Summary:
Cooking is how Nomoto de-stresses, but one day, she finds herself making way more than she can eat by herself. And so, she invites her neighbor Kasuga, who also lives alone. What will come out of this impromptu dinner invitation...?

I fond this title as a recommendation from a TikTok, and thought that the plot seem interesting enough.

Oh Boy! what a surprice it was to me to fall in love with the characters so quickly, I love how these two woman form a cute relationship out of the blue just cuz they both love food so much. I also like how they both found each other companionship so calming and great after a tough day on the job and other stressful matters, etc.

I love how different they are of one another and somehow their love for the food pulls them closer and closer, and thanks to this they found themself thinking of one another very often, like when Nomoto is just shopping for ingredients and when she sees something that catches her eye she alwasy wonders "Will Kasuga-san mind if I cook this meal for her?" asdasdas!!! it's just so cute.

I don't know if they will end up together and start dating (I hope so!!! hehehe) but even if they don't date I just love to see them happy and discovering new things of one another that makes them happy.

So far I just have read the first volume, but I for sure will get the next ones when they are avalable on my language, I can wait to see this characters having fun and making memories together. ( n n )

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"She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat" is a manga I feel a lot of queer women were waiting for. A realistic and grounded, but immensely hopeful outlook at the issues of women in modern day society.

Unlike a lot of other manga you can find under the GL label, this is a manga that's not afraid to be for and about women front and center. While a lot of the GL stories would often feature characters being extremely awkward, only dealing in implications, not being able to voice their feelings and/or very steamy kissing scenes, "She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat" is unafraid to break the mold and be nonconformist.

This manga is unapologetically feminist and pro queer. While other GL manga might be afraid to talk about the role of women in society, as well as the oppression they face, this manga is full of the characters calling out the injustices in the world. The queer dictionary is also not taboo in this manga, the characters are able to say "I'm a lesbian" or "I'm asexual" and be proud of it. "She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat" isn't another cookie cutter awkward romance that doesn't have anything to say and is fated to fade into the background. This work is not afraid to voice its message loud and clear. It's worth mentioning that the profits from the manga's merch are donated to an organization fighting for equal marriage rights for queer folk in Japan. To me, it shows a clear dedication for a cause and not just reaping the benefits.

"She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat" wants to bring up the importance of mental health, LGBTQ+ rights, dealing with eating disorders and the importance of found family over blood family. It's honestly very refreshing to look at this manga and see a realistic depiction of society and not just a sugar coated version that only aims to be cutesy. This is a manga dead set on tearing right into the conservative society of Japan and calling it out for all its worst elements, even if it could alienate members of its audience.

The characters are all people who have their very realistic and well portrayed issues, such as cutting your toxic family out of your life without looking back, dealing with an eating disorder, renting a place together as a queer couple, finding out about your sexuality or being afraid to be who you are, because of what the world around you is. Every single issue is approach maturely and the characters aim to deal with it in a healthy way. The manga is beautifully honest about how the world is built for hetero men and women are only seen for what they can provide to a man. Even if Nomoto and Kasuga struggle navigating that world, they are always willing to go against the flow and to do it together.

The manga takes its romance very seriously and realistically as well. Kasuga and Nomoto take their time to realize how they are feeling for each other in a very organic and well thought out way, and when they eventually get to the point when they realize they are into each other, they willing to be open with each other. It even goes a step further and when there's any misunderstanding, they clear it up right away. This is again, such a refreshing look at romance, that isn't just all fluff and the characters continously ssaying "I think I love her, but I can't possibly tell her. She is the most important person in my life but not explicitly romantically". "She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat" doesnt shy away from being honest and making its characters communicate and I think it deserves praise for that. Nomoto and Kasuga are allowed to be in love, they are allowed to be happy together and they are allowed to be healthy and good for each other.

It goes without saying, but especially if you love cooking, eating and food in general, this is also worth picking up. The art of the food is absolutely lovely and the attention to detail when it comes to how the characters prepare each dish is outstanding. The same way this manga objects to the patriarchal society of Japan, it also embraces the wonderful Japanese cuisine and culture around food. The only thing you need to be wary of is a lot of close ups at Kasuga's face as she's eating with teeth more detailed than you'd normally see in manga, I imagine it can be a bit offputting for some people.

Whenever I read those chapters I can definetly say that I feel seen. The most important part of this entire message is how there's always light at the end of the dark tunnel. You need to speak about injustice, if you want the world to be better. And there are always people that are gonna be by your side. The manga offers, as I mentioned, an extremely hopeful outlook into the future, that thing can and will be better. I cannot wait to read the next volume and I recommend this to everyone. In the meantime I might go and watch the TV Drama.

This manga is truly a gorgeously realistic tale of two women falling in love in the 21st century. It's one of those pieces of media that scream "never kill yourself".

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