Eat Joy is a library book that I’ve ended up keeping for weeks longer than the usual loan period, due to the closing of the libraries last month when the state of emergency was declared.
Edited by artist and writer Natalie Eve Garrett, Eat Joy is a collection of personal essays by authors who were asked to “chronicle the hard times — immigration challenges, chronic illness, loss, heartbreak, and more — and the foods that help them make it through.”
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“In this book, Diana Abu-Jaber recalls the flight of her Palestinian ancestors from their villages in 1948. Edwidge Danticat finds magic in a simple dish that she eats with her dying father. Melissa Febos confronts Imposter Syndrome; Anthony Doerr feels homesick among humpback whales and bald eagles; Colum McCann shares a profound meditation on grief.
From the editor’s Introduction
Offering solace, inspiration, and love, Eat Joy serves up mouth-watering dishes with a side of restorative joy. May the stories and recipes nourish you too.
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Some of my favorite authors have essays in Eat Joy — including Claire Messud, Anthony Doerr, Lev Grossman, and Maile Meloy — but each story (out of all 31!) made me want to look for and read more by that person, as well.
The book is divided into three sections, grouping the essays under general themes: Growing Pains, Loss, Healing, Homecoming. Some of the essays are humorous in tone, but all refer back to times in the authors’ lives when food — usually prepared by or for loved ones — helped them get through rough patches and so all the stories are emotional and moving.
Read an NPR interview with the editor of Eat Joy.
Each essay in each section is different from the one before, but the theme of food as a comfort ties the book together and makes Eat Joy especially appropriate for these quarantine days.
Each essay is 4-6 pages long — ideal for our distracted attention spans — and each ends with a recipe of sorts. It’s really a perfect book for this time of panic and pandemic. I only wish I had returned it in time to let some one else borrow it!
Also watch for Family Meal: Recipes from Our Community, an e-book from Penguin Random House to be released next month, with all proceeds to benefit the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund.
Happy Weekend Cooking!
This post is shared to Weekend Cooking, a weekly feature hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
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