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「ぢゅるるんっ、ごくん。」 (Jururun, Gokun.)
“Slurp, Gulp.”
Judging by last week’s response to everyone’s love or indifference for Chinese food, I feel quite ecstatic that there’s such an open community here on RC that enjoys talking about food. I no longer feel shame in discussing all the things that I love or dislike to eat! With that said, I seriously crave some somen now. I’ve never tried traditional somen by sending it down a bamboo stalk and there’s no doubt that I really want to try it now. It looks so fun and tests your abilities to use chopsticks precisely because you know… somen is actually a very thin and delicate noodle that it’ll slip away easily if it wasn’t dropped in groups. Even as someone that uses chopsticks regularly, trying to catch one noodle in flowing water is super difficult! For those that have never had somen, it reminds me a lot of vermicelli or angel hair pasta that’s slightly thicker and has more “bite” to it. Like zaru soba, you dunk it into sauce and normally it’s consumed cold (but I won’t judge you if you eat it hot). Talking about it now only makes me want it more… You know what it reminds me a lot of? If anyone’s ever had naengmyeon or Korean cold noodles, I feel like it tastes like that but the sauce and booth are different. The texture of the noodle is similar.
Someone mentioned before that Koufuku Graffiti isn’t an anime that teaches you how to cook and you’re right, there’s very little actual “learning” in this anime. If you’ve been misled, then I’m sorry… but on the flip side, I think Koufuku Graffiti introduces a lot of new foods that people may not have seen or heard of before. It’s also great at showing different ways of consuming the typical omurice or somen. It’ll definitely never make me a better chef but you’re not going to learn to cook without trying it yourself and practicing. Like Ryou’s grandmother – I’ve had to make the same thing many times before getting it the way that I like it (or others like it). Baking is even more difficult because it’ll either be a success or absolute failure and it’s hard to save once it comes out of the oven.
As for the actual happenings of this episode, I loved its focus on Shiina. Since episode 2, I said she has this cool demeanor that just makes me want to get to know her more. Obviously a look into her home is the best way but who would’ve thought she owned so much land… and a pond too. Shiina’s mother was not who I expected, but after seeing the maid with the tomato, I knew Kirin probably had the wrong person. My mother and I are quite similar so it makes me wonder how Shiina developed a personality opposite of her own mother’s (perhaps her father). Either way, it’s cute how the show branches out to talk about other people and things outside of Ryou and Kirin. I appreciate the anime stepping away from the food sometimes because it has potential to be a much better slice-of-life series than people give it credit for. When Koufuku Graffiti uses food to bring people together and share moments in their life, I think that’s when the show shines best.
Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: Wow… it’s -20 degrees outside and #KoufukuGraffiti actually has me craving some cold somen! Damnit! orz. Loved seeing more of Shiina and her mom is adorable. Reminds me of my own mom =3 #KoufukuGraffiti
Preview
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End Card
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Wow…. Even after having a sumptious lunch, watching a Shinna and noodle centric episode makes me want to have noodles now!
Noodles must be eaten with chopsticks in order to savour the moment and the entire dish
I love that about food; you can always discover a dish that may or may not be delicious, developing your own food palate from each experience.
This is the beauty of food to me~
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As always, thank you for the coverage of Koufuku Graffiti, Cherrie and Random Curiosity!
Thank you for reading =)
I love writing about food so it comes naturally to me to want to spread the love ~
Thinking of blogging Shokugeki no Souma next season? 🙂
… the more I look at this… the more I think I wanna watch it! XD and eat
I really can’t watch the preview once. It has to be re-watched again and again to understand the preview, appreciate the art, listen to the catchy tune, and be mesmerized by the insane dancing.
There’s always room for somen even if it’s -20 deg. It’s the activity that counts the most! 😛 Now I’m craving for some Korean noodles. haha
I needed to have noodles for lunch after this. It wasn’t somen, sadly, but close enough to stop the craving that was killing me. I’ve seen this nagashi somen in some anime before, but it wasn’t until now that I actually thought it might be real.
On comedy front, Tsuyoko-san letting the compliments get to her head and then make mistakes, and Shiina’s mom commenting on everyone’s eating habits were just brilliant.
BTW Cherrie, I would guess Shiina got that personality from Tsuyoko, who’s apparently been around ever since she was small. Ryou and Kirin even commented on how similar they are.
The part before opening sure was SHAFTy ^^”
Maybe next week we’ll finally get some sushi, at least it’s on the preview! And what a pretty image of sushi it is, BTW. All those rice grains.
Good catch! I didn’t pick up on that but I guess it’s easy for children to adopt the personality of whoever they’re around most. I think Shiina and Tsuyoko look more like sisters than anything else… but that might because Tsuyoko looks so young >_<
Shiina did mention after the maid appeared with the hatchets that her mother used to be busy with work while the maid helped out around the house. She probably picked up her habits from the maid because of that, and hence why Ryou and Kirin thought that they were practically twins.
Had a good laugh when the mother made the comment that its good to know her daughter isn’t the only one who looks like they are having an orgasmic experience when she is eating during the somen scene 🙂
Really want to try Nagashi somen just once. Sarusoba is my favorite japanese dish.
With all this food porn, they had better include recipe books with the DVD’s. 😛
Very enjoyable, I think it become my healing anime of the season (not really healing as some primary example, but boosting eating mood is a great bonus).
Imagine if it wasn’t animated by SHAFT. While I will miss some quirkyness and head tilts, I think some studios could boost the heartwarming point significantly. I still liked what I got here, despite of thinking that combination of sensual foodgasm and peaceful/happy/heartwarming atmosphere is kinda odd.
No problem for myself, it just make recommending this series become harder lol.
P.s On the other hand, this series has very awesome lineup of music, from MaayaxRasmus Faber OP, that Round Table composed ED, very playful BGM to dat hypnotic preview song+cute chibi antics…