Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World is a book by Haruki Murakami. Murakami has an odd predilection for food and drink; in each of his novels, he seems to go out of his way to tell you what his protagonist eats. It’s one of the reasons why I think I love Murakami as a writer—gasp! His characters eat! His characters drink! That’s actually kind of rare. Most books, you’d be lucky to read something like, “had a quick dinner,” or “ate a little for lunch”, but that’s about it. It’s a rare thing to actually read what the characters ate, even down to how the food was prepared. Murakami loves food, loves thinking about food, and it shows.
There is a slight sense of dislocation about Murakami’s food. He is a Japanese writer, but his characters are more extremely westernized. This balancing act, this being caught between two worlds, comes through most apparently in his descriptions of food. His characters eat salads for breakfast and think nothing of combining what I think of as traditional Western food with what I think of traditional Japanese food. There’s a certain class of food that can be best described as Westernized Japanese, and that’s the kind of food that Murakami is describing. It’s delicious and it’s ever-so-slightly exotic, like seeing a blurred snapshot of a friend—it’s both recognizable and foreign.
While reading Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World I made a conscious effort to note down all the descriptions of the food and drink in it, so that I could try to emulate the diet of the protagonist. After finishing the novel, I’ve become increasingly serious about this. Maybe this will be a step towards Becoming a Writer. Maybe it will be like some sort of magic spell; if I eat these things, in this order, maybe I will gain an insight into the mind of how one goes about creating a work of fiction. Even if I don’t, I’ll at least have a good story, “This one time, I ate nothing but stuff I read about from this one book by this one Japanese guy.”
So, here’s the list of foodstuffs and drinkstuffs, with page numbers. I tried to get exact quotes wherever I could. This diet might make me an alcoholic, caffeinated mess. I am willing to try though.
-From page 46, three types of sandwiches “cucumber, ham, cheese… washing the lot down with coffee”
-From page 60, “vegetable stew… a minestra”
-From page 72, “shrimp salad, onion rings, and a beer” and “an after-meal coffee”
-From page 75 “a double cone of mocha chip on top of pistachio” (yay ice-cream!)
-From page 80, “poured myself an Old Crow” (I think this has something to do with whisky) and “I opened a can of asparagus, which I happen to like. I canapéed some smoked oysters on crispbread. I had another whisky.” So, for this meal, two whiskeys, a can of asparagus, some crackers and some smoked oysters. Got it.
-From page 89: “I mashed an umeboshi salt plum with mortar and pestle to make a sweet-sour dressing; I fried up a few sardines with abura-age tofu-puffs in grated yama-imo taro batter, I sautéed a celery-beef side dish.” “I had a beer as I tossed together some soy-simmered myoga wild giner and green beans with tofu-sesame sauce.” Big-ass meal. Probably will have to do this one as a party, not just for myself. Also, not entirely sure about the fried sardines.
-From page 90: “I made myself a big Old Crow on the rocks, flash-broiled a block of atsu-age fried tofu, and topped it with grated daikon radish to go along with my drink” “I prepared a katsuobushhi dried bonito broth and added wakame seaweed and scallions for the miso soup. I served it alongside a bowl of rice and umeboshi.” So, tofu, miso soup, rice and pickles.
-From page 91: “a beer… and a double ration of frankfurter links, which I tossed into the frying pan” “I set out ready-made potato salad, then dashed off a quick wakame-tuna combo for good measure. Down they went with her second beer” “my third Old Crow” “chocolate cake for dessert”. OK, so, two beers, whiskey, hot dogs, potato salad, tuna salad, and chocolate cake. Whew.
-From page 92: “another round of bourbon”
-From page 93: “a vodka tonic”
-From page 125: I poured myself two fingers of whisky”
-From page 127: “I grabbed a carton of milk out of the refrigerator and drank whole white gulps”
-From page 130: “I ordered a coffee. I drank it black, slowly.”
-From page 131: “I got potato salad and a beer”
-From page 154: I drank the rest of my beer”
-From page 163: A “jigger” of whiskey.
-From page 184: “coffee. Occasionally we share biscuits or fruitbread she bakes at home”
-From page 189: “A double cheeseburger with french fries and a hot chocolate” “a regular burger and a beer” “a regular burger and a Coke”
-From page 190: “A couple cans of beer and a flask of whisky” “I immediately drank both cans and a fourth of the whiskey”
-From page 224: “light broth” “warm milk”
-From page 252: “corned beef and peaches”
-From page 286: “Another slug of whisky”
-From page 317: “A hearty vegetable chowder with noodles”
-From page 322: “two cream of corn soups and hone ham and egg-salad sandwich”
-From page 342: A draft and some oysters on the half-shell” (probably will not do this one)
-From page 348: “coffee”
-From page 356: (aperitvo)“wine” (antipasti) “insalata di gamberetti alle fragile, ostriche al vino, mortadella di fegato, sepia al nero, melanzane alla parmigiana, and wakasagi marinata” (primi) “spaghetti al pesot genovese… tagliatelli alla casa… maccheri al sugo di pesce” (with “branzino” or “suszuki”), (contorni) “spinaci and risotto al funghi… verdure cotte and risotto al pomodoro”… (dessert) “granite di uva, crema fredda, suffle al limone, and espresso (X2)” (I need to look up what these all are, and will either do this as one MASSIVE food party, or as several SEMI-MASSIVE food parties)
-From page 361: “some frozen pizza and a bottle of Chivas”
-From page 362: “A bottle of wine”
-From page 377: “I put some water on to boil, took tomatoes from the refrigerator and blanched them to remove the skin. I chopped a few vegetables and garlic, added the tomatoes, then stirred in some sausage to simmer. While that cooked down, I slivered some cabbage and peppers for a salad, dripped coffee. I sprinkled water onto a length of French bread, wrapped it in foil, and slid it into the toaster oven.” Served for breakfast. Got to love the Japanese. Is it sausage with a cabbage salad and bread?
387: A six-pack of “Miller High Life” (because it’s an import, so in my case,
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