THE KAMOGAWA FOOD DETECTIVES
BY HISASHI KASHIWAI
Is there a meal you can remember from your past that you’d love to eat again? Step forward, The Kamogawa Food Detectives . Written by Hisashi Kashiwai, this book was a smash hit in Japan and has been translated into English by Jesse Kirkwood. The story follows restaurateur Koishi Kamogawa and her retired detective father Nagare: together they run an unassuming-but-beloved diner in the backstreets of Kyoto. However, it’s in the diner’s back office where things start to get interesting. Koishi and her father also work a niche small business as food detectives, tracking down tastes and resurrecting recipes for clients to reconnect with flavours from their pasts. The agency has no sign outside and they don’t promote their services, save for a brief, single-line advert in the back of Gourmet Monthly magazine. The offering is simple: explain what you know about your dish and give the duo two weeks to run investigations, before returning to the diner ready to eat and unlock forgotten memories. As you’d hope, the food writing is truly superb: the richly evocative dish descriptions and intricate Japanese cuisine featured in each experience will leave you wishing you could taste the meals whisked up for the agency’s clients.
As the short but sweet chapters pass along, the familiar structure to each tale begins to slot into place; the repetition comforting as you start to feel like one of the diner’s regulars, sat at the bar with a steaming cup of tea and a folded newspaper, chuckling at the new client’s inexperience. Pleasingly, this is the first book in a promised series, so if you do find yourself charmed, there should be plenty more on the menu in the future. Reading this heartwarming book almost feels like watching a quiet box set: it’s the perfect accompaniment to a rainy autumnal Sunday.
FOOD FOCUS Read about recipes tinged with nostalgia from this Japanese bestseller
Koishi and her father also work as food detectives, tracking down tastes and resurrecting recipes
Author talks Take a trip down to Trinity Street for an intriguing programme of literary events taking place in Heffers Bookshop throughout the month
ACCUSATORY, LIBELLOUS, OR JUST BIZARRE – A HISTORY OF ANONYMOUS LETTERS 24 OCTOBER Historian Emily Cockayne dives into her fascinating new work Penning Poison . The book is a gripping account of how letters have been used to spread anxiety throughout the past, particularly within English society between 1760 to 1939.
TRANSLATING HOMER – AN EVENING WITH EMILY WILSON ON THE ILIAD 6 OCTOBER Following her translation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey , Emily Wilson has established a reputation for breathing new life into classics through contemporary interpretations, combining intellectualism with readability. She will discuss her latest work and the challenges of adapting Homer.
A LOST MASTERPIECE – AN EVENING WITH ULINKA RUBLACK 19 OCTOBER
A Cambridge scholar and fellow of the British Academy, Ulinka Rublack shares her illuminating new book Dürer’s Lost Masterpiece: Art and Society at the Dawn of a Global World , which promises to shed new light on the meaning and creation of the celebrated German artist’s works at a transitional point in his career.
Tickets are £8 for general admission and can be purchased online
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK OCTOBER 2023 23
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