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Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey From Obsession To Freedom
What should I eat? How much should I eat? What does it mean to be nourished? How can I, a food lover and lifelong overeater, learn to be satisfied? These are the questions Dayna Macy asks in her debut memoir, Ravenous. Like many of us, Macy has had a complicated relationship with food. In order to transform this relationship, Macy embarks on a year-long journey to uncover the origins of her food obsessions. From her childhood home in upstate New York, and back up the California coast, Macy travels across the country, meeting with farmers, food artisans, butchers, a Zen chef, a forager, a chocolatier, and others—to understand where her meals come from, why she craves certain foods, and what food means to her. She looks at how nostalgia is deeply embedded in food, and how the powerful forces of family and tradition shape our food choices. Rather than head straight for the diet manuals, she chooses to change her relationship with food from the inside out. She delves deeper into the spiritual underpinnings of eating, examines what it means to be satisfied, and ultimately forges her own path to balance and freedom.
241 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 23, 2010
18 people are currently reading
306 people want to read
About the author
Dayna Macy
4 books16 followersPersonal Biography
Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey from Obsession to Freedom tells the story of how I made peace with my appetite and my body. That journey, and the one I traveled to become a writer, both took a while.
I was born in Rockland County, New York. I went to college at Drew University, and then to graduate school at Brown University, where I got my degree in philosophy. I thought I wanted to teach but realized what I really wanted to do was write. I wasn't quite ready to hang out my writer's shingle, though -- so instead, I decided to get a step closer to writing by getting into book publishing.
Most people don't leave New York to start a publishing career, but that's what I did. I made my way to Berkeley in 1986 and landed my first publishing job at Ten Speed Press. The company's subversive nature appealed to my own. A job in publicity opened, and I sprinted out of that receptionist's chair as fast as I could. The first book I worked on was White Trash Cooking, a gorgeously written ode to poor Southern food that spent many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
After Ten Speed, I directed public relations for various Bay Area media companies, including Collins Publishers San Francisco, Nolo Press, and Salon.com. These jobs gave me great and weirdly diverse experiences, from working on former Black Panther Bobby Seale's cookbook, to publicizing basketball great Michael Jordan's photographic autobiography, to taking a new-media website public.
Along the way, I began studying yoga, which changed my life. In 2001, I joined the staff of Yoga Journal as communications director, and in December 2008, I also became managing editor of Yoga Journal's international editions.
I was a publicist by day, and a writer by night. I began writing articles for Self, Yoga Journal, Salon.com, and other publications, and then my essays started getting published in anthologies. I've been lucky: I have great fun bringing national exposure to wonderful companies. And I love the short form of essay writing.
But I could not forget about that book I've wanted to write since I was twelve. "Write what you know" is common advice. That makes a lot of sense, but I never followed it. Instead, I write so I can figure out what I think.
Today, I live in Northern California with my husband Scott Rosenberg, also a writer, and our two sons
Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey from Obsession to Freedom tells the story of how I made peace with my appetite and my body. That journey, and the one I traveled to become a writer, both took a while.
I was born in Rockland County, New York. I went to college at Drew University, and then to graduate school at Brown University, where I got my degree in philosophy. I thought I wanted to teach but realized what I really wanted to do was write. I wasn't quite ready to hang out my writer's shingle, though -- so instead, I decided to get a step closer to writing by getting into book publishing.
Most people don't leave New York to start a publishing career, but that's what I did. I made my way to Berkeley in 1986 and landed my first publishing job at Ten Speed Press. The company's subversive nature appealed to my own. A job in publicity opened, and I sprinted out of that receptionist's chair as fast as I could. The first book I worked on was White Trash Cooking, a gorgeously written ode to poor Southern food that spent many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
After Ten Speed, I directed public relations for various Bay Area media companies, including Collins Publishers San Francisco, Nolo Press, and Salon.com. These jobs gave me great and weirdly diverse experiences, from working on former Black Panther Bobby Seale's cookbook, to publicizing basketball great Michael Jordan's photographic autobiography, to taking a new-media website public.
