic Spirits

Big Comic Spirits

is a weekly Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Shogakukan and aimed at males 20–25 years old. It originally launched on October 14, 1980. The culture of food, sports, love relationships, and business provide the themes for its featured series, which often question conventional values...

, before resuming again on February 23, 2009, and collected in 104 tankōbon

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

volumes, currently making it the 7th longest manga released. The series was a perennial best-seller, selling 1.2 million copies per volume, for a total of more than 100 million volumes as of January 2009.

The series received the 1987 Shogakukan Manga Award

Shogakukan Manga Award

The is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...

 for seinen

Seinen

is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...

/general manga. It was adapted as a 136-episode anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 television series broadcast on TV Asahi

TV Asahi

, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....

 from October 17, 1988 to March 17, 1992 plus two sequel anime television specials.

It is licensed in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 by Viz Media

VIZ Media

VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...

, which published the first volume January 2009. Seven volumes from the series were published from January 2009 to January 2010. These editions are thematic compilations (and thus jumping back and forth in continuity), making the English editions effectively a "best-of of a best-of". These volumes are:

• Oishinbo: Japanese Cuisine (January 20, 2009; a la Carte volume 20) ISBN 1-4215-2139-3
• Oishinbo: Sake (March 17, 2009; a la Carte volume 26) ISBN 1-4215-2140-7
• Oishinbo: Ramen & Gyoza (May 19, 2009; a la Carte volume 2) ISBN 1-4215-2141-5
• Oishinbo: Fish, Sushi & Sashimi (July 21, 2009; a la Carte volume 5) ISBN 1-4215-2142-3
• Oishinbo: Vegetables (September 15, 2009; a la Carte volume 19) ISBN 1-4215-2143-1
• Oishinbo: The Joy of Rice (November 17, 2009; a la Carte volume 13) ISBN 1-4215-2144-X
• Oishinbo: Izakaya: Pub Food (January 19, 2010; a la Carte volume 12) ISBN 1-4215-2145-8

Main characters

The names here are in western order (family name last). The official English language manga volumes use the Japanese naming order (family name first).

• • Yamaoka is the protagonist of the series. He is a journalist for the and the head of its "Ultimate Menu" project.
  • Kurita is Yamaoka's coworker. She assists him in the "Ultimate Menu" project. She later becomes his wife. They have two children, and .
  • Kaibara is Yamaoka's father and rival. Kaibara trained Yamaoka, but the two had a falling out. The relationship worsens when Kaibara begins to work for the "Supreme Menu" project of the , a rival newspaper. Kaibara is also the founder and director of the "Gourmet Club." Kaibara is also an artist, and also the author of the "Dictionary of Poetic References."
  • Ōhara is the publisher of the Tōzai News.
  • Tanimura is the director of the arts and culture department of the Tōzai News.
  • Tomii is the deputy director of the arts and culture department
  • Tōyama is a famous ceramicist and gourmet.
  • Okaboshi is the owner and chef of Yamaoka's preferred socializing space.
  • He is a wealthy businessperson and a gourmet.
• Noriko Hanamura
• Kinue Tabata
  • Mariko Niki, originally , is one of Yamaoka's and Kurita's coworkers. For many early volumes she romantically pursues Yamaoka. When Yamaoka realizes her intentions in the chapter "The Spirit of the Sardine," Yamaoka tells her that he is not interested in marrying her, even though if he did, he would gain financial and social advantages.
  • The Futaki family, at that time, did not have a male heir. In Japanese tradition, wealthy families without male heirs adopted one of the husbands into the family, so he could become a male heir. The Futaki family wanted Yamaoka to marry into the family so he could become the male heir. Teruko reveals this to Yamaoka in the chapter "The Spirit of the Sardine."
  • He is Mariko's grandfather.
  • He is Mariko's father.
  • Teruko is Mariko's aunt.
  • He is the head chef of the "Gourmet Club."
• Fuyumi - Fuyumi becomes Okaboshi's wife
• Dr. Iwakura - Dr. Iwakura is Tanimura's former elementary school classmate.
• Tatsunojō "Tatsu" Hanamikōji|花見小路 辰之丈|Hanamikōji Tatsunojō}} is a homeless man. He collects leftovers from various restaurants in Ginza
  Ginza
  is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi.It is known as an upscale area of Tokyo with numerous department stores, boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses. Ginza is recognized as one of the most...
  
  , so he knows which ones have the highest quality food. He introduced Yamaoka to Okaboshi's restaurant. is an American friend of Yamaoka and Kurita. He speaks very strange Japanese. He does not use correct grammar, and he uses archaic Japanese and does not properly use idioms.
• Haru is the wife of Ozawa. Both had been previously married, and remarried each other. Out of habit he calls her "Haru-san."

In the Japanese language, the members of the Futaki family are distinguished by the honorifics. The granfather is "Chairman Futaki," is "President Futaki," and Mariko is "Futaki-san."

Chapter list

Episode list

>

#	Title	Original airdate

Reception

In the 1980s Japan had an upsurge in popularity in the gurume movement, called the "gourmet boom." Iorie Brau, author of "Oishinbo’s Adventures in Eating: Food, Communication, and Culture in Japanese Comics," said that this was the largest factor of the increase in popularity of gurume comics. The series's first episode sold around one million copies. The popularity of Oishinbo the comic lead to the development of the anime, the live action film, and many fansites. The fansites chronicle recipes that appeared in the comic book.

Tetsu Kariya, the writer of Oishinbo, said in a 1986 interview that he was not a food conoisseur, and that he felt embarrassed whenever food experts read the comic.