Oct 19, 2023
She loves to cook, She loves to eat is a very cute GL manga with a focus on food and people's different relationships with food. In fact, through reading, the romance between the main characters is almost secondary but still an important aspect of the story. The main intent of this manga is to send a message about how society treats women and LGBT people and societal expectations regarding family relationships.
The main character Nomoto loves to cook food to de-stress, but she feels guilty about not being able to eat it all. Additionally, being a woman, people attribute her love of cooking to the fact
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that she is a woman and believe her passion for cooking must have something to do with trying to find a man. I appreciate how this manga delicately tackles issues like misogyny in a realistic way. As a woman, the way in which this manga portrays misogynistic comments is grounded in reality and not over-the-top or making light of the matter.
Kasuga, Nomoto's new friend, with whom she begins to share meals, deals with several family issues. Throughout her childhood, she was forced to eat less than she wanted; she was always told to watch her weight or made to feel bad for eating a lot of food. Her family always expected the girls to prepare the meals and cleanup for the men. In this way, the story also captures another aspect of misogyny very well. The many societal expectations regarding women and food/cooking
Of course, this is a GL story, and as the two women continue to share meals, they struggle to find out how they actually feel about each other. The process by which Nomoto actually begins to come to the conclusion that she is a lesbian is very realistic, and it is evident that the author had personal experience. The way it also handles homophobia is realistic, and I appreciate the care that was taken.
Lastly, I will say the art is very good. The part where the art really shines is the food. Every time I saw the food, I felt myself getting hungry and wanting to try and make whatever it was they were making. The character art suits the serious but at the same time lighthearted tone of the series.
My main criticism is that I wish there was more time devoted to developing their relationship as a couple. As I previously stated, the budding relationship does feel as if it is beginning to take a backseat to other conflicts at times. They share some cute moments together, but I wish we had more of those romantic moments and feelings of tension to make the reader excited over the prospect of them getting together.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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