Ep. 53 Antique Bakery pt.1
cover design by Cordelia Shan
Written by Cordelia.
Listen to the full episode :
Hello, my dear listeners, and welcome back to Thursday Night Kissaten! I’m your host, Cordelia.
How are you all doing?
Here where I live, we just had a huge snowstorm. Everything became so much harder—going to work, grabbing food, meeting friends, even just getting to class. It was a lot to deal with. But, on the bright side, I’ve been spending more time indoors, which gave me the chance to finally complete a project that’s very close to my heart.
I’m excited to share that I’ve published a literary zine called Food & Feeling! It took me two years to finish, and I couldn’t be prouder. It’s available in both physical and digital formats, including on Apple Books. If you love food and enjoy reading about how it connects to our emotions and memories, please check it out! The first issue is The Heart Knows, and the Belly Understands, and the second issue is Cake & Celebration.
Yes, you heard me right—cake.
Which brings us to today’s episode. We’re diving into a manga that beautifully intertwines baking, cake, and BL (Boys’ Love)—Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga.
We’ll explore how cakes and cooking serve as metaphors for love, healing, and identity, and how Yoshinaga’s work challenges societal norms.
Manga Overview
Antique Bakery (Seiyō Kottō Yōgashiten) is a slice-of-life manga written and illustrated by Fumi Yoshinaga. It originally ran in the manga magazine Wings from 1999 to 2001 and was later collected into four volumes, published by Shinshokan.
At its core, Antique Bakery is a bittersweet and charming story about a small, stylish bakery called "Antique" and the lives of the four men who work there:
Tachibana – The stoic bakery owner with a mysterious past and an unusual relationship with sweets.
Ono – A talented pastry chef with a playboy personality and a tragic history.
Eiji – A cheerful, former boxer who becomes an apprentice at the bakery.
Chikage – Tachibana’s childhood friend, who frequently visits and adds an interesting dynamic to the group.
The story blends humor, drama, and a touch of romance while celebrating the art of baking and the many ways food brings people together. The cakes in the manga are more than just desserts—they symbolize connection, healing, and the sweetness of life itself.
Each character’s relationship with cake reflects their emotional struggles:
Tachibana’s love for sweets hides a deeper loneliness.
Ono’s beautifully crafted pastries represent his longing for love.
Eiji’s growth as a baker mirrors his journey toward self-discovery.
This manga beautifully captures the idea that food—especially cake—can be a source of comfort, nostalgia, and even emotional release.
Cake as a Metaphor for Healing
While I was brainstorming the theme for the second issue of Food & Feeling Zine, I kept thinking about Fumi Yoshinaga’s works.
Besides being a feminist, Yoshinaga is well known for her deep interest in food. Last year, while I was in the hospital, I found myself rewatching What Did You Eat Yesterday? over and over again. Something about the act of cooking and eating felt inherently tied to healing. That led me to revisit Antique Bakery as well.
The manga’s culinary focus is on delicate, French-style cakes. But in Yoshinaga’s world, cake isn’t just reserved for weddings, Christmas, or department store food fairs—it’s an everyday joy, something accessible to all. From ex-motorbike gang members to aging bar hostesses, teachers, nurses, and detectives, cake is for everyone.
I experienced this firsthand last year. After an unexpected loss, I bought a cake. I wasn’t sure why—I just ate the whole thing by myself. And, somehow, I felt better. Later, to celebrate the first issue of Food & Feeling, I ordered another cake.
In Antique Bakery, the people who come to buy cake aren’t just customers; they become part of a much larger story—one that involves a decades-old child abduction case and a present-day serial kidnapping mystery. Yet for Tachibana, the bakery owner who was once a victim of such a crime, the repressed memory of his abduction never returns, and his trauma continues to haunt him in the form of occasional nightmares.
Food, in this case, is both a comfort and a reminder of the past.
🌙✨ Welcome to Thursday Night Kissaten! ✨🍰
Hello, my dear listeners! 💕 Welcome back to Thursday Night Kissaten, your cozy late-night café of stories, feelings, and of course—delicious treats. ☕🍮 I'm your host, Cordelia, and I hope you're all snuggled up with your favorite drink, ready for another warm and heartfelt episode. 🥰✨
Tonight, we have something extra sweet on the menu! 🍰🎂 We’ll be talking about Antique Bakery, a manga filled with cakes, pastries, and a little bit of BL magic. 🏳️🌈✨ But more than that, we’ll be exploring how food—especially cake—can be a metaphor for love, healing, and identity. 💖
🌨️❄️ It’s been a chilly and snowy time where I live, so I hope you’re staying warm and cozy! And what better way to fight the winter blues than with some comforting desserts and good conversation? 🍵🥞 Speaking of which, today’s background music is as soft and fluffy as a freshly baked pancake:
🎵 Now Playing 🎵
🍰 クリスマスケーキ by すもち → Listen here
🥞 今日のおやつはパンケーキ by のる → Listen here
🍯 ふわふわホットケーキ by のる → Listen here
So grab a slice of cake, get comfy, and let’s dive into tonight’s delicious topic. 🎂💬✨