Along the way, I began studying yoga, which changed my life. In 2001, I joined the staff of Yoga Journal as communications director, and in December 2008, I also became managing editor of Yoga Journal's international editions.
I was a publicist by day, and a writer by night. I began writing articles for Self, Yoga Journal, Salon.com, and other publications, and then my essays started getting published in anthologies. I've been lucky: I have great fun bringing national exposure to wonderful companies. And I love the short form of essay writing.
But I could not forget about that book I've wanted to write since I was twelve. "Write what you know" is common advice. That makes a lot of sense, but I never followed it. Instead, I write so I can figure out what I think.
Today, I live in Northern California with my husband Scott Rosenberg, also a writer, and our two sons
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
September 4, 2013
Dull, no insight, author doesn't seem to make much meaningful change in her emotional state. She ends up going on a diet (but doesn't call it one) in order to lose weight and feel better about her body--which is probably the most mainstream and harmful thing you can do when you have emotional eating and body image problems.
Basic premise of the book: A privileged, fat white woman feels that she has had lifelong emotional eating issues. She is now at the largest size she's ever been and decides to explore why food has so much of a hold on her. So instead of exploring her emotional landscape in depth, she decides to go visit people who produce the food she loves, as if this will give her some kind of insight into her emotional state. Side note: most of the "research" she does, such as visiting food artisans, traveling extensively, taking a private cooking class, getting private yoga lessons, etc, are all things only a person of financial privilege can do. So apparently we can only figure out our food issues if we have lots of leisure time and a load of disposable income?
Summary of book: let's watch people make cheese and sausage, oh I have emotional issues around food and I don't know why, now I'm doing yoga, now a doctor who wrote the book on HAES neutrally described me as "fat" and I just about had a meltdown, and now I have figured out how to make peace with food and my body: I will measure out my portions and write down everything I eat! Yay, now I'm losing weight so I can love myself and I will claim that I've made peace with food!
She went on a freakin' DIET in order to "resolve" her emotional issues with food. Yeah. Good luck with that. As a person who has struggled for years with emotional eating issues and body image problems, I just had so, so many problems with this book. Dieting is NOT the answer to the many questions she raised throughout her story. Instead of exploring why she feels the need to eat all the olives in the jar at once, she "solves" her problem by just restricting how many she allows herself to eat in one sitting. How is that getting to the heart of the matter?
I had high hopes for this book, but for me, it utterly failed. Good concept, but poor execution and a huge disappointment.
Basic premise of the book: A privileged, fat white woman feels that she has had lifelong emotional eating issues. She is now at the largest size she's ever been and decides to explore why food has so much of a hold on her. So instead of exploring her emotional landscape in depth, she decides to go visit people who produce the food she loves, as if this will give her some kind of insight into her emotional state. Side note: most of the "research" she does, such as visiting food artisans, traveling extensively, taking a private cooking class, getting private yoga lessons, etc, are all things only a person of financial privilege can do. So apparently we can only figure out our food issues if we have lots of leisure time and a load of disposable income?
Summary of book: let's watch people make cheese and sausage, oh I have emotional issues around food and I don't know why, now I'm doing yoga, now a doctor who wrote the book on HAES neutrally described me as "fat" and I just about had a meltdown, and now I have figured out how to make peace with food and my body: I will measure out my portions and write down everything I eat! Yay, now I'm losing weight so I can love myself and I will claim that I've made peace with food!
She went on a freakin' DIET in order to "resolve" her emotional issues with food. Yeah. Good luck with that. As a person who has struggled for years with emotional eating issues and body image problems, I just had so, so many problems with this book. Dieting is NOT the answer to the many questions she raised throughout her story. Instead of exploring why she feels the need to eat all the olives in the jar at once, she "solves" her problem by just restricting how many she allows herself to eat in one sitting. How is that getting to the heart of the matter?
I had high hopes for this book, but for me, it utterly failed. Good concept, but poor execution and a huge disappointment.
