Cookbook of the week: "Rice, Noodle, Fish" by Matt Goulding (An Anthony Bourdain Book, Harper Wave, $35)
Imagine a Lonely Planet guide crossed with an issue of Lucky Peach and you’ll have something like this book, which isn’t a cookbook at all but a tour through Japan’s food culture. Goulding, who co-created the book series “Eat This, Not That!,” teamed with Anthony Bourdain’s HarperCollins imprint for the book, and the narrative is predictably circuitous and idiosyncratic, entertaining and definitely mouth-watering. Starting with Tokyo and then traveling through the main regions of Japan, Goulding offers advice on eating in izakayas; gives profiles of yakitori chefs, okonomiyaki cooks and sushi masters; detours into a “gaijin glossary” and a convenience store survival guide; and generally tells stories. There are many terrific photos and bits about things like onsen (Japanese baths) and natto (fermented soybeans) that are fundamental to Japanese culture. Whether you’re the sort of person who brakes for a new ramen-ya or a neophyte who still thinks that a California roll is an acceptable sushi bar order, you’ll have fun, learn some things — and probably start looking up flights to Narita on Kayak after reading a few pages.
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