The New York Times Book Review - Douglas Wolk
[Knisley] maps out her emotional associations with her favorite foods…in a breezy clear-line style…Her language, like her drawings, is precise and uncluttered…
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
by Lucy KnisleyA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Lucy Knisley loves food. The daughter of a chef and a gourmet, this talented young cartoonist comes by her obsession honestly. In her forthright, thoughtful, and funny memoir, Lucy traces key episodes in her life thus far, framed by what she was eating at the time and lessons learned about food, cooking, and life. Each chapter is
Editorial Reviews
Publishers Weekly
“When we eat, we take in more than just sustenance,” writes Knisley (French Milk) in this nostalgic and funny food-centric memoir, and it’s a fitting motto for the book and for anyone who takes even the slightest pleasure in cooking and, more importantly, eating. Having grown up surrounded by delicious food, thanks to her gourmand father and earthy superchef mother, Knisley looks back on her childhood and adolescence through her roving palette and voracious appetite for new tastes and experiences. With each memory Knisley shares, she shows that life, like a good meal, should be savored and that all food—even junk food—is more than “just fuel.” For those uninitiated in the mysterious art of pickling, the nuance of cheese, or making sangria (yes, a couple cocktail recipes appear), Knisley’s candid storytelling, deadpan humor, and clear-line cartooning make the book entirely accessible, extinguishing the pretensions that sometimes predominate the culinary world. Like a giant bowl of spaghetti carbonara or tower of huevos rancheros (recipes included), this is a book that teenagers and parents will savor in equal measure. Ages 15–up. Agent: Holly Bemiss, Susan Rabiner Literary Agency. (Apr.) ¦From the Publisher
“Lucy Knisley's delightful drawings don't just tell great stories, they're a crystal-clear how-to guide to everything worth doing in the kitchen. Step aside, Joy of Cooking.” —Alison Bechdel, author of FunHome
“Lucy Knisley is bringing comics into the kitchen.” —USA Today
“Knisley's candid storytelling, deadpan humor, and clear-line storytelling make the book entirely accessible. . . . like a giant bowl of spaghetti carbonara or a tower of huevos rancheros (recipes included) this is a book that teenagers and parents will savor in equal measure.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“I plan on buying this book for every foodie I know.” —Wired
“Just about everything in this rambling memoir is handled with good cheer, which hints at the positive energy and personal fulfillment Knisley has wrought from her young life in food.” —Booklist
“A grand appreciation for the sheer joy of sharing a meal (and recipe).” —Bookslut
“You're going to savor every page of this yummy graphic memoir.” —Reading Rants
“Readers who are already food lovers are the obvious audience here, but those even those who aren't will have plenty to ruminate on through these coming-of-age shorts.” —BCCB
VOYA - KaaVonia Hinton
For most of us, a sudden whiff of something or the notes of a melodic tune are enough to conjure up memories from long ago. For the author of this graphic memoir, it is food that jogs her memory, shapes how she views the world, and comforts her while she is on her life's journey. Inspired by her parents and other family members, Knisley began working around food in her Uncle Pete's store at an early age. After her parent's divorced when she was seven, she moved to the country with her mother, a business woman who grew vegetables, raised chickens, and cooked. It was there that her mother encouraged her to be adventurous, goal-oriented, and generous. Eating, cooking, and serving are featured prominently in the text and drawings. Readers interested in cooking and the fine art of eating will appreciate the recipes and the food-filled anecdotes, such as when Knisley finds croissants in Venice that are so delicious she scoffs down five before she knows it. When she returns to the states, she becomes obsessed with trying to make similar ones that rival those eaten abroad. The book closes with a bonus: an afterword filled with full-color family photos. It is refreshing to see graphic novels with ambitious, conscious females. Just as the author acknowledges that her mother was an exceptional role model, so might young readers. Reviewer: KaaVonia HintonChildren's Literature - Sara Lorimer
Knisley spent her early childhood in New York City with parents who were deeply, passionately into food. After an apparently friendly divorce she and her mother moved upstate, where her mother worked as a caterer and at farm stands, bringing little Lucy along. While her classmates brought cupcakes to school on their birthdays, her mom showed up with a blowtorch and made creme brulee. Knisley carried on the family tradition of finding so much pleasure in preparing and eating food: eating alone, eating with friends, eating in Japan or Italy or Chicago, eating hot dogs from the Papaya King or lavender-scented air at a molecular restaurant. She finds delight in food in all its forms (with the exception of something called Lemonade Chicken her well-intentioned but food-ignorant friend made one night). It's a memoir with no bitterness, a foodie's meditation with no judgment towards those who don't share her interests. Her comics are clear and easy to read, reminiscent of Alison Bechdel or the illustrations in the Moosewood cookbooks. Every page is printed in full color. Has fleeting references to drug use, puberty, and porn (not necessarily combined) but nothing that should scare anyone away. Recipes include chocolate chip cookies, sushi rolls, pickles, sangria, and pasta carbonara. Reviewer: Sara LorimerProduct Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9781596436237
- Publisher:
- First Second
- Publication date:
- 04/02/2013
- Pages:
- 176
- Sales rank:
- 145,617
- Product dimensions:
- 6.10(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
- Lexile:
- 970L (what's this?)
- Age Range:
- 14 - 17 Years
Meet the Author
Lucy Knisley was born in New York City, raised in Rhinebeck, NY, and educated in Chicago. She has come home to roost in a tiny apartment in Manhattan, where she can be closer to her mom's cooking. Her comics about life, food, travel and her adventures have gained her a devoted audience on the Internet, and she is now doing food comics for the magazine Saveur, who just sent her to Africa. Lucy's first book, French Milk, is a travelogue about a trip to Paris. Relish is her most recent work.
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Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
4.3 out of 5
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4 reviews.
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Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
Graphic Novel
First Second, 2013
173 pages
Recommended for grades 8+
My relationship with food: I love good food. I also love a lot of bad foods. I love cooking if: I have enough space, the right ingredients don't cost half a paycheck, I have the correct cookware, and best done with or for someone that makes me smile. My reality of cooking: I often find myself too tired to create what I would like to be creating.
With a reality like that you would think I'd find none of myself in the pages of this book. Wrong! Yes Lucy grew up around gourmet cooking, and she herself is a true foodie, but she is also 100% down to earth about food. The drawings are colorful and sweet. Each section of her story is divided by a recipe that came from the previous section.
More than a story of food, also a story of one young girl growing up, and how food follows her through each phase of her life. Loved the back, filled with photographs of the people and places and times in her story.
Fun read, for foodies or not! I made the recommendation of grade 8+ due to nudity and sexual references. They are not crude, but when deciding on adding a book to a classroom library you might like to know beforehand what's inside!
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