Review : Relish – My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Posted by on April 4, 2013 1:57 am in 5 stars reads | 5 comments

relishRelish : My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
Pages : 192
Genre : Graphic novel, Memoir, Food
Stand alone
My Rating : 5/5

From the Back of the Book :

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.

My Thoughts :

I read Relish in 2012 and absolutely adored it, but had to keep my passion quiet since it was only coming out this week. I loved it so much that I plan on having a hard copy very soon in the future, so that I can reread it again and again, and also give a try to the few recipes Knisley shares with us!

To put it simply, Relish is everything one could hope for in a graphic-novel/memoir/food-book : it’s colorfully illustrated, filled with personal insight and wonderful stories, and it will absolutely make you hungry! Pastries, veggies, cheeses, everything in Knisley’s book was completely appetizing!

It would have been easy to write a simple book on yummy food, include a few recipes and leave it at that; but if Relish worked so well, for me, it was because it was also the story of Lucy growing up, learning about life through her experiences with food. The approach is similar to the one in French Milkbut from an older and more mature point of view (which can be felt both in the text and in the illustrations). I think this will allow more readers to relate to the story, not only for the humor and the food, but also for what it has to say about life itself.

I also loved how Lucy related to food. I chose to use the back of the book’s summary for convenience, but also because I absolutely loved how it described food as something to celebrate : “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”. This has been a huge point in my life over the last few years, as I discovered I was severely intolerant to lactose and suffered from IBS. I’ve learned a lot about what I ate and how my body reacted to it, and made a difference between what I wanted versus what my body needed. I felt Relish really emphasized that, as well as the joy of cooking, with all its successes and unavoidable failures.

I don’t have much more to say, except : read it! Relish is a delicious treat for any reader, and a must-have for any foodie!

5 Comments

  1. I was totally charmed by this book as well!

  2. Oooo this sounds fun. For some reason I had no idea it was GN.

  3. I feel the same way about Relish. I just want to tell foodies and graphic novel lovers to just read it.

  4. Aaaaw, this looks like such a cute book! I love it when people treat food as it should be treated: as part of the happiness of living (:

  5. I just bought this book after reading Aarti’s review, and I can’t wait ti get started with it! I LOVE foodie books, and can’t wait for this one to arrive. You did a great job with this review today, Kaye. I loved your enthusiasm! I will be back to let you know what I think!

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