Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family
“More local color than a steamed lobster wearing wild blueberry bracelets, along with a mess of wistful nostalgia for any reader raised in Maine or New England.” —Portland Press Herald

Nearly 70 renowned New England writers gather round the table to talk food and how it sustains us—mind, body, and soul

An award-winning collection of essays by internationally recognized and beloved foodies, Breaking Bread celebrates local foods, family, and community, while exploring how what’s on our plates engages with what’s off: grief, pleasure, love, ethics, race, and class.

Here, you’ll find reflections from top literary talents and food writers like
  • Award-winning novelist Lily King on connecting with her children over a tweaked chocolate chip cookie recipe
  • Pulitzer Prize recipient Richard Russo on the Italian soup his mother snubbed that he came to enjoy
  • Coauthor of Mad Honey Jennifer Finney Boylan on how cheese pizza holds her family together through the good and the bad
  • Coauthor of About Grief Brian Shuff on how greasy takeout can be life-giving food for the grieving soul
  • Award-winning writer Ron Currie on the childhood shame—and adult pride—of your mother being a “lunch lady”
  • Author and homesteader Margaret Hathaway on building a community cookbook to bring food and family together in the early days of COVID-19
Other essays address a beloved childhood food from Iran, the horror of starving in a prison camp, and the urge to bake pot brownies for an ill friend.

Rich and flavorful, Breaking Bread brings together some of the most influential voices in the literary and food worlds to show how we experience life through the foods we eat.
Proceeds from this collection will benefit Blue Angel, a Maine-based nonprofit founded by writer and Breaking Bread coeditor Deborah Joy Corey to combat hunger. The organization purchases food from local farmers and delivers it directly to families in need.
1146655553
Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family
“More local color than a steamed lobster wearing wild blueberry bracelets, along with a mess of wistful nostalgia for any reader raised in Maine or New England.” —Portland Press Herald

Nearly 70 renowned New England writers gather round the table to talk food and how it sustains us—mind, body, and soul

An award-winning collection of essays by internationally recognized and beloved foodies, Breaking Bread celebrates local foods, family, and community, while exploring how what’s on our plates engages with what’s off: grief, pleasure, love, ethics, race, and class.

Here, you’ll find reflections from top literary talents and food writers like
  • Award-winning novelist Lily King on connecting with her children over a tweaked chocolate chip cookie recipe
  • Pulitzer Prize recipient Richard Russo on the Italian soup his mother snubbed that he came to enjoy
  • Coauthor of Mad Honey Jennifer Finney Boylan on how cheese pizza holds her family together through the good and the bad
  • Coauthor of About Grief Brian Shuff on how greasy takeout can be life-giving food for the grieving soul
  • Award-winning writer Ron Currie on the childhood shame—and adult pride—of your mother being a “lunch lady”
  • Author and homesteader Margaret Hathaway on building a community cookbook to bring food and family together in the early days of COVID-19
Other essays address a beloved childhood food from Iran, the horror of starving in a prison camp, and the urge to bake pot brownies for an ill friend.

Rich and flavorful, Breaking Bread brings together some of the most influential voices in the literary and food worlds to show how we experience life through the foods we eat.
Proceeds from this collection will benefit Blue Angel, a Maine-based nonprofit founded by writer and Breaking Bread coeditor Deborah Joy Corey to combat hunger. The organization purchases food from local farmers and delivers it directly to families in need.
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Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family

Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family

Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family

Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family

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Overview

“More local color than a steamed lobster wearing wild blueberry bracelets, along with a mess of wistful nostalgia for any reader raised in Maine or New England.” —Portland Press Herald

Nearly 70 renowned New England writers gather round the table to talk food and how it sustains us—mind, body, and soul

An award-winning collection of essays by internationally recognized and beloved foodies, Breaking Bread celebrates local foods, family, and community, while exploring how what’s on our plates engages with what’s off: grief, pleasure, love, ethics, race, and class.

Here, you’ll find reflections from top literary talents and food writers like
  • Award-winning novelist Lily King on connecting with her children over a tweaked chocolate chip cookie recipe
  • Pulitzer Prize recipient Richard Russo on the Italian soup his mother snubbed that he came to enjoy
  • Coauthor of Mad Honey Jennifer Finney Boylan on how cheese pizza holds her family together through the good and the bad
  • Coauthor of About Grief Brian Shuff on how greasy takeout can be life-giving food for the grieving soul
  • Award-winning writer Ron Currie on the childhood shame—and adult pride—of your mother being a “lunch lady”
  • Author and homesteader Margaret Hathaway on building a community cookbook to bring food and family together in the early days of COVID-19
Other essays address a beloved childhood food from Iran, the horror of starving in a prison camp, and the urge to bake pot brownies for an ill friend.