June 20, 2011
Someone (I don't remember who, thanks to whomever it was!) recommended this book to me and I grabbed a copy of it. I will admit I was a bit hesitant. I read half of Eat Pray Love, which it kind of sounded like. I really didn't like that book, at all, not one bit.
This was similar, for sure, but also a little more realistic for the rest of us in the world that cannot take a year off and go off to points unknown. The author visits places she can drive to, during her off times at work or on the weekends. She visits with places she might actually be able to eat food from on a regular basis.
I loved the premise of this book. Understanding where your food comes. The good, the bad and the really ugly. I loved her bit about the olives. As a fellow olive freak, I feel her. The roughest part to read was the beef farm, but well, I mean, it happens and it was an important step in her journal. But it was tough.
I'm not sure if she really freed herself from anything and I'm not sure I would call this self help. So, if you're reading this to lose weight, you're reading the wrong book. But if you're reading to learn about the author's journey, you're reading the right one. I really enjoyed that part of it.
I also liked that the author kept it real. There's no BS in here that I saw. She isn't perfect, she doesn't know it all, she screws up. It also made me really think about where the food that I choose to eat comes from.
This book is great for those that love memoirs and for those that like to read foodie books. Well done!
This was similar, for sure, but also a little more realistic for the rest of us in the world that cannot take a year off and go off to points unknown. The author visits places she can drive to, during her off times at work or on the weekends. She visits with places she might actually be able to eat food from on a regular basis.
I loved the premise of this book. Understanding where your food comes. The good, the bad and the really ugly. I loved her bit about the olives. As a fellow olive freak, I feel her. The roughest part to read was the beef farm, but well, I mean, it happens and it was an important step in her journal. But it was tough.
I'm not sure if she really freed herself from anything and I'm not sure I would call this self help. So, if you're reading this to lose weight, you're reading the wrong book. But if you're reading to learn about the author's journey, you're reading the right one. I really enjoyed that part of it.
I also liked that the author kept it real. There's no BS in here that I saw. She isn't perfect, she doesn't know it all, she screws up. It also made me really think about where the food that I choose to eat comes from.
This book is great for those that love memoirs and for those that like to read foodie books. Well done!
March 27, 2011
"Why are you in this body? What does your body have to teach you?"
These questions that Dayna asks herself stood out to me. I like to think that, as humans, we are put in our lives specifically to work on things. You are the person you are with the challenges you face for a reason. Your soul chose your life to grow spiritually. That could be the wrong answer to why we're here, but it's what I like to think about my life at least. I never thought that perhaps my spirit could choose the shell of my life - my body - in order to teach me as well. I liked that.
That said, I wanted more from this book. I liked reading about CSAs, wild foraging and Dayna's trip to a slaughterhouse to see how an animal becomes meat on our plates. She alternated a discussion of food with accounts of her life. I got it - our environments and experiences can frame the context of how we view food. I just found it distracting from what I wanted from from the book - which was more information about where our food comes from, and what I can do to make healthier, animal-conscious choices about how I eat.
These questions that Dayna asks herself stood out to me. I like to think that, as humans, we are put in our lives specifically to work on things. You are the person you are with the challenges you face for a reason. Your soul chose your life to grow spiritually. That could be the wrong answer to why we're here, but it's what I like to think about my life at least. I never thought that perhaps my spirit could choose the shell of my life - my body - in order to teach me as well. I liked that.
That said, I wanted more from this book. I liked reading about CSAs, wild foraging and Dayna's trip to a slaughterhouse to see how an animal becomes meat on our plates. She alternated a discussion of food with accounts of her life. I got it - our environments and experiences can frame the context of how we view food. I just found it distracting from what I wanted from from the book - which was more information about where our food comes from, and what I can do to make healthier, animal-conscious choices about how I eat.
June 29, 2011
This book is not just about hunger and longing for food, it far more a spiritual journey through where food comes from (from small yet bountiful gardens and farms, the diary farms, straight through to cattle ranching and slaughtering) and how one should have a reverence for that food. Macy leaves no stone unturned in this story of her study of all forms of food and where it all comes from and the creation of fresh food from the ingredients she explores. Near the end she discusses making her own peace with food, what a normal serving is as opposed to what she was used to eating, and coming out on the other side having learned far more about herself and the world around her.
