SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Ruby Tandoh is an established British foodie from the hit reality TV show “The Great British Bake Off” who now writes about food for a variety of international outlets, including the NEW YORK TIMES. Here she narrates her memoir about the art and act of eating. Tandoh is reverential about rituals related to food. We hear her thoughts delivered in tender, almost dulcet, tones. She pushes beyond what we eat into why, where, and even with whom we do so. This is an ode to Tandoh's personal relationship with food, framed by memories of cooking with her grandmother and by her plea to slow down and enjoy the lost art of eating. Fans of her other work will feel they are getting to know her even better here. M.R. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
"A simultaneously challenging and forgiving manifesto, one that combines memoir, research and recipes in a call for us all to be skeptical of fads, inviting of others, and gently confident with ourselves and our tastes." —Salon
"A colorful, thoughtful collection that reads like memoir-meets–food science, perfect for foodies and anyone looking to examine their relationship with food and celebrate the joy of eating." —Library Journal (starred review)
“[Tandoh] looks at food as a 'whole picture,' sharing facts and culinary studies that will uplift readers—from waxing poetic about the liberating joys of baking to citing studies that correlate the pleasure humans derive from food to its nutritional power. . . . Home cooks will appreciate the handful of recipes sprinkled throughout, such as a sweet potato and smoky butternut squash stew with chickpea dumplings.” —Publishers Weekly
"Part memoir, occasional cookbook, and mostly manifesto, this book . . . will have those ready to tackle the problems of Western food culture nodding 'Yes!' as Tandoh challenges the status quo." —Booklist
SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Ruby Tandoh is an established British foodie from the hit reality TV show “The Great British Bake Off” who now writes about food for a variety of international outlets, including the NEW YORK TIMES. Here she narrates her memoir about the art and act of eating. Tandoh is reverential about rituals related to food. We hear her thoughts delivered in tender, almost dulcet, tones. She pushes beyond what we eat into why, where, and even with whom we do so. This is an ode to Tandoh's personal relationship with food, framed by memories of cooking with her grandmother and by her plea to slow down and enjoy the lost art of eating. Fans of her other work will feel they are getting to know her even better here. M.R. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-04-27
A sweeping social justice analysis of the way we eat—and the problematic ways society tells us to eat.
Journalist Tandoh, a Great British Bake Off finalist and author of three cookbooks, begins by comparing current food culture to “a bad boyfriend, dragging you down or holding you for ransom.” Too often, she argues, the modern dialogue about food seems to force us into “a perfect way of eating that will save your soul and send you sailing through your eighties, into your nineties and beyond.” In reality, food has a complex history sullied by everything from colonialism to homophobia. For example, Tandoh writes, “tea with sugar is a blood sport,” recounting how the British East India Company took over the tea trade in tandem with its bid to colonize India. In another chapter, the author takes on body shaming, emphasizing how “bodily scrutiny” is disproportionately applied to queer and trans people. Later, Tandoh uses sugar—a delicacy in Elizabethan England that has since become associated with the sugary drinks consumed by the working poor—as a tool for interrogating classism. Ultimately, the author encourages readers to eat what they want, when they want: “All we can really do is to take the revolution a meal at a time….Be the only person at the table to get a dessert. When it arrives, don’t share it. Fully rejoice in all your appetites—the wise and the unruly alike.” The combination of Tandoh’s earnest, compassionate tone and lyrical prose produces a text that is readable and informative. Her analysis of the intersecting systems of oppression that affect our ability to enjoy our food is trenchant and original yet occasionally overwritten and meandering. Her call for greater freedom in self-care is particularly relevant within a tumultuous global culture still struggling with the pandemic and myriad other concerns.
An engrossing, empathetic critique of modern culinary culture.