Rich and flavorful, Breaking Bread brings together some of the most influential voices in the literary and food worlds to show how we experience life through the foods we eat.
Proceeds from this collection will benefit Blue Angel, a Maine-based nonprofit founded by writer and Breaking Bread coeditor Deborah Joy Corey to combat hunger. The organization purchases food from local farmers and delivers it directly to families in need.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780807013045
Publisher: Beacon Press
Publication date: 09/05/2023
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 5.55(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.99(d)

About the Author

Deborah Joy Corey is the award-winning author of two novels, Losing Eddie and The Skating Pond, and the memoir Settling Twice, as well as many essays and short stories. She is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Smithbooks/Canada Novel Award and ELLE’s Lettres Readers’ Prize, among others.

Debra Spark is the author of five novels, two collections of short stories, and two books of essays on fiction writing, as well as numerous articles, stories, and book reviews in places like Dwell, Esquire, Food and Wine, Maine Home+Design, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Yankee. She is a professor at Colby College and teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

Table of Contents

Preface Deborah Joy Corey xi

The Rhubarb Route (poem) Wes McNair xv

I Taste and Distaste

The Zen of Fiddleheads Cathie Pelletier 2

Beans Richard Russo 6

Exactly Like Pizza Phuc Tran 9

A Mess of Peas Kimberly Ridley 13

Elephant Ears Lily King 16

Kentucky Bread Roxana Robinson 20

Ode to the PB&J Kate Christensen 26

The Comfort of the Knish Melissa Senate 28

How to Eat a Lobster Jenny Bicks 32

Sweet and Sour Kathy Gunst 34

Kofta Stories Reza Jalali 37

Wicked Good Scallops Nancy Harmon Jenkins 40

For the Love of Grits Alice Bingham Gorman 43

Pancake Mornings Peggy Grodinsky 47

Tomato Sandwiches Jonathan Desmond Lethem 50

On Not Being Fresh Susan Minot 53

Blackberry Lands Myronn Hardy 56

I'm So Not a Food Person Richard Ford 59

Sweet on Maine Karen Watterson 62

II Hunger and Plenty

My Mother, the Lunch Lady Ron Currie 66

Glass Bottles of Local Milk Arielle Greenberg 71

Nourishment Stephanie Cotsirilos 76

After the Fall Elizabeth Peavey 82

Eating the Excess Kate Russo 86

Stone Soup Anne Elliott 92

Zakia's Dolma Kifah Abdulla 98

Connections Michele Levesque 101

Foraged, Stolen, Begged! Bill Roorbach 105

Turtle Justin Tussing 110

Red Hot Heaven Donna Loring 113

For the Winter Tanya Whiton 116

A Bear in a Dumpster Jason Grundstrom-Whitney 119

Openings Gabriela Acero 122

III Love and Loss

Prize Inside Debra Spark 128

7-Eleven Convenience Susan Conley 134

Learning to Eat Genevieve Morgan 139

Last Supper Maureen Stanton 143

Don't Flip the Ployes Kevin St. Jarre 150

What's Handed Down Gibson Fay-LeBlanc 154

Takeout Brian Shuff 157

A Suitcase of Tomatoes Christina Baker Kline 163

Cooking into the Eye of the Storm Melissa Coleman 165

United or Loosened Georgia Williamina Zildjian 168

Prospectors Martin Conte 173

Pot Brownies and Diner Breakfast Shonna Milliken Humphrey 179

Heirlooms Stuart Kestenbaum 185

I Tell Henry the Plate Is Red Annaliese Jakimides 187

Toledo Susan Kenney 192

Father, Forgive Me Hal Crowther 196

Comfort, Connection, Consolation Mary E. Plouffe 200

IV Family and Community

The Transit of Memory Jane Brox 206

All the World Loves a Good Cook Deborah Joy Corey 211

Recipe Box Lee Smith 219

Take Another Little Pizza My Heart Jennifer Finney Boylan 223

One of the Lucky Ones Lyn Mikel Brown 226

Salad Days Patricia O'Donnell 231

At the Table Kate Shaffer 235

Saturday Breakfasts Susan Sterling 238

Taj Alana Dao 241

My Grandmother's Kitchen Marilyn Moss 245

Locavore Sandy Oliver 249

Lies and English Muffins Sarah Braunstein 251

Measuring Lives Margery Irvine 255

Memorable Meals Carl Little 259

Ten-Year Chili Lewis Robinson 261

Reclaiming the Body Gregory Brown 264

COVID's Moveable Feast Caitlin Shetterly 269

The Great Persian Palate Invasion of 1988 DesiVan Til 273

Cooking Is Community Margaret Hathaway 283

Afterword Debra Spark 290

About the Editors 292

About the Contributors 293

Credits 301

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