Jan 16, 2021
We’ve already established that there’s a fantastic canon of Japanese cookbooks out there when you’re craving a washoku meal or hearty bowl of noodles. But you can’t exactly curl up and read them cover to cover. Fortunately, many authors writing about Japan use the country’s cuisine as a central plot point. Here are five food-centric books perfect for a lazy afternoon:
Fiction, Ellis Avery, Riverhead Books, 480 pages
Winner of the annual Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction, which recognizes the best LGBTQ novels, “The Teahouse Fire” is set during the tumultuous Meiji Era (1868-1912), as Japan wrestles with tradition and Westernization. Aurelia, newly orphaned in Kyoto, is adopted by the prestigious Shin family as an attendant for their daughter, Yukako. As the title would suggest, much of the story centers around