Continuing with the theme of Japanese food, I decided that I wanted to look at some of the history of Japanese food and how they developed into the modern day forms that we know (ramen, sushi, fried chicken, etc). However, I have to do more research to see exactly what materials are available in English. What little I do know is that Osaka is generally considered the “food capital” of Japan, and there is even a saying that Osaka is “bringing ruin upon oneself by extravagance in food.” I wanted to narrow down the idea even further to how Osaka became the center for “Japanese fried food” but I’ve hit a few dead ends in searching specifically about fried food and also pieces on Osaka specifically.

There is one book, “Sushi and Beyond: One Family’s Remarkable Journey Through the Greatest Food Nation on Earth,” by Michael Booth that I found via Google that seems to be about Japanese food in general. Michael Booth seems to be an accomplished writer for a variety of magazines and newspapers from what I can find, but I don’t really know what else could possibly make him a “qualified” writer. Is just being published in a magazine or newspaper enough?

Further searches on the UT libraries search engine seemed to show that looking for “Japan cuisine” and “Japanese food” will net me almost different results for the top 5. Is anyone else experimenting with their search queries? “Japanese food” seemed to give me, on average, older books in the top 5 while “Japan cuisine” gave me some results post-2000. I find it interesting that just synonyms can make a large difference.