Stories & Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers
June 3, 2019
In this delightful anthology, Garrett (The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook, editor) presents culinary essays from notable authors and the dishes associated with them. In “Comfort with Eggs,” short story writer Laura van den Berg, addressing her anorexia as a teen, faces “the ghost of the person who believed it was... reasonable to starve herself to death”; novelist Chantel Acevedo cherishes hours with her grandmother toasting stove-top “Merenguitos” (“gooey like a marshmallow”); and for novelist Rakesh Satyal in “Bake Your Fear,” baking pies was “waving a Pride flag before I could officially come out.” Prominent writers shine, including Colum McCann, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Alexander Chee, whose story about a juice cleanse entertains. Accompanying recipes often prioritize comfort over ambition: Edwidge Danticat shares diri blan (white rice) on her father’s deathbed; short story writer Carmen Maria Machado mixes Kraft macaroni and cheese with tomato soup and hot dogs in “Meals of My Twenties”; and novelist Anthony Doerr slurps brownie batter in the wilderness in “Homesick at the Outer Edge of the World.” Garrett has selected the best kind of culinary writing—unfussy recipes and heartfelt stories that use food as an avenue for reflection. Foodies and fiction readers alike will devour this excellent collection. (Oct.)
This review has been updated to remove a quoted line that appeared in the review copy PW received but is not in the finished book.
Starred review from July 1, 2019
Remembering the food dishes that got her through hard times, editor Garrett (The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook: A Collection of Stories with Recipes; Lonely Stories: 20 Celebrated Writers on the Joys & Perils of Being Alone) embarked on a project of asking distinguished authors such as Alexander Chee, Claire Messud, and Lev Grossman to chronicle their hardships--chronic illness, heartbreak, and immigration challenges, to name a few--and the foods that helped them in the process of recovery. The result is a collection of recipes and thoughtful essays organized in sections titled "Growing Pains," "Loss," "Healing," and "Homecoming." Readers learn about Anthony Doerr's relief of homesickness with brownies and Edwidge Danticat's comfort from sharing a plate of rice with her dying father. VERDICT This book is a feast for avid lit lovers and foodies alike.
Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from October 1, 2019
For this collection, Garrett (The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook, 2016) asked for writers' recollections of "hard times [...] and the foods that helped them make it through." Melissa Febos remembers feeling unlike herself, and preparing a roast she'd never eat. Rakyesh Satyal makes pie, "the fruity embodiment of my efforts to soldier forth in the face of adversity." Edwidge Danticat recalls sharing her father's last meal. Essays (most of which are brand-new) end with recipes in their authors' own words, resulting in a delightfully varied set: Nick Flynn's potato-chips dipped in cottage cheese; Natalie Baszile's 13-ingredient boudin sausage, Maile Meloy's great-grandmother's recipe for depression pancakes, which includes both an egg and a note that the pancakes are fine without it. As food so often does, it makes connections in surprising ways: more than one essay evokes the cartoon allure of a pie on a windowsill; a couple of recipes include the salt of tears; three are for rice, perfectly?and differently?prepared. Readers get the sense that Garrett really tapped into something with her query. Taken separately or all together, these essays depicting food as love, medicine, relief, and communion; as a sacrifice and a gift, are profound and genuinely moving.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)