This is more of a slice of life and food story over a romance. Honestly, it was nice to see a story be like, "yes, these two men are a couple, moving on with how to make certain dishes!" This title was mostly a gentle and informative read, but there is mention of abuse, and social stigma. The various genres blended together make it something of a unique read. Now, I'm hungry.

What Did You Eat Yesterday? is quite nice, since it combines many elements and thus suits for different readers. The most I love about it is the fact that it portrays homosexual people in a normal and credible way. The series is surely slice of life and the core is, well, cooking of course. Shiro and Kenji are a couple in their forties. Shiro is a lawyer, who loves cooking and Kenji is a hairdresser. They live a simple life and the normality of it all is so refreshing and cutely mundane. They ponder about their relationship, past ones and Shiro's relationship with his parents with such a normalcy compared to other manga that I just loved it. There's humor too. At the same time nothing really happens in the series and it's still so entertaining.

The art is your usual Yoshinaga, so very adult-like and slightly 1990s. I'm not the biggest fan of the art, but it works well with the story. No wonder this has won prizes and has been made into TV series and whatnot. The best part still is the fact that our main characters are grown men and they look like it. I wish more manga like this was made! The cooking instructions and all are a good add-on too.

This is a manga following a middle-aged gay lawyer and his boyfriend. I really appreciate the discussions in the book about what it's like to be gay in Japan and how society sees them as well as the "gentle" homophobia (I know there's a better word for it but I can't recall it right now, but essentially what I mean is the kind of homophobia that is so common no one notices it's actually homophobic) the couple face in society.

Something that disappointed me was that pretty much half the book was cooking scenes and instructions. It almost felt like I was switching between a story of these two men and a cookbook. After reading half of it, I started skimming the cooking scenes because it didn't interest me. I was a lot more curious about the men's relationship to each other and to other people.

I do recommend this to anyone who enjoys slower slice-of-life mangas and wouldn't mind a lot of cooking scenes.

This was not the read I expected. It was nice but I felt like there wasn’t much story going on. Indeed, there are lots of scenes of Kakei just cooking and telling us what and how he is cooking. Hence, this is more like a recipe book with sometimes, a few anecdotes about Kakei and Yabuki’s life. Their relationship is cute and I enjoyed seeing their life but, I have to admit, I skipped most of the cooking scenes.
I would recommend it to people looking for new Japanese recipes.
3/5

I think it's quite obvious that I've found a new obsession in manga/graphic novels about food, so I was very excited to see 'What Did You Eat Yesterday?' pop up on Netgalley.

On the surface WDYEY is a Japanese manga which looks at a daily slice of life of Shiro & Kenji and what they eat. The graphics are beautiful, the food will have you drooling and its brimming with recipes and ideas of food to try.

Underneath the mouthwatering recipes and graphics is a beautiful look at a gay couple in Japan which combines the light (their daily adventures and silly everyday couple arguments) and the dark (judgmental families, lack of acceptance and fear of not being 'normal') of what it means to be part of the LGBTQ+ community in Japan.

This was written in 2007 so there were one or two comments which may have dated poorly but I genuinely don't believe it to be an intentional ignorance, more a sign of the times, therefore it didn't take away from my overall love for the book.

I really loved WDYEY and I'm already looking to get my hands on the other volumes!

I thought this was such an interesting manga. It’s about a lawyer who cooks elaborate dinners for him and his boyfriend. The manga includes some full recipes of the food he cooks, as well as some semi-recipes where he talks about the ingredients he adds and the cooking steps, but there’s a little less detail about amounts and times. It’s still a great guide though and all the food looks so yummy! I’d love to try some of these dishes, but most of the ingredients are a little hard to find in my local grocery store. Volume 2 looks like it has more recipes that I’d actually be able to try out, so I’m excited to read that volume! Apparently this is also a TV show so I’m going to have to check that out.

3.5/5 Stars

Review to come to blog/goodreads/etc.. on March 2nd.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I really loved Antique Bakery and I may have read some other works by Fumi Yoshinaga, so when I spotted this one on Netgalley I knew I had to request it! Food x LGBT x Fumi Yoshinaga's wonderful art, YAS please!

It is a question asked at times, a question that makes you think, because What did you eat yesterday? I can honestly say that I sometimes know the answer immediately, and sometimes I have to think about it for a bit. It is easier now that I make weekly menus, I can just check back. XD Yes, cheating, but hey. :P I had a laugh at how the book started with that and how Kakei totally summed up a whole menu (I wonder how he ate all that).  Like how? I wasn't a fan of how the people reacted when he left after that menu bomb shell, I mean, seriously? If you are good at it, as we can see Kakei is, then you can find some real gems for cheap. You just need to look!

And after that the story really starts! Including cooking which I hadn't expected, but I guess I should have expected it. Given how he makes elaborate menus and is checking all the supermarkets. But still! It was a nice touch and I loved that it kept coming back! We see various menus that Kakei is making for Ken. And while it seems like a ton of food, I still grew hungry and wanted to step into the manga to eat a few of the foods! Yum!

The rest of the volume is nice and calm. Slice of life along with food, about being gay, about both of their jobs (Kakei is lawyer whereas Ken works at a hair saloon), lots of conversations about all sorts of topics (often very interesting). It was really fun and calming to read, just what I needed on this day~

I would have loved just a bit more romance between the guys? I don't know, for most they just talked or bickered. And I just wanted to see just a tad more love between the two. Some kissing? Some hugs?

I wasn't sure how I felt about "I'm not bi anymore!" I understand that maybe he discovered he was just way more into boys and thus decided gay was a better way to address himself, but it did come more across as I went through that phase I am done with it. And that is something I read way too often about being bi. Bi is not a fucking phase. Bi is not something that means you are just not sure yet about what you like. No. Just no.  Also just because you marry the opposite gender doesn't mean you are straight. You are still Bi. *flips a table* This kind of crap can just stop. Really, I thought coming out as Bi, finally figuring out that yes, I liked boys and girls (and maybe more), would mean I would finally find a place, but I constantly read these kind of comments and given I married a guy.... *sighs*

I absolutely adored that there were recipes and tips on food/food process added! Though I had a bit of a laugh at the prices of food. Yeah, great you add that, but that won't work here. XD

The art was fun, though I liked the serious art of the sillier art. The food though was just heaven and I am now so hungry that I am glad that it is almost lunch time.

All in all, I really had fun reading it. Some things could be better (show us more relationship and stop with bi-erasure), but for most I flew through the book and I would like to read the next volume!

What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 1 is a wonderfully illustrated slice-of-life manga.

I saw the first episode of the drama based on this book and thought it was exciting, so I picked up this book to read. This volume introduces us to our main characters and their personalities when alone and together. They are sweet at times and sometimes frustrating with how they interact together. I'm not sure if it's because of how it's translated. I love how the food is illustrated and appreciated in this manga. But I don't particularly appreciate how some sensitive topics are brushed lightly in the story. I'm hoping things get better as the story progresses.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kodansha, for the eARC. But for full disclosure, this went on my archive folder because I forgot to download it immediately, so I went ahead to read this by borrowing a copy from my library.

DNF on page 16 after stumbling through the first oages and then falling into a huge trigger for me.

Thanks for the opportunity though!

When I requested this on NetGalley, I admit I was expecting something a little more romantic, but I was pleasantly surprised by the immediate coziness of this story. The relationship is already pre-established and what matters plot-wise instead is the little day to day details that make a life meaningful (simple human gestures or a dish, for instance).
The format is really interesting too, you get trips down memory lane or exchanges about a specific topic (usually it remains within the social sphere of the protagonists) and this all ends up being linked to food and cooking. That last aspect is predominant in the series (it seems) and I think it's safe to say you could read this as a recipe book even (the explanations are quite thorough)!
I do wish we could've seen a little more spark between the main couple but I'm hoping this might happen in a later volume. It looks like this was first published in 2007 so I'm glad a translation has finally made its way into my hands in 2022.

I should start by this... Do no read this book on an empty stomach! Kakei got me hankering for Japanese food in the middle of the night. As I read the vivid description of the delicious food he was preparing, I kept thinking of how many of these recipes I could actually attempt. I admit that I have watched the tv drama adaptation before, so I had an inkling of what to expect, however, I was quite surprised by the detailed cooking scenes.
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I came for the BL, expecting a sweet Shounen-ai, but I stayed for the food. This is quite the sweet wholesome story that would fall under the grumpy/sunshine trope. I shall read the rest of the volumes available soon and try my hand at a few recipes.
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I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha for this eARC.

I enjoyed reading this manga. It was a fast paced read and it was interesting to see little snippets of the character's lives. I loved how the manga talked about making food. I like how it included a recipes and random things about the dishes in the book. It was nice to see the LGBTQ community being represented in the manga. Though this manga is a light read it does talk about how people feel about the LGBTQ community and how they can be accepting of it as long as it isn't their own child. I found this refreshing and overall it was an excellent read.

I really loved the heartwarming relationship in this manga! I wouldn’t normally put a hairdresser and lawyer together, and seeing how they navigated their life together was lovely. My favourite moments were when they bantered and sat down together, sharing conversation over dinner, I really liked seeing the flashbacks to previous moments in their lives, and finding out more about their individual personalities.

I wasn’t as much of a fan of the heavy descriptions of cooking and food, but that’s to be expected for this kind of content. I really loved the simplicity of the art, and the characters were the reason I stayed. I’ll definitely be picking up volume 2.

I heard good things about this series, and I was in the mood for a calm slice of life manga, but this series didn’t hit the mark for me.

I enjoyed the recipes that are included. The food is delicious in what was described, and it was a good thing I ate before reading this. The main characters are fun, with great personalities, especially the hairdresser.

However, I didn’t buy that they were a couple. If it wasn’t mentioned in the text I never would’ve picked up on it based on body language. I would’ve thought they were roommates more than boyfriends, and there wasn’t any chemistry between them at all. It was hard to be invested in their relationship when they just didn’t convince me that they were one.

I do hope that improves as this is a cozy and light read to help pass the evening.

Such a wonderful manga about the healing nature of food and adult relationships. So glad this is getting a print release!

What a cute read! I loved how the recipes and instructions were all through the story. The characters were well developed and had their own lives and personalities. The illustrations were beautiful, though I did notice that Shiro looked different for a bit. What I didn’t like was the way Shiro treats his boyfriend. Shiro turns out to be very narcissistic and an extremely angry person for the majority of the volume. Only showing kindness and gentleness to others. I’m hoping in the next volume Shiro comes to terms with his sexuality and begins to embrace it more and feel more comfortable with it.

A delightful combination of food and the relationship of a lawyer and a hairdresser. I found this hilarious while it tackled misunderstandings in Japanese society of LGBT characters as well
No you’ll get fat! You’re too young to become a bear!

We follow slices of life of Kenji Yabuki - hairdresser and Shiro Kakei - foodie cheapskate lawyer with unnatural youthful looks. Shiro is more fleshed out in this first part, and he is the culinary wizard who makes this manga at least 1/4th a cookbook. He however is not out at work and has a rather fraught relationship with his parents, while Kenji is much more secure in his skin. There is definitely a lot of humor in this manga, but also serious topics are not shunned. Especially how Shiro is treated by his parents is rather sad. A quick and fun read that even makes one hungry for Japanese food, definitely a hit for me!

I was pleasantly surprised by the whole manga, I don't know what exactly I expected, but as you can guess from the title, a big part of this series is food. The basic premise is that one main guy is cooking for his boyfriend. The manga itself is interleaved with actual recipes, which was a nice addition. So there is an established couple (which I love) and they have the whole grumpy and sunshine thing going on.

It is not all nice and fluffy though. The manga follows a gay relationship in Japan and how it is viewed and mis/not/understood in Japan. A big part of it is also the fact that one guy, Shiro, is not out in his job and is paranoid about being seen as gay outside of his apartment, which is one of the conflicts between him and his boyfriend Kakei, who is out and wants to chitchat about his relationship with others. Shiro's parents are one of the people who view his gayness as a problem or a phase.

There is no real resolution to any of these problems, because a) this is just the first volume out of 19 (so far) and the manga is not one continuous story as much as slice-of-life snapshots of this couple's relationship. I'm curious to see if further into the series there will be a more solid story arc and if some of the issues introduced in the first volume will get a satisfying resolution.

Overall though, I highly recommend this, if you are looking for some more down-to-earth LGBT manga, that is not concerned as much with romance as the content and discontent of a couple's day-to-day life.

There wasn't much of a plot to this book, but I still enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for stories about chefs, and the art was amazing. However, I couldn't connect to any of the characters. Just an average book.
(arc from netgalley)

What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 1 by Fumi Yoshinaga

The art style for this series was really nice and clean and easy to read which I appreciate. I loved that it was unexpectedly half a cookbook alongside the story, but I did find the story a little lackluster and I wasn't particularly interested in any of the characters.