cooking up a memory

When customers try to find the Kamogawa Diner, they are taken aback by the small restaurant that doesn’t even have a sign outside. It’s just a dingy storefront with a cat hanging around the doorway. Most people don’t even believe it’s a restaurant at first, much less a detective agency. But when then come inside and take a seat, and let Koishi and her father Nagare pour some tea and offer a meal, they are convinced they are in the right place.

The first meal in the diner is a set menu, with Nagare bringing out an assortment of dishes so delicious that customers get lost in the flavor for several minutes. Once their hunger is sated, Nagare will lead the customer down the hall, where Koishi will take notes on their case. Usually, it’s someone trying to chase down a memory, or a feeling, one that can be unlocked through a tasty dish that has stuck in their mind for years, maybe decades.

Koishi takes down notes on everything they can remember, asking leading questions and trying to dig out as many facts from the memories as she can. And then her father gets to work, putting all his skill from his former police detective days to good use. He tracks down restaurants, recipes, ingredients, and secrets and recreates the dish. The customer comes back in two weeks to try it, to see if Nagare’s dish matches the one in their memories.

Nagare’s skill as a detective and as a cook helps a woman track down her first love, figure out why a man took his career in an entirely different direction, help a woman connect with her grandfather who is suffering from dementia. The food from their memories helps mend their broken hearts and bandage their wounded souls. All from a humble restaurant in Kyoto that doesn’t even have a sign out front.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a small but powerful book about the power of food to infiltrate our memories and our souls. The dishes and flavors that we share with those we love become part of the memories, and as we lose touch with the people, we find we can still feel that connection through the right dish. With a deep understanding of all the things that make us human—our mistakes, our guilt, our shame, our failures, our selfishness—author Hisashi Kashiwai takes it all, mixes it with the foods of our best memories, and heals our weary souls.

I loved this tiny book, but it is bittersweet. It needs to be savored, like the meals it serves up. While it seems like a simple book about a detective making good food, it’s really about reaching into a person’s soul and finding the key to opening them up to a better future. The noodles are a bridge from past memories to future success. The rice paves the way for healing. The sushi heals the soul. There is so much comfort in food, but there can be heartbreak and regret too. The Kamogawa Food Detectives finds that heartbreak and heals it with the food that the mind craves, and in doing that, it heals readers who have a hidden craving for something more too. You do not want to let this book get by you! Devour it as soon as possible.

Egalleys for The Kamogawa Food Detectives were provided by G.P, Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks.