Yuko Watanabe's "Colds and Meals." This is a recipe book that introduces meals for various situations: when you feel a cold coming on, when it's in full swing, when you're recovering, when you want to build stamina, and for prevention. Dishes like daikon radish zosui, leek potage, and steamed white fish with plum, all vegetable-focused and emphasizing the natural flavors of the ingredients. They all seem gentle on the body and warming. I want to make them for someone, or for myself. And the recipes, which I'd want to eat even when I'm not sick and feeling energetic, remind me anew that our daily meals build a healthy body.

Although it's a recipe book, as I flip through the pages, gazing at the food photography and reading the author's accompanying text, a comforting nostalgia wells up, and strangely, I feel as if I'm reading a pleasant story. Perhaps this is because the book brings back memories of childhood.


When I was in elementary school, there was a time I longed to catch a cold. The stories I heard from friends who were absent from school due to illness were so appealing. Not only could I miss school, but I could spend the whole day in a warm, cozy bed, doing nothing. And even though it wasn't summer vacation, I could watch my favorite NHK educational TV shows from bed, and my family would bring me whatever I wanted to eat right to my bedside.

How wonderful. Just hearing about it made me swoon. "I wish I could do that someday," I'd think excitedly, already planning my future cold experiences. I, who would play in the rain without an umbrella and be perfectly fine, had completely forgotten about the colds I'd had years ago.

Even in my feverish daze, seeing my mother's figure brought me comfort. With my lack of appetite, my mother prepared grated apple for me. I didn't want to eat, but she said, "Try a bite," so I scooped some with a spoon and put it in my mouth. The sweetness of the apple spread through my mouth, making me feel happy and a little better.

As the book states, "Food is the key to recovery, surpassing medicine." Eating truly makes you feel better. Even now, when I catch a cold, my first thought is grated apple. I'm sure this won't change even when I'm an old woman. Grated apple is not only good for the body, but the childhood memory of "eating this will make me feel better" provides a sense of security.

Reading this book brought back such memories, filling me with a warm, cozy feeling.