Having read Norwegian Wood during my time working in the food industry, one scene really stood out to me—when Midori is cooking for Toru. In Norwegian Wood, the scene is described in such detail that it focuses, or rather obsesses, over some of the most mundane or “uninteresting” things. The reason this stood out to me is because of the kind of crowd drawn into restaurant culture. Chefs are extremely odd people (if you’ve never worked in a restaurant, just trust me). The way Murakami lingers on small actions and tiny details felt familiar, almost like being back in a kitchen watching someone take plating way too seriously. For example, some chefs would watch a cook plate and before sending it to the pass, take the same plate and spend minutes moving around random greens or sauces until it became "perfect".
The way Murakami writes about spaghetti in The Year of Spaghetti stood out to me in the same way. The story centers around something so simple (boiling pasta) yet it becomes this intense, almost ritualistic act. While part of that is just Murakami’s prose style, I think part of it also comes from the culture he was a part of. Japan has an abundance of smaller Izakaya-style bars and cafés, spaces that revolve around routine, repetition, and attention to detail.
Restaurant culture can be neurotic, obsessive, and strangely intimate. In a lot of Murakami’s writing, especially in these two works, that same energy is there. The focus on process, on small repeated actions, on quiet moments inside kitchens or apartments. It was only after I learned of Murakami's jazz bar, Peter Cat, and reading The Year of Spaghetti, that it felt less like coincidence and more like influence.
Raul
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