The first time I encountered "Memoirs of a Geisha," I was enthralled. I felt as though I'd been transported to early 20th-century Kyoto, Japan, with its ancient temples and mysterious back alleys. Arthur Golden took me on a journey I could never have imagined, in a country I never dared hope to visit.

But imagination met reality recently when I had the opportunity to visit my son, who was spending a year studying in Kyoto.

As I perused guidebooks in preparation for my trip, I was overwhelmed by the multitude of temples and shrines, castles, and restaurants- all of which I happily planned to visit.

But I wanted to experience this city - the former capital and acknowledged cultural center of Japan - in a way that was anything but average. So I put the guidebooks aside and turned to works of literature set in Kyoto and Osaka (the city of our arrival). Now, instead of dreading the 14-hour transpacific flight, I found myself looking forward to immersing myself in stories set in the cities I would soon be visiting.

Victoria Abbot Riccardi spent a year living in Kyoto in the late 1980s. In "Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto," she takes the reader on a journey of place, culture, and classical Japanese cuisine. Her focus was on learning the intricacies of kaiseki, a stylized form of Japanese cooking that accompanies the traditional tea ceremony.

I wasn't entirely sure my taste buds would be enthusiastic about the slippery eel, baby octopus, and creamy sea urchin described by Ms. Riccardi. But I needn't have feared. Kyoto offers a range of food options - from American fare for the weak-kneed (Starbucks, KFC, McDonald's) to international cuisines such as Chinese, Korean, and Italian. But it was Japanese food that we wanted to experience, and there was plenty of variety for all tastes.

Shabu shabu is a popular dining style. For a set price per person a tableful of diners is provided a cooking pot and as many rounds of finely sliced meats and vegetables as they can cook and eat in a two-hour period.

Another popular style of eatery offers okonomiyaki, a combination of grilled pancake and omelet filled with chopped vegetables and a choice of seafood, poultry, or meat. The mixture is poured onto a hot griddle in the middle of the table, smothered with mayonnaise and a brown sauce, and topped with dried fish flakes.

Riccardi's book helped put a name to other types of meals we encountered: donburi, a basic white rice served in a large bowl and smothered with a choice of meat, vegetables, eggs, or cheese; and robotayaki, which, as she describes it, is a sort of Japanese tapas bar where the patrons gather around a grill or fire pit for rounds of miniskewers featuring grilled meats, seafood, vegetables, and even crunchy rice cakes.

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