Sushi & Beyond, By Michael Booth

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In his previous food memoir Booth put himself through a Cordon Bleu course in Paris for the self-flagellating reason that he was "a worthless fraud".

His decision to move his family to Japan was prompted by an equally redemptive motive. "For every Michelin star I had sampled, it seemed that I had added one of the company's tyres to my waist." Japanese food squares the circle; it is satisfying and tasty without being fattening.

Booth writes well about its production, such as the marinade and massage of cattle required for wagyu. The reader will learn much about one of great cuisines of the world. A joky narrative seems intended to broaden the readership, but only the food-obsessed would want five pages on wasabi.