The thing that makes this far less of a simple memoir is the lyrical prose that Macy uses to tell her story. Even though she has written extensively for magazines, this is her first book. She uses first person, present tense prose - a difficult framework to use and hold so well in a full length book. It brings a sense of immediacy and far more intimacy to the story. Macy makes you feel like you are there experiencing everything right there beside her. This is not just a book for those obsessed with food, but also for anyone who enjoys a well told, literary story.
The thing that makes this far less of a simple memoir is the lyrical prose that Macy uses to tell her story. Even though she has written extensively for magazines, this is her first book. She uses first person, present tense prose - a difficult framework to use and hold so well in a full length book. It brings a sense of immediacy and far more intimacy to the story. Macy makes you feel like you are there experiencing everything right there beside her. This is not just a book for those obsessed with food, but also for anyone who enjoys a well told, literary story.
March 24, 2011
Another experiment on my new Kindle. Really interesting book,not just the author's need to find out the root cause of her overeating, but really interesting chapters about different foods, different chefs, very Northern California Tree Hugger type, but enjoyable reading. Also, some good recipes
October 3, 2017
My perspective comes as a result of receiving this book through Amazon's Vine program. If I had picked it up in a bookstore and actually had a chance to flip through the contents, I would not have bought it.
The title "Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey from Obsession to Freedom" would seem to be targeting an audience of readers who is concerned about their relationship to food. Generally they would head into the book looking for something that would be personally helpful in their own quest. Here is where the reader is cheated and left hungry. There is a superficiality here, concluding with "manage your portion size." A better author to read who treats the topic with depth and respect is Geneen Roth.
If the writer's title had more accurately reflected the theme of the book, learning about where we get our food and only that, then it would have been relatively interesting and more true to the content. Each chapter focuses on a particular food or way of obtaining food with the final section focusing on yoga. Reading the book felt as if I were reading several magazine articles from a food magazine. Each could stand alone. The fact that the author includes some of her personal history in these chapters was really the only thing that kept me going through the read, (plus a commitment to review for Vine). The only chapter that really grabbed my attention was the one on the slaughter of cows for beef, as I have mixed feelings about eating meat.
As a last word, I do admire an author who includes in her introduction a timeline of her clothes sizes!
The title "Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey from Obsession to Freedom" would seem to be targeting an audience of readers who is concerned about their relationship to food. Generally they would head into the book looking for something that would be personally helpful in their own quest. Here is where the reader is cheated and left hungry. There is a superficiality here, concluding with "manage your portion size." A better author to read who treats the topic with depth and respect is Geneen Roth.
If the writer's title had more accurately reflected the theme of the book, learning about where we get our food and only that, then it would have been relatively interesting and more true to the content. Each chapter focuses on a particular food or way of obtaining food with the final section focusing on yoga. Reading the book felt as if I were reading several magazine articles from a food magazine. Each could stand alone. The fact that the author includes some of her personal history in these chapters was really the only thing that kept me going through the read, (plus a commitment to review for Vine). The only chapter that really grabbed my attention was the one on the slaughter of cows for beef, as I have mixed feelings about eating meat.
As a last word, I do admire an author who includes in her introduction a timeline of her clothes sizes!
June 25, 2017
Great read
Interesting perspective on one's personal health journey! Thoughtful and complete as it relates to mind, body and soul! I recommend this1
Interesting perspective on one's personal health journey! Thoughtful and complete as it relates to mind, body and soul! I recommend this1
July 26, 2011
While someone without issues with food might not find RAVENOUS: A FOOD LOVER'S JOURNEY FROM OBSESSION TO FREEDOM compelling, I did. It spoke to me. I understood Macy's squashing of feelings with food, her memory-infused love affair with traditional meals, and her inability to stop eating even when full.
