Celebrity chefs love butter. This is true whether it is Julia Child (With enough butter, anything is good), Alice Waters (Everything tastes better with butter), or Anthony Bourdain (I like butter. I like a lot of butter).
In Asako Yuzuki’s Butter , an infamous celebrity chef loves it too. “There are two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine,” says Manako Kajii, setting the tone for a slice-of-life take on myriad women’s issues and a delectable murder mystery. Kajii, a female gourmet cook and serial killer, based on Kanae Kijima, who has been convicted of poisoning three would-be husbands between 2007 and 2009, grabs the spotlight in this cult Japanese bestseller.
First published in Japan in 2017 and translated into English by Polly Barton in 2024, the novel has Rika Machida, a journalist who wants to crack the case that has enthralled people across Japan, pursuing Kajii for her story. However, Kajii refuses to speak to the press until Rika writes to her, requesting her recipe for beef bourguignon. The only woman in her office, Rika works late each night and rarely uses her kitchen.
After all, “Food and fashion — the things that women were supposed to have a particular fondness for — had always left Rika indifferent”. She leads a disciplined life, eating to stay slim and focusing on work. But when the steely Kajii writes back, Rika begins visiting her in the detention centre and the duo begin an unusual exploration.
Apart from gastronomi.
