The Solitary Gourmet delight in finding the extra in the ordinary and is now translated into English for the first time
Written by Kusumi and illustrated by Taniguchi, The Solitary Gourmet is a manga that originally ran in Japanese from 1994 to 2015, was subsequently made into a cult live-action TV series starring Yutaka Matsushige and is now translated into English for the first time. Nothing much happens in both the manga and the TV show. But don’t let that put you off; instead, embrace it. Both manga and TV show delight in finding the extra in the ordinary; in the case of this collection, 32 chapters titled after dishes ranging from stir-fried pork with rice to the ‘Economy Set’ at the University of Tokyo (with forays into Algerian and Peruvian cuisine, weiner curry – the sausage is stuffed with fishmeat, the curry sauce contains land-harvested meat, so let’s call this one Japanese – as well as a ‘back street pizza’ in Tokyo and late-night convenience-store snacks). Our guide on this practical culinary odyssey is salesman Gorō Inogashira, who more or less randomly drops into restaurants as he goes about his business (wandering Japan) and mulls over nuggets of wisdom like this one (as he’s contemplating cutting down on the wandering and opening a permanent shopfront): ‘much like with a marriage, if you’re careless about deciding to run a store, you just end up with more things you need to look after’. Or, while looking for a pot plant: ‘the thing about a cactus is… it grows in the lonesome desert, where people don’t go… you feel that desolation of the desert coming at you from the cactus… and that helps me forget about all the dizzying frenzy of the day’. Along the way Gorō navigates the etiquettes of various local eateries, analysing the food (which is lovingly drawn by Taniguchi, and annotated with precise details of each ingredient by Kusumi to the extent that, while it’s perfect for those addicted to food porn, it’s also great for those in need of a less perverse guide to quick eats to look out for in Japan), the other customers (including housewives sneaking out for a meal they like before preparing their families something they don’t) and the locales, and, as those previous quotations, with their advocacy of sole trading, might suggest, highlighting the pleasures of dining solo. It’s cheaper than therapy and you’ll never want to chow down with anyone else again.
The Solitary Gourmet by Jiro Taniguchi & Masayuki Kusumi, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian. Fanfare /Ponent Mon, £30 (hardcover)
From the Winter 2025 issue of ArtReview Asia – get your copy.
