Oishinbo - Vol. 24 Ch. 226 - The Curry Showdown (Part 9)

[MangaDex]

 

[Mugiwara325]

And it's done! Hope you all enjoyed the extradited uploads. It'll be a long while before I do this again. My buffer vault is so empty now.

My plan is to do the daily upload only if the story arc spans 5 or more chapters. That's about when I feel the wait between chapters gets too much.

 

[babibola]

Thank you for your hard work

 

[thirtykei]

Another L for yamaoka

 

[Agoengss]

Shout out to the judges.

 

[TakesatoKeita]

Shout out to the judges.

Yeah, and even though Yamaoka only draws this time, it's always a pleasure to see Yuzan become completely gobsmacked when he realizes that he doesn't completely win the match.

 

[Mugiwara325]

Despite the judges' decision, I think Yamaoka lost this one. Yamaoka drawing against Kaibara because he 'looked at curry as an expression of freedom' feels like such a cop-out, especially when Yamaoka's 'freedom' basically meant 'going back to Japanese curry'. Even Yamaoka recognises it.

But of course, if the judges only judged on skill and fidelity every time, there's no way Yamaoka could beat Kaibara. Kariya has written Kaibara to be too formidable.

...That said, I would still demolish Yamaoka's crab curry. It sounds delicious.

 

[d_a_renoir]

Despite the judges' decision, I think Yamaoka lost this one. Yamaoka drawing against Kaibara because he 'looked at curry as an expression of freedom' feels like such a cop-out, especially when Yamaoka's 'freedom' basically meant 'going back to Japanese curry'. Even Yamaoka recognises it.

But of course, if the judges only judged on skill and fidelity every time, there's no way Yamaoka could beat Kaibara. Kariya has written Kaibara to be too formidable.

...That said, I would still demolish Yamaoka's crab curry. It sounds delicious.

I mean, Kaibara himself said that it's all about how you process the spices in such a way that it brings out the flavour well and fits best the other ingredient. Literally in this situation the problem is the base meat is also different, so it becomes apple vs oranges kind of thing.

The reason why they said the Supreme curry is better is that it's "more rich" and "has more depth". Fish and crab curries exist, and how you need to handle the spices for those would've been different than for meat like pork or beef or even chicken. Kaibara didn't bring a seafood curry to directly compare how he would've added that depth.

In the previous chapters they were often saying that seafood and fish tend to have a more subtle flavour, maybe seafood curries are just going to be inherently less rich than meat. Especially since they also keep harping on about making sure the ingredients' original flavour will still shine. Otherwise it'd also be a failure for overpowering the ingredients with the spices.

They also made this whole point of how even in India everyone does it differently, so basically the main idea was that "curry" is just home cooking with spices. That's why the angle of Japanese palate comes in. At the end of the day everyone in question are Japanese. If you go by the principle of "it's home cooking/everyday food", Yamaoka's idea of adapting it to a more Japanese style is not a cop out.

 

[Mugiwara325]

I mean, Kaibara himself said that it's all about how you process the spices in such a way that it brings out the flavour well and fits best the other ingredient. Literally in this situation the problem is the base meat is also different, so it becomes apple vs oranges kind of thing.

The reason why they said the Supreme curry is better is that it's "more rich" and "has more depth". Fish and crab curries exist, and how you need to handle the spices for those would've been different than for meat like pork or beef or even chicken. Kaibara didn't bring a seafood curry to directly compare how he would've added that depth.

In the previous chapters they were often saying that seafood and fish tend to have a more subtle flavour, maybe seafood curries are just going to be inherently less rich than meat. Especially since they also keep harping on about making sure the ingredients' original flavour will still shine. Otherwise it'd also be a failure for overpowering the ingredients with the spices.

They also made this whole point of how even in India everyone does it differently, so basically the main idea was that "curry" is just home cooking with spices. That's why the angle of Japanese palate comes in. At the end of the day everyone in question are Japanese. If you go by the principle of "it's home cooking/everyday food", Yamaoka's idea of adapting it to a more Japanese style is not a cop out.

Your comment really made me think hard about how I feel about the verdict. It's honestly fascinating, and a perspective I hadn't considered much, but I think you're right. The judges being Japanese is apparently an important factor.

Catering the food to the judging panel is an element that was brought into contention during the Raw Meat Showdown, where it was presented as something you cannot ignore. Given that precedent, Yamaoka's curry does in fact follow through with established advantageous factors, so the draw is valid. Nonetheless, I still feel an errant dissatisfaction, which I also think is part of the author's intent. Through Yamaoka's irritation, and Kurita's having to convince him later, I think it stands to reason that even Yamaoka believes his curry is at least technically inferior.

I can at least admit it's not actually a cop out.