You're still young, aren't you? All you care about is eating the tastiest food you can. Get to my age and you'll realize that nostalgia can be just as vital an ingredient.
The Kamogawa Food Detectives
by Hisashi Kashiwai
Genre: Contemporary
About: Ever remembered a dish from years ago and wished you could try it again? Don't have the recipe? No problem. All you need to do is find Kamogawa's restaurant. Which isn't listed anywhere, has no sign outside the rundown building, and its only advertisement is one line in a foody magazine. No matter. The customers who are meant to find them somehow do.
Thoughts
This is a very short read, split into six sections (or six dishes) and I wasn't too sure I was going to like it at first because I thought it was a detective agency inside of a restaurant. So I was expecting there to be real mysteries to solve as the chef used to be a real detective. But it isn't that, and I'm glad actually because I like what this turned out to be more.
It's just a damn lovely cosy read. Nagare and his daughter Koishi have a really sweet relationship that isn't perfect and has layers to it, but I really enjoyed their dynamic. The customers that come into the restaurant are also interesting characters. I particularly liked that them having their special meal again doesn't change their life or solve their problems, it just allows them to relive the happy memory of the dish and put things in perspective. The sections don't end happily or sadly, they just end with the sense that the character got to reconnect with someone that they miss.
The way that grief is dealt with in this book was really moving. I loved the connection to food and family and how we don't need to move on so much as accept that they're gone while still enjoying the memories they leave behind. Memories that are often associated with food and the care and love that can surround a meal.
Of course it does have a repetitive formula. Each new customers makes the same sort of comments and we go through the same motions of extracting the details, having the customer return, and revealing how the meal was re-discovered. But despite the repetitiveness, the pace never drags.
For fans of Before the coffee gets cold, and Legends and Lattes.
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