Book Club “The Kamogawa Food Detectives”
For November we chose The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai and translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Being close to Thanksgiving, we did have food on our minds, but we had been wanting an international read in our rotation. This Japanese best-seller looked like a sweet mystery that involved solving recipes instead of murders.
Book
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai and translated by Jesse Kirkwood
Book 1 in A Kamogawa Food Detectives Series
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.
Club
Snack suggestions:
For this book, there are several approaches you could take to snacks.
You can try to recreate any of the delicious dishes described in the books!
You can serve Japanese cuisine, either from recipes you know or from ordering from your local Japanese restaurant.
You can ask your book club friends to bring in a nostalgic dish that has meaning to them and have a potluck meal.
You can combine any of approaches together and have a feast! After all, this book is about food!
We did the combination approach!
We ordered bento boxes and sushi from a local Japanese restaurant and brought some nostalgic desserts to the meal. I brought chocolate peanut butter cup cookies that hold significance to me - they were an adaptation of a different cookie recipe I often used to make that I gave a peanut butter twist to when I was first dating my fiancee and learned peanut butter and chocolate was his favorite combo.
Check out Cozy Crimes’ book club questions that can be used for any mystery.
Here are our questions targeted to The Kamogawa Food Detectives:
1. This mystery did not focus on solving crimes, but on tracking down forgotten recipes. How does this type of mystery compare to others you have read? What did you think of this “gentle cozy” mystery?
2. What was your favorite story or case within the book?
3. How did the father/daughter relationship influence their detective agency?
4. Is there a recipe that you wish these food detectives could find for you? What is it and why would you like to taste it again?
5. How does nostalgia play into the characters’ food memories and this book as a whole?
6. What did you think of the cat Drowsy and how does he compare to cats found in other cozy mysteries?
7. The way Nagare and Koishi attract customers is unique and results in only the most ardent clients. How does fate seem to play into the cases?
8. How does Nagare’s wife continue to be a presence in his and Koishi’s life and business?
9. Were you familiar with the dishes in the book? Did their descriptions on the page bring them to life for you? Would you like to try any of them?
10. How did the setting, both the Kamogawa Diner and Kyoto, influence the story? Did you find the setting or structure poetic?
