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

With Anthony Bourdain's blessing (the foreword reveals the correspondence that amounted to the book's conception), Goulding, editor and cofounder of Roads & Kingdoms, successfully illuminates the vast and deep yet acute and precise palatal scale that is Japanese cuisine—using words. Encompassing Japan's seven key regions and focusing on their various shokunin (deeply, singularly dedicated culinary artisans), the author peels back the layers of access and entry (he doesn't speak a lick of Japanese), tradition, and history through the lens of food. Transcending the deceptive simplicity of its title, this book explores a cuisine and culture so rich and refined as to feel 3-D in a flat world. And while both the task and universe are immense (mind-bendingly so: New York has 30,000 restaurants; Tokyo has 300,000, and holds the world per-city Michelin star crown), he navigates its dimensions with ease, oscillating seamlessly between surface and intensity, long thoughts and cheat sheets. Goulding, who coauthored Eat This, Not That! with David Zincozenko, has a knack for the bullet, and such graphic nutshells are optimally portioned throughout: "The Rules of Sushi," "Wagyu 101," "Art of Gift Giving," "Vending Machine Survival Guide," "One Night with the Salarymen," "The Beauty of Bento," etc.