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EXCELLENT NEWS EVERYONE

you’re doomed, there’s nothing I can do 

So I read the first 3 volumes of She Loves To Cook and She Loves To Eat (Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna) by Sakaomi Yuzaki, and um, Sublime. 11/10. Perfect. Preordered volume 4. Cannot wait.

VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 VOLUME 3 VOLUME 4

Expect a lot of content from this one in coming weeks.

The story is about two women who live alone in small apartments.

Yuki Nomoto is an office worker in a men's world. She loves to cook but tends to cook more than she can eat because she loves the creation aspect more than the eating. Moreover, she loves cooking big portions and desperately wishes she had someone to cook for. But not a man. Nope.

Totoko Kasuga is an alcohol merchandiser who lives two doors down from her. She's a very big, tall woman who eats a lot, and fascinates Nomoto when she's seen carrying home a family-size KFC order- just for her.

Nomoto decides to invite her over for dinner, and the two women immediately hit it off, planning future dinners, making weekend trips to farmer's markets, and planning their winter holidays together.

Eventually, the apartment between theirs is rented by a younger woman who needs to get away from her overbearing family, She befriends her new neighbors and they bond over how traditional Japanese values have hurt them all in some way.

Nomoto connects via Twitter with other women who share her interests and help her discover who she is and who she wants to be.

The series makes a lot of commentary about how much of what women do is expected to be for men's consumption. Why do I have to cook for men? Why do I have to dress cute for men? Why are men prioritized in family life? Why is the love between women so stigmatized? Why is it seen as lesser? Why is there so little dating advice for sapphic women?

Things I love about this story:

The love interest is a big girl like me!

It explores the emotional intimacy of cooking and eating together - my primary love language

Romance without all the shuddering, blushing, awkward hand-holding and attempts to kiss that get dragged out for 50 chapters, which can be cute but gets tiresome

Acknowledgement of asexual, aromantic and demisexual identities

Productive discussion of the ways "well-meaning" parents abuse their children without hitting them

Things I don't like about the series:

No step-by-step cooking instructions!

It leaves me with a strong desire to try cooking things I simply can't get all the ingredients for without a trip to an Asian market 30+ minutes away, which feels like such a drag because I work in a grocery store, and I hate going grocery shopping by myself.

The longing for a girl-next-door type meetcute has intensified.

I love cooking and baking. I love food. I love wine and beer and dinner cocktails. I dislike that I don't get to share this love with others.

This is what love looks like. This series was tailor-made for me.