Yoshimoto's Kitchen

Living life means that one must go through cycles of emotions ranging from pain to joy. The goal of most people is to escape pain as much as possible and as fast as possible to attain happiness. In the novel Kitchen, Yoshimoto uses symbolism of food to convey the theme that when one endures pain and suffering, one may revert to all sorts of outlets to deal with this pain. Yoshimoto argues to revert to an outlet that allows healing, growth and rebirth rather than an outlet that numbs pain temporarily and harms permanently. Yoshimoto expresses that even though pain is a strong state to overcome, love is a stronger tool which would serve to conquer it. Through this, Yoshimoto criticizes the tendency of people in society to not talk about their

After the death of Eriko (Yuichi's only guardian), he is left with immense pain and feelings of abandonment. Yoshimoto Illustrates how Yuichi reverts to alcohol to numb his pain rather than heal. This idea is addressed by Yoshimoto in the novel using symbolism of food when Mikage rushes to Yuichi in the middle of the night. In the novel, Yoshimoto describes katsudon (the dish that Mikage brings Yuichi), "Good quality meat, excellent broth, the eggs and onions handled beautifully, the rice with just the right degree of firmness to hold up in the broth-it was flawless"(92). Katsudon is a Japanese dish that consists of pork, rice, unions, and eggs. Pork, classified as red meat, is typically the main course in one's meal that they attain most of protein from (an element that is essential due to its function in helping rebuild and repair damaged structures in the body). Also, rice and unions are vegetables that help maintain a person's health. Yoshimoto uses pork to represent how Yuichi's emotional wounds are repairing due to Mikage bringing him food (an act of love). Also, Yoshimoto again uses vegetables to symbolize Yuichi gaining mental health. Moreover, Yoshimoto chooses katsudon because it contains eggs, which universally symbolizes new life or rebirth. This furthers the theme because Yoshimoto illustrates that Yuichi reverting to alcohol as an outlet to numb his pain will ultimately lead to his death while submitting to the love of others will allow repair, growth, and rebirth in his mental health. This criticizes the traditional customs of how one is expected to subdue their emotions and pain within themselves in society. They are expected to never express any emotion in public but rather is subjected to getting over it by themselves. Yoshimoto informs that this insensitive approach to society is detrimental as it can lead to permanent problems in one’s