Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Book Trailer:

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 bookended with an illustrated recipe—many of them treasured family dishes, and a few of them Lucy's original inventions. A welcome read for anyone who ever felt more passion for a sandwich than is strictly speaking proper, Relish is a book for our time: it invites the reader to celebrate food as a connection to our bodies and a connection to the earth, rather than an enemy, a compulsion, or a consumer product.

Fun read! This is a combination autobiography, cookbook, and comic book all rolled into one fun package. Lucy Knisley brings to life her life through her own colorful illustrations. Reading through the book made me realize how fortunate Knisley was to simply grow up in the family she did, divorce or not. As she states, "I feel incredibly lucky that the work my family has done has given me so many good things to eat and cook and experience."

Recipes (completely illustrated) include Spiced Tea (chai tea), The Dent Family Patented Marinated Lamb (with garlic, soy sauce, rosemary, white wine and honey), Mom's Pesto (would make a great kitchen poster), The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, Carbonara, Summer Pickles, Huevos Rancheros ("great morning-after meal"), and Shepard (Fairey) Pie. Her 'The Way Mom Makes Mushrooms' recipe is a mixture recipe and great tips for cooking them. The Sushi Rolls recipe shows a pretty good illustrated step-by-step of how to make rolls successfully. The cheese section was fun to read, as was 'Making Croissants is Hard...Sangria Instead?'

Knisley relates key moments in her life with the food that was around her at the time. Her travels around the world show the humorous side of traveling with family, and also how different everything is while still having so much in common.

There are numerous funny stories inside, like her classmate's famous worst meal and her 'coming of age' family trip to Mexico, as well as good cooking tips throughout - her Four Neat-o Tricks to Remember When You Cook should be plastered on the front of your notes for the next dinner party. I especially enjoyed her photo album at the end showing in color snapshots how much food, kitchen culture, and her mom influenced her to this day. This book makes for a quick read as her stories are hard to put down once you start and the comic book style illustrations make it easy to digest.

Book Information:

• Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
• First Second; 2013
• ISBN13: 9781596436237

Disclosure: This eARC was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own.