With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo is a young adult book that works well as a crossover for adult foodies. It was a library staff book club selection which turned out to have wide appeal for a variety of readers, including those who don’t read much (or any) YA fiction.
The main character, Emoni – a senior in high school with a two-year-old daughter she’s raising with the help of her abuela – is a talented home cook who dreams of becoming a chef but believes it to be out of reach for a girl from her Philly neighborhood with scant resources and who struggles with academic work.
As Emoni (pronounced A-mah-nee) balances the responsibilities of motherhood, schoolwork, and her job at a fast-food restaurant, her best friend Angelica and her grandmother are her stalwart support system, and she repays them with love and food – preparing meals that incorporate flavors from her Puerto Rican and African American heritage, enhanced by Emoni’s creative tweaks and additions.
When a culinary arts class is announced at the start of her senior year, including a class trip to Spain, responsible, organized Emoni has to decide whether she can add this additional challenge to her already full plate. Emoni eventually also has to decide if mastering the strict discipline of cooking professionally instead of combining flavors intuitively the way she always has to create freeform, delectable meals is what she really wants.
I read some of the book in print and listened to some on audio. Read by the author, the audiobook was a finalist for two 2020 Audie Awards, and was very well done. With the Fire on High is told in the first person by Emoni, and includes recipes.
Listen to a sample or read an excerpt from With the Fire on High
Inspired by a passage in the book where Emoni makes her grandmother’s recipe for sofrito, I made it myself from a recipe in my Oldways cookbook, Whole Grains Around the World.
In true Emoni fashion, I didn’t follow the recipe exactly!
Check out the Oldways recipe for sofrito on their website.
I used the sofrito in various dishes during the week, starting with just using it as a topping on Mexican rice, then in fish tacos, and finishing it off in breakfast burritos. (If you’re wondering why the guacamole is so light in color, it’s a low-fat version made with avocado and cottage cheese, from a recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook.)
Happy Weekend Cooking!
Shared to Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg @ The Intrepid Reader.