The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)

by Hisashi Kashiwai

‘Well, things can taste very different depending on how you’re feeling,’

‘No, it does matter. If you mess around with language like that, it’s culture that suffers. Traditional Japanese sweet dishes are in decline precisely because people insist on calling them English words like “dessert”!’

‘The idea of happiness pitching up in my life like that all of a sudden – it terrified me.’

‘You’re still young, aren’t you? All you care about is eating the tastiest food you can. Get to my age and you’ll realize that nostalgia can be just as vital an ingredient.

“We get used to things too easily. You think something’s tasty the first time you eat it, but then you start taking it for granted. Never forget your first impressions.”

Never lose sight of your ideals.

‘Oh, there’s no such thing as rude or polite when it comes to food,’

‘What matters is that you eat it the way you like it.’

‘Married couples are complicated things, Koishi. Sometimes separating just means you’re each able to follow the path you want. Some couples get divorced precisely because of how much they care about each other.’

‘You can be separated in all sorts of ways, and end up very far away from each other, but the bond between you never breaks.

“Jack of all trades and master of none, would be another way of putting it.