Dayna Macy is a middle-aged mom who begins to take an honest look at her journey with food. Rather than begin a diet, she wants to go to the core of food and her issues swirling around it. Curious about how the food that she loves like cheese, sausage, olives, greens and even beef come to her table, Dayna's inside look makes her reexamine her relationship with nourishment in a way that no diet ever could. Following each food type that she delves into is a recipe, many of which I am anxious to try myself. Why might there be recipes in a book about overeating? Because food is not the culprit. Our inability to stop eating it is.
RAVENOUS is an easy-to-read book with beautiful phrases peppered throughout. Although Dayna kicks herself for not venturing into writing sooner, she absolutely has a way with words. This is a book for anyone who has tied feelings with food and who struggles to turn away from the table even when your body says "no more."
*ebook provided by Netgalley
"Eating greasy, salty, fatty food literally pads me, thickens me from the inside out, and that extra padding helps me to feel safe."
"It will be another 20 years before I figure out that eating can't replace creating. And that no one can give me permission to write except myself."
"If people understand where their food comes from and how it grows, they become more connected to their health and to themselves."
"The kitchen is modest, serviceable, and small. No granite countertops, Sub-Zero refrigerator, or Wolf range in sight. Being a chef and a meditation teacher porbably doesn't pay much. Then again, maybe being a meditation teacher means you don't need the fancy gadgets."
"Salt, grease, tasteless pulp in my mouth," he says, koan-like. "I can never eat enough corn chips to be satisfied because there's no there there. And if I wasn't paying attention, I'd keep eating them to try to get what isn't there."
"My idea of what constitutes real food changed 15 years ago when I started getting a weekly vegetable box from this farm."
"We talk about the rise of genetically modified seeds, which are patented and therefore owned and legally protected by the huge corporations that produce them. In many cases, farmers sign contracts in which they agree not to save and replant seeds, though farmers have replanted seeds since the dawn of agriculture. Sometimes these contracts also have other clauses, granting access to the farmer's land and business records. 'I'm surprised that anyone signse these contracts,' Judith says.
I'm not. I know companies sell these seeds because they make billions of dollars doing it, and farmers use them because they boost yields and short term efficiency. I'm sure some people at these companies believe they are doing the right thing, but patenting the very foundation of our food supply seems deeply short-sighted and wrong."
"Ask yourself, why does industrical agriculture only want to feed people starch and sugar?...Because it's subsidized and cheap."
"In his seminal work Stalking the Wild Asparagus, Euell Gibbons wrote: 'We live in a vastly complex society which has veen able to provide us with a multitude of material things, and this is good, but people are beginning to suspect that we have paid a high spiritual price for our plenty...don't we sometimes feel that we are living a secondhand sort of existence, and that we are in danger of losing all contact with the origins of life and the nature wich nourishes it?'"
"The meaning of life is love. I also catch a glimpse of something else that will take me many more years to really learn: that food is notlove. Food is food."
"I need to make peace with my father. And whatever emptiness his life and death left in me needs to be healed with something other than food."
"Glancing back at my old bedroom window, I remember how, as a young girl, I couldn't find the courage to write a book, and how grateful I am to write this one now. Sometimes there are promises you make to yourself that you have to keep, because if you didn't life would be too dispiriting."
"I mourn the creeping invisibility of middle age and the gradual thickening of my body. I mourn the loss of my youthful beauty and all the time I wasted not seeing just how beautiful I was. All because I was never thin enough."
Dayna Macy is a middle-aged mom who begins to take an honest look at her journey with food. Rather than begin a diet, she wants to go to the core of food and her issues swirling around it. Curious about how the food that she loves like cheese, sausage, olives, greens and even beef come to her table, Dayna's inside look makes her reexamine her relationship with nourishment in a way that no diet ever could. Following each food type that she delves into is a recipe, many of which I am anxious to try myself. Why might there be recipes in a book about overeating? Because food is not the culprit. Our inability to stop eating it is.
RAVENOUS is an easy-to-read book with beautiful phrases peppered throughout. Although Dayna kicks herself for not venturing into writing sooner, she absolutely has a way with words. This is a book for anyone who has tied feelings with food and who struggles to turn away from the table even when your body says "no more."
