“Nagatanto to Aoto: Ichika no Ryourijou” also known as “Kitchen Knife and Green Chili Pepper” is a sweet, slice of life drama about a female chef’s fight to keep her family restaurant open due to financial difficulties. In order to save the restaurant, she has to marry a 19-year-old student, 15 years her junior. This sounds like a HUGE age gap, and it is. However, the drama does not give me an icky feeling due to this age difference.

Amane (ML) is way mature for his age and luckily, Ichika (FL) is not written as an innocent and irritating older woman. You really only feel the support Amane has for Ichika. He is there to push her to challenge her limits and to believe in her talents. He supports her by managing the business side of things, so that she can focus on her creativity in cooking. The duo complements each other. In the backdrop is 1951 Japan after the war. Ichika challenges the tradition of only male chefs in the kitchen and fights the prejudice against women. the drama shows us a glimpse of the struggles of Japanese women after the war.

The romance develops naturally and sweetly. It’s not the focus of the drama, but it’s enough for me to satisfy my romance cravings. I enjoy all the cooking scenes and the explanation on how each dish is prepared. I don’t care much about the brother/sister-in-law relationship, but I understand we needed that for the main romance storyline and to showcase the beginning of a new era for women.

I recommend this if you are looking for a short and easy to watch drama with delicious cooking and food scenes.


Completed: 6/13/2023 - Review #318