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愛がなくても喰ってゆけます。
こんなに食べてすいません……!!
美味しい料理に群がるちょっとヘンテコな愛すべき面々の食欲全開ライフを描いた、よしながふみの初グルメ・ショートショート。「エロティクスF」連載当初から「夜中に読むと空腹が刺激されて危険…」と話題を読んだ人気シリーズ全13話に加え、描きおろし2話収録、よしながふみオススメの東京うまい店ガイド＆MAPつきの豪華版。
この本片手に紹介されたお店をたずねるもよし、読んでも見ても楽しい1冊です。
美味しい料理に群がるちょっとヘンテコな愛すべき面々の食欲全開ライフを描いた、よしながふみの初グルメ・ショートショート。「エロティクスF」連載当初から「夜中に読むと空腹が刺激されて危険…」と話題を読んだ人気シリーズ全13話に加え、描きおろし2話収録、よしながふみオススメの東京うまい店ガイド＆MAPつきの豪華版。
この本片手に紹介されたお店をたずねるもよし、読んでも見ても楽しい1冊です。
152 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
2 people are currently reading
217 people want to read
About the author
Fumi Yoshinaga
148 books248 followersJapanese: よしなが ふみ
Fumi Yoshinaga (よしなが ふみ Yoshinaga Fumi, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and shōnen-ai works.
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo.
In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated."
Little is known about her personal life. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of Solfege.
She debuted in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in Hanaoto magazine, but was previously a participant in comic markets.
Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.
Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original doujinshi on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.
Fumi Yoshinaga (よしなが ふみ Yoshinaga Fumi, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and shōnen-ai works.
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo.
In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated."
Little is known about her personal life. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of Solfege.
She debuted in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in Hanaoto magazine, but was previously a participant in comic markets.
Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.
Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original doujinshi on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
October 26, 2011
I recently wrote about Kingyo Used Books and how much I wanted to really like the series but found myself constantly disconnected by its references to comic book series that not only had I never read but series that were entirely unavailable to me as a reader on American shores. The book was amusing enough but there was no real point of contact with the characters as they have their lives affected in meaningful ways by manga. Certainly I can understand that a book might offer some catharsis or personal breakthrough if experienced at just the right period in one's life, but that's nearly as oblique as saying things that happen can be meaningful to the people they happen to. Without sharing in the specific honoured cultural artifact (in Kingyo's case, a particular comic), it's all too abstract to be engaging.
So I was worried when I picked up Not Love but Delicious Foods Makes Me So Happy and found that it was a non-fictional collection of restaurant reviews by Fumi Yoshinaga. I feared, I think understandably, the very same disconnect that governed my experience of Kingyo. I was concerned that what might be a good book would remain beyond my ability to ascertain. Fortunately, Not Love is more than just a celebration of Tokyo restaurants that I will never have the opportunity to set foot in.
While it's true that in every chapter food is sampled at a particular restaurant and then that restaurant is discussed in terms of dishes, cost, service, and ambiance, the book is really about Yoshinaga herself. Or maybe it's about Y-naga. Fumi Yoshinaga's in-story analogue is F-mi Y-naga—and she introduces herself like so:
I'm not sure where the fact and fiction begin and end with Yoshinaga's depiction of herself, but I'll just roll with what the reader is given. Y-naga is a mangaka who mostly draws yaoi (comics about handsome young men romancing handsome young men). She's a bit of a slob, but she'll dress up well (I guess) in order to go out for dinner at a nice place. Because there is one true love in Y-naga's life: food.
So far as a book of restaurant reviews, Not Love is fascinating because Y-naga only visits restaurants she adores and so never has anything bad to say about any of them. Instead, she rhapsodizes over each dish and tries to force her dining companions (which usually include her longsuffering assistant, S-hara) to love food as much as she does. Her foodie experiences, as Yoshinaga reports them, are more an opportunity to see Y-naga's dysfunctional, perverted personality on display. And that's why Not Love is such a fun little book—despite the fact that I cannot connect with the restaurants (or, let's be honest, the dishes) that make up the backdrop of Y-naga's disaster of a life.
