Books To Bring Up Your Appetite
Today in the US is Thanksgiving so I thought I would do a post about food! I love to bake and cook and its fun seeing those hobbies of mine reflected in the books I read. These are a few of my favorite books featuring food:
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo - This book features Emoni, a teenager who has dreams of being a chef. Emoni has the weight of the world on her shoulders. It was really compelling to a book from the perspective of someone so young who has really stepped up to be more responsible than most adults. Emoni is a senior in high school who works part time, attends school, and primarily cares for her two year old daughter. She isn’t in a relationship with the father anymore but he is present in the story as a co-parent which was also a dynamic I found particularly fascinating. In this book Emoni struggles to balance her responsibilities with her dreams and desires. She loves to cook and the touches of magic she can add to her dishes in the kitchen and the way she can make those who taste them feel is so important to her that she would love nothing more than the opportunity to participate in her school’s culinary arts class and accompany them on their class trip to Spain. She feels it’s a frivolous desire because she can’t afford to spend the time or money focusing on cooking when she already has so much else on her plate, but she works to make it a reality for herself anyway. Reading through her struggles and experiencing her drive and determination to do the best for her child but also herself (especially with Acevedo’s magical way with words) was really exceptional and so motivating.
The Martian by Andy Weir - I may be stretching the topic of this post to include this book but the guy grows potatoes on Mars and it’s an integral part of the plot ok? Also I will take any excuse to tell people to read this book. The movie adaptation for this book is really really great, but I do think the book is slightly better and even funnier than the film. This book spent time at the top of the NYT bestseller list so it is not a hidden gem. Therefore; I won’t spend too much time explaining the plot, but we primarily focus on astronaut Mark Watney who has been accidentally abandoned on Mars. He is now forced to figure out a way to stay alive long enough for the engineers at NASA to get him back to Earth. The story is told via diary style log entries and it’s such a rare combination of super interesting math/science and absolute hilarity. I laughed out loud so many times reading this book, but at the same time it’s not all fun and games. Mark is stuck being the only person on a planet for a very long time and he hits a lot of road bumps and struggles along the way. Each one of those struggles can be life treating and he’s the only one who can fix them. That can be incredibly grating on a person and you do see him struggle to keep fighting and plotting how to best stay alive while his future remains so uncertain. This is easily one of my favorite books of all time (That’s no small feat. I read a lot of books) and it’s one of a very few books that I would recommend to pretty much anyone. So if you haven’t read it, you should and if you have read it you should gift it to someone for Christmas so they can enjoy it.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han - Another book with a really great movie adaption (and I may be committing the cardinal sin of book lovers everywhere to say that, if I’m being honest, I prefer the movie!). This is the first book in a trilogy following Lara Jean, a high school student and avid baker. She has written, over the course of her life, love letters to each of her former crushes and kept them tucked away in her room where no one will ever read them. Until one day when she finds out that someone has taken those letters and mailed them to their (not really) intended recipients. This obviously causes a lot of chaos in her life and now she’s forced to deal with all of these boys coming out of the woodwork convinced she’s in love with them. The main plot of this book, while interesting, isn’t what primarily interested me in the series. Lara Jean’s family life is what drove my appreciation for this book. She has two sisters Margot and Kitty. Margot is the oldest and has been like a surrogate mother for Lara Jean ever since their mother passed away. She’s leaving to go to university in Scotland in this book and Lara Jean is pressured to take on the role for Kitty that Margot provided her. Their father is also very much present and does the best he can while also continuing to encourage them to learn bout and participate in their Korean heritage (passed through their mother’s side of the family)and I loved seeing the way the family navigated their way through life. My copy also has a bunch of lovely cookie recipes in the back which is always appreciated!
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - One of my longtime favorite books. This book is actually what inspired this post. It tells the history of the de la Garza family living in Mexico, particularly focusing on Tita. It is tradition in her family that the youngest daughter (Tita in this case) is to never marry. She must instead spend her life caring for her mother. Tita is constantly pushed down and forbidden to marry the man she loves and the only place she can freely express herself is in the kitchen. All of her emotions are cooked into the food that she makes for her family and they all reappear when anyone eats that food in a rather powerful way. I’ve read this book probably 3-4 times and I’ve been fully engrossed in the story and the characters each time. Highly recommend for chefs and food lovers alike.
Any books you love that feature food? Let me know!
