Nagatan to Aoto: Ichika no Ryourijou (2023)

Short and easy watch with delicious food scenes

“Nagatanto to Aoto: Ichika no Ryourijou” also known as “Kitchen Knife and Green Chili Pepper” is a sweet, slice of life drama about a female chef’s fight to keep her family restaurant open due to financial difficulties. In order to save the restaurant, she has to marry a 19-year-old student, 15 years her junior. This sounds like a HUGE age gap, and it is. However, the drama does not give me an icky feeling due to this age difference.

Amane (ML) is way mature for his age and luckily, Ichika (FL) is not written as an innocent and irritating older woman. You really only feel the support Amane has for Ichika. He is there to push her to challenge her limits and to believe in her talents. He supports her by managing the business side of things, so that she can focus on her creativity in cooking. The duo complements each other. In the backdrop is 1951 Japan after the war. Ichika challenges the tradition of only male chefs in the kitchen and fights the prejudice against women. the drama shows us a glimpse of the struggles of Japanese women after the war.

The romance develops naturally and sweetly. It’s not the focus of the drama, but it’s enough for me to satisfy my romance cravings. I enjoy all the cooking scenes and the explanation on how each dish is prepared. I don’t care much about the brother/sister-in-law relationship, but I understand we needed that for the main romance storyline and to showcase the beginning of a new era for women.

I recommend this if you are looking for a short and easy to watch drama with delicious cooking and food scenes.


Completed: 6/13/2023 - Review #318

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A Sweet Series that Highlighted Women's Stories in Old Time

Focusing on women's position in old-time Japan, where they consider a person who stays on the back and is not able to become a leader. Ichika, who was a widow, doesn't have a choice but to marry someone who is 15 years younger to save her family's restaurant. Not only that, she also faced a crisis about the fact that she needed to take over the business by becoming the head chef, although so many people doubted her just because she is a woman. Through this series, we could see how women had so many disadvantages in Japan at that time. How they look down on women. How women didn't get their proper place in society. The romance part is quite sweet. Just typical that Josei manga's story where the heroine find her true love and get loved by the male lead. Since it's all about cullinary, I love how they show us Japanese fussion cullinary, which perfectly describes the female lead character. For those who love food theme drama and sweet romance, this is truly recommended!

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