Book Recommendation for Foodies: The Kamogawa Food Detectives

Posted On November 25, 2024

HI Readers! November is coming to a close, but it was a good month as I got to read a lot. Just yesterday I finished The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood. This book was making the rounds on Instagram a year ago. I guess when some books are everywhere all the time, it becomes off-putting for me. So, I didn’t read it the time. But, I remembered some good reviews and given that the second book of the series is out, I finally decided to read it, on a whim as usual!

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason customers stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo are ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories – dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.

A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.

~~THOUGHTS~~

Set in Kyoto, the Kamogawa Diner doubled up as the Kamogawa Detective agency offers people delicious meals, and also helps them find long lost recipes. Located in a nondescript part of town making it almost impossible for people to find it, because if people did, the Kamogawa family would be overloaded with requests – such is the work-life balance I’d want too!

The book consists of six short stories, each drafted in a similar fashion, where a customer comes in finding something they had eaten a long time ago, they describe the dish and provide context, and then Nagare makes it for them within two weeks and tells them how he was able to recreate it.

What I loved the most about the book is how we connect food to different milestones in our life, how we connect food to people, to our feelings, to our nostalgia and to our memories. In the book, we see how people may not always remember details about what they ate, but they remember the person associated with that dish. It’s either a wife or a husband who used to make it who has now passed away. Or a grandfather who ordered it on a trip, who is now suffering from dementia. Or just a kind neighbour who made it for them, who is now lost in history. The way in which these stories rekindled something that the characters felt when they first ate it with their loved ones was written with such warmth and nuance that you cannot help but relate to it.

This book reminded me of the lime pickle that my grandma used to make and how it was stored for years and always available when the mood struck. It also reminded me of how my other grandma used to like her tea milky and how she knew I hated it so she always made it strong and added extra milk to hers later. It reminded me of how my mom likes this Maharashtrian dish called Dadpe Pohe. I never liked it, so she rarely makes it just for herself. It reminded me of the Alu Wadi and the Idli & Chutney that my friends used to bring in their tiffins at work. It reminded me of the family trips we take to Pune and how we always make a stop to eat Vada Pav. It reminded me of the comfort of Varan Bhaat, the thrill of making brownies, the pining for Puran Poli which we eat around Holi and Ukdiche Modak which we eat during Ganesh Chaturthi, the nostalgia of eating Maggi and simply all the memories of all the food prepared at home by loved oned and enjoying it with loved ones.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives is written with that basic theme that will take you to your own life’s events by way of food, and I thought that was wonderful. At times, the stories had somewhat of a similar background to them. They also all followed the same pattern of events, which became a bit monotonous. But, I’ll still recommend this book! I have rated The Kamogawa Food Detectives by by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood at 3.5/5 stars!

Until next time,