BOOK REVIEW: THE KAMOGAWA FOOD DETECTIVES by HISASHI KASHIWAI

BOOK REVIEW: THE KAMOGAWA FOOD DETECTIVES by HISASHI KASHIWAI
Pan Macmillan Australia
October 2023
Paperback, rrp $19.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
90%

The Kamogawa Food Detectives are father/daughter duo Nagare and Koishi, as unlikely a pair of detectives as you will meet. Nagare is the chef at their diner – a hard-to-find little-known establishment without proper signage or advertising. He feels that if someone wants to find them, they will. Koishi is his sassy daughter who runs front of house and interviews potential clients.

Upon arrival they are treated to a sumptuous meal at Nagare’s discretion, then interrogated by Koishi, before the former starts investigating the dish they are desperate to taste once more.

Clients include a widower pining for his late wife’s special noodles, an arrogant businessman who misses his mother’s beef stew, and more, and are each presented as their own stand-alone chapter.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives, like other entries in the recent wave of Japanese meditative literature, is a gentle and slow story full of hidden meaning. Using long lost meals of their past we learn a lot more about Kashiwai’s characters than we would have expected, and start reflecting on the meals we miss the most, and how much we would like to be transported back to those moments in time.

Food is an integral part of our lives, and the emotional surge that a favourite childhood specialty of my late Father’s would bring is enough to bring me to tears now, writing this sentence, a sentiment Kashiwai inherently understands lies in us all and delivers beautifully and meaningfully in this short but moving book.

Category: Book Reviews