But really, though the book builds Y-naga up as a social calamity and makes it pretty clear that she'll probably never find love, it seems equally clear that she might not even need romance. I mean, it's even there in the title. She's a foodie's foodie. Dining plays surrogate for her passions and though she exhibits a kinky appetite that remains starved, she still functions as a whole person, despite her lack. Food really does seem to satisfy her. At least mostly.
[A Goukon is basically a speed-dating event.]
I enjoyed Not Love but Delicious Foods Makes Me So Happy far more than I expected because the book was not what it seemed. Instead of boring, it was crazy. The end.
[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]
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August 8, 2020Wish I could go to Tokyo to try all this food! 😭😭
December 31, 2010
No stars for entire lack of plot...although I did get hungrier with the turn of every page...so 2 stars in total.
May 23, 2021
Cartoon restaurant reviews for places you’ll never go. It should be boring - more than half the shots are just lo-res black and white drawings of food. But it’s not boring, because the dining is consolation for lovelessness and the sublimation of desires.
Yoshinaga depicts herself as a hot mess (with ultrafeminine and antifeminine, childish and elderly forms), but energetic and sincere in using food as alternative to romance. Most media seem to underestimate the sheer power and meaning of our interests (“hobbies” doesn’t serve because it connotes littleness, secondariness). How many people centre on them, instead of on families, jobs, churches?
The Japanese obsession with marriage, as sine qua non of a respectable life, is funny from where I’m standing (how Regency this country is!) but is of course no bloody fun for those trammelled into it. I don’t see it being challenged much. How did the West get over it?
I liked all the foodie detail even though or because I’m no foodie. They do plate sharing, which I like the idea of but can’t imagine getting away with in most British restaurants.
The letterer decided to contract all the names (Yoshinaga -> “Y-naga”), possibly as a legal / privacy thing. For some reason I couldn’t get used to this and got oddly aphasic over it.
Read while hungry.
listen. There are between four and six hours in the day where I am neither working or sleeping. During all of that time, I think about food. Or, depending on the work, I might spend work hours on food too. Since I’ve given that much of my life to food, don’t you think food owes me a bit of payback?
Yoshinaga depicts herself as a hot mess (with ultrafeminine and antifeminine, childish and elderly forms), but energetic and sincere in using food as alternative to romance. Most media seem to underestimate the sheer power and meaning of our interests (“hobbies” doesn’t serve because it connotes littleness, secondariness). How many people centre on them, instead of on families, jobs, churches?
The Japanese obsession with marriage, as sine qua non of a respectable life, is funny from where I’m standing (how Regency this country is!) but is of course no bloody fun for those trammelled into it. I don’t see it being challenged much. How did the West get over it?
I liked all the foodie detail even though or because I’m no foodie. They do plate sharing, which I like the idea of but can’t imagine getting away with in most British restaurants.
Apologies for the high percentage of entrails. The fact is that Y-naga would die for gizzards, hearts, and liver.
The letterer decided to contract all the names (Yoshinaga -> “Y-naga”), possibly as a legal / privacy thing. For some reason I couldn’t get used to this and got oddly aphasic over it.
Read while hungry.
January 1, 2011
As a huge fan of Yoshinaga-sensei, particularly her food-oriented Antique Bakery, I simply had to get this book. It does not disappoint.
The characters are amusing and varied, the descriptions of foods from each restaurant explored in the manga are worthy of the best restaurant critics, and the art is lively and detailed.
I have to wonder about the usual disclaimer that the characters are not based on real people. I like to think that at least a few of the details about "Y-naga" reflect the manga-ka's personality. Certainly the love of food must be true!
This is great fun for older-teen and adult manga fans who love food and humor, whether they're Yoshinaga fans or not.
The characters are amusing and varied, the descriptions of foods from each restaurant explored in the manga are worthy of the best restaurant critics, and the art is lively and detailed.
I have to wonder about the usual disclaimer that the characters are not based on real people. I like to think that at least a few of the details about "Y-naga" reflect the manga-ka's personality. Certainly the love of food must be true!
This is great fun for older-teen and adult manga fans who love food and humor, whether they're Yoshinaga fans or not.
June 5, 2015
This is literally all about food. It lived up to the title, completely. The places are real, the ppl are not. The way the names were abbreviated was very difficult to follow. I understood why, but it didn't help much. Also, all of the food descriptions were difficult to follow. This is one that I am very glad that I checked out of the library instead of owning. I'm not even sad about not having more to read of this.
February 10, 2016
It's a book about food. With tidbits of the characters lives in it. Pretty boring if your not a foodie or your not familiar with the foods being talked about. I have to give credit to the author though for doing all this research on different restaurants, locations, and times.
June 22, 2018
The characters ranged from awful to meh, but the food almost made up for it. I'm so hungry now.
July 20, 2022
Would be a neat culinary guidebook.
August 30, 2016
This was my birthday present to my best friend, who is currently single and definitely loves delicious food. Of course I borrowed it back and read it myself.
I am not a foodie, at all, and I am also a vegetarian, so it was kind of strange for me to read this. I will never eat most of the foods described, because most of them are seafood or pork or something like that. Apart from the desserts, the only food described that I really wanted to try was a bagel sandwich! I can only imagine that it must be heavenly or frustrating to read this book while wanting to eat everything that the characters get to try...
The written descriptions of food are certainly meant to make readers want to try things, but I'm not sure the pictures are intended in the same way. After all, they're black-and-white line drawings -- definitely not the best way to make food seem most appetizing! In fact, the narrative immediately rejects the idea of emulating food photography: the first time the protagonist goes out to review a restaurant, the running joke is that she always forgets to take a reference photo until after she's devoured everything on the plate.
What the drawings really do is convey the experience of eating, and in this they are amazing: an array of blissful/jubilant/ecstatic facial expressions of people eating the most delicious thing possible -- eating messily and spilling food everywhere -- and especially, the protagonist watching with great pride as her friend properly appreciates a recommended dish. Food is an art, but a social art.
(I liked the plot, too, what there was of it -- I think the best way to read this book is to go in expecting very entertaining guides to very good restaurants, and then be pleasantly surprised that there's something of a story as well, and that the recurring characters are in search of something. And you have to believe the narrator that Y-Naga and her roommate/assistant are really, seriously not meant to be in a relationship.)
I am not a foodie, at all, and I am also a vegetarian, so it was kind of strange for me to read this. I will never eat most of the foods described, because most of them are seafood or pork or something like that. Apart from the desserts, the only food described that I really wanted to try was a bagel sandwich! I can only imagine that it must be heavenly or frustrating to read this book while wanting to eat everything that the characters get to try...
The written descriptions of food are certainly meant to make readers want to try things, but I'm not sure the pictures are intended in the same way. After all, they're black-and-white line drawings -- definitely not the best way to make food seem most appetizing! In fact, the narrative immediately rejects the idea of emulating food photography: the first time the protagonist goes out to review a restaurant, the running joke is that she always forgets to take a reference photo until after she's devoured everything on the plate.
What the drawings really do is convey the experience of eating, and in this they are amazing: an array of blissful/jubilant/ecstatic facial expressions of people eating the most delicious thing possible -- eating messily and spilling food everywhere -- and especially, the protagonist watching with great pride as her friend properly appreciates a recommended dish. Food is an art, but a social art.
(I liked the plot, too, what there was of it -- I think the best way to read this book is to go in expecting very entertaining guides to very good restaurants, and then be pleasantly surprised that there's something of a story as well, and that the recurring characters are in search of something. And you have to believe the narrator that Y-Naga and her roommate/assistant are really, seriously not meant to be in a relationship.)
December 29, 2010
Funny and just a touch sad, this manga is a great slice of the mangaka's life. Each chapter of the manga is a time she and her foodie friends go out to eat, with reviews and recommendations. But what really brings it to life are the little hints into Yoshinaga and her friends' lives. Tiny tidbits squeezed between food descriptions really make them into three dimensional people that you want to see do well and find happiness.
June 4, 2014
La sinopsis pintaba muy bien. Hay alguna situacion divertida y ya esta. No hacen mas que hablar de comida y ya esta. Hay un hilo conductor de la historia mas o menos pero el final no es final porque no pasa nada. No lo recomiendo. Solo si te gusta la comida asiatica y la conoces bien.
August 30, 2015
Blargh.
For food manga - I recommend Oishinbo and for wine manga I recommend Drops of God. This book was terrible. No intrigue at all and not informative (like the aforementioned).
