I enjoyed this story reasonably well. Was anyone else picturing the panda from Ranma 1/2 for the bear? Just me?
I was kind of expecting the bargain to go sour at the end, and the bear to not live up to the bargain, at which point the protagonist would go back and demand to know why, and the bear would say "What did you expect? I'm just a bear."
Interesting form of bargaining he had to do, and that the only reason he needs to bargain is because he was so intent on his job, but to get back the simple restaranteur hopes he has to give up his job, and indeed his only proficiency (It's a little hard to be a camera developer if you can not use a camera). Very interesting dilemma to give up his visual memories of his family for the taste memories of his family. I think he made a good choice given the circumstances though; given the chioce between dwelling on the family he should've spent more time with and lingering over their photos, he bargains to acquire their recipe to make them live on, to truly memorialize them, and giving himself what his father would've wanted to give him--the choice to take a day off when he pleases.