Author: Alison Riley
Publication Information: Chronicle Books. 2023. 176 pages.
ISBN: 1797212826 / 978-1797212821
Rating: ★★★
Book Source: I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.
Opening Sentence: "While I am quite fluent in disasters, when it comes to cooking I am a person who needs a recipe."
Favorite Quote: "Food is integral to our emotional lives, but while we plan, choose, and prepare special things when we revel and commemorate, on those days when there is less to celebrate, we still have to eat."
From the book description: "This book reminds us of the value of our experiences, good and bad, and their capacity to bring levity and purpose to the moments we need them most. Recipe for Disaster was conceived through the deeply held belief that there is humor, liberation, and universal truth to be found through the exchange of these stories."
Food memories is an idea that resonates with most people. Memories of both joyful times, sad ones, and, as this book's title suggests, disastrous ones is one we can all relate to. Mom's soup when I was sick as a child. The fallback, easy, comfort meal I make when I am tired. The meal we look forward to after coming home from a vacation having indulged. The birthday dinner my child asked for.
Food - the thought, the smell, the taste - can conjure memories. Of people. Of a time. Of a place. Of who we were at that time and place. Comfort food gets its name for a very obvious reason. The dictionary defines comfort food as "food that provides consolation or a feeling of well-being."
This book includes forty stories by forty contributors of food memories. The theme, as the title points out, is disaster. With humor and the perspective of hindsight, the contributors share their stories. The contributors include Samantha Irby, Alice Waters, Bowen Yang, Michael W. Twitty, Cey Adams, Chelsea Peretti, Simon Doonan, Meshell Ndegeocello, Brian Lehrer, Gabrielle Hamilton, Becca Blackwell, Jacqueline Woodson, Sarah Silverman, Raul Lopez, Thundercat, and more. Some names I am familiar with, and some not.
The titles of the stories - Under the Sea, A Mess for a Moment, A Soft Spot, Staples, to name a few - do not tell me much about what "disaster" may be the heart of the story. Some do give a nod to the food - pizza, soup, potatoes, beans, etc. Each is only a couple of pages long. The book is easy to pick up and put down. As with most book of this nature, some stories resonate with me more than others. Each reader will find some perhaps that speak to them.
Each story is accompanied by a recipe - some basic and some more complex. The book is not as much about the recipes as the stories. Nevertheless, the recipes are included.
An interesting, relatable premise that leads to an interesting collection. My favorite part, though, may be that cover which made me smile and pick up the book in the first place.
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