Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture

This book explores the complex and varied food of Japan. The author travels to several destinations and explores speciality dishes of the various regions with the help of chefs and assorted locals, for example covering sushi in Tokyo, ramen in Fukuoka and okonomiyaki in Hiroshima. It is not a restaurant guide or cookbook or even a travel guide in the usual sense, but you do a real sense of each cooking style covered and some history of the assorted cities and regions. It does not pretend to be comprehensive, and is an outsider's view, but an outsider who clearly has a genuine passion for Japanese food and a deep love of the country. Above all, Mr Goulding can write very well (he previously published "Eat This, Not That, which has sold 8 million copies and counting). He has a knack of capturing an insight into the places he visits that go beyond guidebook superficiality, and he is not afraid to admit his own limitations, such as his difficulty in understanding of kaiseki, that subtlest and most elaborate of culinary styles. Nor does he gloss over controversial issues, such as the treatment of the Ainu people in the chapter on Hokkaido. I have been to Japan eleven times so far but this book is packed with information that eluded me on my travels there, and the author seems to have chosen his local guides and advisors very well. Above all you will get a sense of the the fascination that Japan and its food holds to many of us. Whether you are familiar with Japan and its food or are just curious to learn more, I highly recommend this book.

This book is brilliant. The author is a true food nut, and where else is better to be nuttier about food than Japan?He really brings the place, people and flavours to life. Well written, captivating and colourful. His enthusiasm is infectious.This book can cure vegetarianism. 100% of fact. Actually, no, I made that bit up.Never a truer word was spoken, when he says that if you get a group of chefs around a table and ask them if they could only choose one cuisine to eat for the rest of their lives, all of them, without exception, will say Japanese cuisine. This book explains why.

I love Japanese food (and language), but I can't get into this book. Chapter one (Tokyo and sushi) is quite interesting, but after that the author keeps jumping from one topic to another and I couldn't keep up. I decided to just look at the pictures.I feel that the book should be split into more sub-chapters and include kanji for the difficult nouns and restaurant names. Reading 10 Japanese words written in unintelligible romaji in one page can really mess up your mind, even to a Japanese speaker like me.

Excellent narrative of travelling and eating in Japan, with attractive photography.Best read in parallel with Michael Booth's superb "Sushi and Beyond"

One of the best, maybe the best, of the new breed of food writing.

Bought as a gift for friends who were about to honeymoon in Japan and had rave reviews back.

Present for a friend who is going to live in Japan for a year, they really like it

Ok but not as good as I expected. Lovely photos though. And some of the essays meet expectations while others don't.