For food manga - I recommend Oishinbo and for wine manga I recommend Drops of God. This book was terrible. No intrigue at all and not informative (like the aforementioned).
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July 23, 2019This is a very specific niche - restaurant mini-reviews in manga form!
September 17, 2024
this is basically a sorta autobio by the mangaka of long-running BL series "What Did You Eat Yesterday?". it's from 2005, so there's some dated humor (sexism, transmisogynistic joke near the end, arguably homophobic joke about the nature of her work), but not nearly as much as I expected + it had elements that surprised me in their more progressive nature (her being super attracted to a fat friend was refreshing to see!). it was cool seeing that the mangaka behind such a food-focused manga like WDYEY is just as into food herself and has a lot of knowledge to back it up. I also honestly appreciated her talking to her gay friend about her yaoi works and how that conversation was handled. it's got a lot of elements of 2000s josei manga that I like, so it was an enjoyable enough read for me but I wouldn't say it's a must-buy unless you're nostalgic for 2000s autobio comics or like 2000s josei as much as I do!
May 7, 2018
Fumi Yoshinaga loves food (it comes through in pretty much every page of What Did You Eat Yesterday?) and this... semi-autobiographical? manga is a beautiful, hilarious ode to eating out. The cast of characters is endearing (especially F-naga and S-hara's decidedly unromantic friendship) but the descriptions of the different restaurants rightfully take center stage. If I'm ever in Japan, I hope I can visit some of them!
July 28, 2020
The first third is rough/slow/flat, the second third shows improvement and the final third becomes the manga advertised in the synopsis. On one hand I was left feeling satisfied but it is hard to recommend this as the quality is inconsistent. But I do want to check out her other food related work so I can't tell you to avoid this. Pick it up cheap I guess. 🤷
December 26, 2024
I liked the idea of this book, especially the use of Japanese restaurants and their popular dishes, but it missed the mark for me. I didn’t care for the characters at all, and honestly, disliked the main girl. I would’ve much preferred to just straight up read a manga version of a restaurant guide with reviews for the dishes without the pointless dialogue.
August 21, 2019
Reread in 2019
I am not a foodie, but it is still fascinating to read foodie-targeted manga. Yoshinaga’s love for cooking and dining shine through; you do want to visit these places she has recommended.
I am not a foodie, but it is still fascinating to read foodie-targeted manga. Yoshinaga’s love for cooking and dining shine through; you do want to visit these places she has recommended.
October 4, 2018
It made me hungry, but there's really not a story here, and I don't have access to these kinds of foods.
May 8, 2019
This book was a wild ride of so many delicious foods!
December 8, 2020
It's a restaurant guide for 2009 Tokyo. It's informational but the description and discussion of food seems repetitive. The author/translator uses the term "so good" so often.
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March 2, 2022好餓
March 13, 2022
Fun and quintessentially Yoshinaga.
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September 19, 2025I'm so fucking hungry
February 23, 2017
A little to autobiographical for my taste. You have to be a big fan of Yoshinaga to really enjoy this.
December 22, 2014
Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy follows the main character and her friends as they visit their favorite Tokyo restaurants. The restaurants are all real and the focal point of each ten page chapter is essentially a review of the food. I say "essentially" because since these are all places the author obviously recommends the chapters are more incredibly detailed descriptions of various dishes than reviews. A wide variety of cuisines are represented in the fifteen chapters.
I wanted to like this more than I did. The idea of food reviews via manga is intriguing, but I found the execution very dry. The art is decent and the food pretty well represented, but not to the point where it transcends the black and white palette and gives you a real idea of what the food looks like. That leaves the heavy lifting to written descriptions of the food. It's very precisely done but becomes tedious after a while, particularly since it's done as dialogue. There's no story propping these verbose, overly detailed descriptions up. The characters are just there as a framework and for some comedy beats (which are hit and miss). Despite a disclaimer in the front the characters are pretty obviously at least based off the author and her friends. I found the weird nickname style aliases really distracting.
I think it all would have worked better with longer chapters allowing for more story to break up and compliment the gushing over dish after dish. Also, reading a long description of food doesn't capture my senses or really pull me in. If it was approached a little differently or if I lived around Tokyo and could actually go to these restaurants it would likely be a different story.
Overall Not Love But Delicious Foods was a bit disappointing, but was still a worthwhile read for what it attempts and the care that obviously went into it.
