Local Manga Coverage

Can you tell that San Diego Comic-Con International is starting tonight? For us natives, local media coverage is focused on the four-and-a-half day event that boosts the area economy and brings thousands of people to the Convention Center.

You cannot imagine my glee this morning when I saw an article on cooking manga on the front page of the Food section in The San Diego Union-Tribune. Features writer Peter Rowe takes a moment to review the wide variety of manga, with a focus on food-related titles like Kitchen Princess, Iron Wok Jan, Oishinbo and others.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

To master dashi, a Japanese fish stock, you could consult a cookbook or an “Iron Chef” rerun. But for clear, step-by-step instructions, you may be better served by heeding Yamaoka Shiro, an impulsive Japanese reporter.

In a Tokyo restaurant one night, Yamaoka learns that the chef has quit after a boorish diner insulted his food. Commandeering the kitchen, the journalist slices wafer-thin flakes of dried bonito, katsuobushi, a key dashi ingredient.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

The online arm of The San Diego Union-Tribune, SignonSanDiego.com, also created a great video on my local manga shop, Rising Sun Creations. In it, owner Ed Sherman describes the vast variety of manga genres. You can view it here.

I'll be attending most of San Diego Comic-Con International and attending quite a few manga panels. You can follow my exploits downtown via my Twitter account for the next few days. First up, tonight's Tweetup event, followed by a three-day whirlwind of activity and a possible fourth day on Sunday -- it all depends on whether I have the energy to continue!