This month’s theme is #FOODOFTHEGODS – dishes inspired by mythology – hosted by me, Carrie @ Witchy Kitchen. Check the hashtag or the Link up for all sorts of mythic meals.
I’ve had a murderously good time watching Death Note, an anime about a mysterious notebook bestowed on the sociopathic high-schooler Light by a terrifying puppy of a shinigami (Japanese god of death), Ryuk. Writing someone’s name will kill them, and when Light starts killing criminals left and right, with the goal of some weird utopia he can reign over, the brilliant and feral detective “L” is on the case. The series hurls forward, with maximum escalation and zero filler, and twists and turns somehow happen exactly as planned.
The dark series is balanced by hilarious scenes – one of my favorites is Light, knowing he is being surveilled by L, concocting a plan to continue his nightly killing spree after homework and before bed. He hides a small TV inside a bag of chips to be able to gather his victims’ names from the news while it looks like he’s doing school work. As he explains his diabolical plan to dramatically swelling music, he declares “I’ll take a potato chip…and eat it!”
As Diana pointed out on our podcast, Fiction Kitchen, this 3 ingredient recipe represents all three main characters; Light chomping chips as he murders criminals with the stroke of a pen, Ryuk the shinigami who adorably devours apples, and L, who holes up in a hotel room or office building with massive amounts of sweets to fuel his surveillance, theory forming, and game of cat and mouse.
For my recipe I wanted to make apple chips a little special by using a distinctly Japanese ingredient; kinako is roasted soybean flour, and is often used to dust sweets such as dango. It has a deliciously toasty nutty flavor, and some fat which adds a richness to the apples. A match made in heaven (or death realm, whichever).