I wanted to like this more than I did. The idea of food reviews via manga is intriguing, but I found the execution very dry. The art is decent and the food pretty well represented, but not to the point where it transcends the black and white palette and gives you a real idea of what the food looks like. That leaves the heavy lifting to written descriptions of the food. It's very precisely done but becomes tedious after a while, particularly since it's done as dialogue. There's no story propping these verbose, overly detailed descriptions up. The characters are just there as a framework and for some comedy beats (which are hit and miss). Despite a disclaimer in the front the characters are pretty obviously at least based off the author and her friends. I found the weird nickname style aliases really distracting.
I think it all would have worked better with longer chapters allowing for more story to break up and compliment the gushing over dish after dish. Also, reading a long description of food doesn't capture my senses or really pull me in. If it was approached a little differently or if I lived around Tokyo and could actually go to these restaurants it would likely be a different story.
Overall Not Love But Delicious Foods was a bit disappointing, but was still a worthwhile read for what it attempts and the care that obviously went into it.
October 10, 2014
No, sorry, not for me.
At first, I thought it was really charming, love the drawings, the play between the caricature and more realistic images, and the food, of course! There is a lot to love in that book, if this is what you like.
But after the 6th chapter, I was done. It gets so repetitive…
All the chapters follow the same pattern, and All the food is always delicious.
That conversation repeat in each chapter of the book.
-This is so good! and this is so good, and this is so good!
-Right?
The slice of life part is too small compare to the description of the meals for my taste.
Or maybe I am just jealous because I will never be able to taste theses dishes.
For slice of life, Paul is much better Paul Has a Summer Job
As for food, I'd rather read Addicted to Curry Vol. 1 At least there is a story and recipes!
At first, I thought it was really charming, love the drawings, the play between the caricature and more realistic images, and the food, of course! There is a lot to love in that book, if this is what you like.
But after the 6th chapter, I was done. It gets so repetitive…
All the chapters follow the same pattern, and All the food is always delicious.
That conversation repeat in each chapter of the book.
-This is so good! and this is so good, and this is so good!
-Right?
The slice of life part is too small compare to the description of the meals for my taste.
Or maybe I am just jealous because I will never be able to taste theses dishes.
For slice of life, Paul is much better Paul Has a Summer Job
As for food, I'd rather read Addicted to Curry Vol. 1 At least there is a story and recipes!
February 11, 2011
I, also, would prefer dumplings over flowers. The food is drawn to look delicious and the descriptions are wonderful and it makes me want to plan a culinary trip to Japan despite the fact that I do not really like fish and there is barely anything in the manga that I would probably be tempted by in real life! I definitely connected with the idea that Y-naga spends most of her waking life thinking about food and it kind of owes her. I am also sympathetic to the idea that she dumped a guy because he wasn't a food person. I know many "eat to live" type people and it can be such a drag to go out to eat with them. My husband and I are like Y-naga, we get a lot of the meal's pleasure from talking about it before and afterward.
So, there's no plot, but the focused friendship is very sweet and reading about food is always fun.
So, there's no plot, but the focused friendship is very sweet and reading about food is always fun.
September 15, 2015
If you liked Oishinbo you'll probably get a kick out of this. Mangaka Fumi Yoshinaga gives a glimpse into a version of her everyday life via a lead character called 'Y-naga', and a group of friends with similarly badly hidden fake names. I get the feeling the book is written loosely based on herself and her friends, with some details tweaked or embellished to make a better story (tho I have no idea if that is really the case).
Anyway, the meat of the book is based around visiting their favourite restaurants in Tokyo and enjoying/decribing many of the dishes at each one. The restaurants are real and factual information about each restaurant is given at the end of each chapter - perhaps not super-useful if you're not living in Tokyo, but it makes for a unique foody manga volume (of which there aren't an awfut lot to choose from with English translations).
Anyway, the meat of the book is based around visiting their favourite restaurants in Tokyo and enjoying/decribing many of the dishes at each one. The restaurants are real and factual information about each restaurant is given at the end of each chapter - perhaps not super-useful if you're not living in Tokyo, but it makes for a unique foody manga volume (of which there aren't an awfut lot to choose from with English translations).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews