At the age of twenty-five, fresh out of college and with a degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Victoria Riccardi left a boyfriend and a promising career in advertising to pursue her dream - to study kaiseki, the exquisitely refined form of cooking that accompanies the formal Japanese tea ceremony. She arrived in Kyoto with two bags and a few words of sushi-bar Japanese. She left a year later, having learnt the language, the art of kaiseki and what was important to her. Untangling My Chopsticks is a captivating journey into the tastes, traditions and exotic undercurrents of Japan. It is a coming-of-age tale steeped in history and ancient customs, and a thoughtful meditation on life, love and learning in another land.