The Kamogawa Food Detectives was a wonderful first novel read of 2024. Reminiscent of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, these series of connected short stories, broken into dishes, rather than chapters, is love letter to food and the memories and nostalgia it can evoke in our lives.
@wilddinosaurr Finished reading this gorgeous book yesterday. Review now live on the blog! Thanks @Pan Macmillan Australia for the giveaway copy. #booktok #bookreview #bookblogger #bookblog #translatedfiction #thekamogawafooddetectives ♬ Path of the Wind (My Neighbor Totoro) – Shoyo
BLURB:
Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant called the Kamogawa Diner run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare. Customers who can find the hidden diner are treated to an extravagant meal, but it’s not the main reason for visiting . . .
The father-daughter duo have started advertising their services as ‘food detectives’, capable of recreating a dish from their customers’ pasts that may well hold the key to forgotten memories and ongoing happiness.
From the widower looking for a specific noodle dish that his wife used to cook to a first love’s beef stew, the restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to the past and a way to a more contented future.
A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.
REVIEW:
Don’t read this book on an empty stomach. Consider yourself adequately warned, because the way food is described in this short novel had me salivating for dishes I’d never eaten before. In what is a simple storyline this book focuses more on characterisation and memory in this quick and cosy read that will have you considering your own food memories and your relationships with the people in your life. As I was reading I couldn’t help but wonder what my missing dish from my own memories would be. A sweet treat from my childhood perhaps…
Each chapter/dish builds in depth and complexity with each new character that is introduced in search of a particular missing dish in their life. The final two however had me emotional, borderline teary, in their simplicity and elegance in the face of two very different food/relationship memories; Napolitan Spaghetti and a grandfather with dementia, and Nikujaga and a misunderstood step-parent/child relationship. It was surprising how affecting the final story hit given the chapter is really short. But Kashiwai doesn’t waste or mince his words, crafting many emotions in few words that have you spinning.
I really enjoyed reading this and would love to read more from this author. I’d given myself a challenge to read more translated fiction and this book was a beautiful and thoughtful summer read. Wonderfully imagined characters and deliciously described dishes, this is a book I wish I’d read with a snack in hand. Or perhaps a bowl of noodles!
Until next time,
Rating: 4 Stars
Genre: Fiction – Connected Short Stories (Japanese – English Translation)
Thank you for Pan Macmillan Australia for this copy, I won this in their 2023 giveaway.
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For more Japanese translated fiction titles, check out this blog post.
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