*ebook provided by Netgalley
"Eating greasy, salty, fatty food literally pads me, thickens me from the inside out, and that extra padding helps me to feel safe."
"It will be another 20 years before I figure out that eating can't replace creating. And that no one can give me permission to write except myself."
"If people understand where their food comes from and how it grows, they become more connected to their health and to themselves."
"The kitchen is modest, serviceable, and small. No granite countertops, Sub-Zero refrigerator, or Wolf range in sight. Being a chef and a meditation teacher porbably doesn't pay much. Then again, maybe being a meditation teacher means you don't need the fancy gadgets."
"Salt, grease, tasteless pulp in my mouth," he says, koan-like. "I can never eat enough corn chips to be satisfied because there's no there there. And if I wasn't paying attention, I'd keep eating them to try to get what isn't there."
"My idea of what constitutes real food changed 15 years ago when I started getting a weekly vegetable box from this farm."
"We talk about the rise of genetically modified seeds, which are patented and therefore owned and legally protected by the huge corporations that produce them. In many cases, farmers sign contracts in which they agree not to save and replant seeds, though farmers have replanted seeds since the dawn of agriculture. Sometimes these contracts also have other clauses, granting access to the farmer's land and business records. 'I'm surprised that anyone signse these contracts,' Judith says.
I'm not. I know companies sell these seeds because they make billions of dollars doing it, and farmers use them because they boost yields and short term efficiency. I'm sure some people at these companies believe they are doing the right thing, but patenting the very foundation of our food supply seems deeply short-sighted and wrong."
"Ask yourself, why does industrical agriculture only want to feed people starch and sugar?...Because it's subsidized and cheap."
"In his seminal work Stalking the Wild Asparagus, Euell Gibbons wrote: 'We live in a vastly complex society which has veen able to provide us with a multitude of material things, and this is good, but people are beginning to suspect that we have paid a high spiritual price for our plenty...don't we sometimes feel that we are living a secondhand sort of existence, and that we are in danger of losing all contact with the origins of life and the nature wich nourishes it?'"
"The meaning of life is love. I also catch a glimpse of something else that will take me many more years to really learn: that food is notlove. Food is food."
"I need to make peace with my father. And whatever emptiness his life and death left in me needs to be healed with something other than food."
"Glancing back at my old bedroom window, I remember how, as a young girl, I couldn't find the courage to write a book, and how grateful I am to write this one now. Sometimes there are promises you make to yourself that you have to keep, because if you didn't life would be too dispiriting."
"I mourn the creeping invisibility of middle age and the gradual thickening of my body. I mourn the loss of my youthful beauty and all the time I wasted not seeing just how beautiful I was. All because I was never thin enough."
July 26, 2011
While someone without issues with food might not find RAVENOUS: A FOOD LOVER'S JOURNEY FROM OBSESSION TO FREEDOM compelling, I did. It spoke to me. I understood Macy's squashing of feelings with food, her memory-infused love affair with traditional meals, and her inability to stop eating even when full.
Dayna Macy is a middle-aged mom who begins to take an honest look at her journey with food. Rather than begin a diet, she wants to go to the core of food and her issues swirling around it. Curious about how the food that she loves like cheese, sausage, olives, greens and even beef come to her table, Dayna's inside look makes her reexamine her relationship with nourishment in a way that no diet ever could. Following each food type that she delves into is a recipe, many of which I am anxious to try myself. Why might there be recipes in a book about overeating? Because food is not the culprit. Our inability to stop eating it is.
RAVENOUS is an easy-to-read book with beautiful phrases peppered throughout. Although Dayna kicks herself for not venturing into writing sooner, she absolutely has a way with words. This is a book for anyone who has tied feelings with food and who struggles to turn away from the table even when your body says "no more."
*ebook provided by Netgalley
Interested in the plethora of quotes I jotted down but have no space for here? Check them out here:
http://www.recycleyourreads.com/
Dayna Macy is a middle-aged mom who begins to take an honest look at her journey with food. Rather than begin a diet, she wants to go to the core of food and her issues swirling around it. Curious about how the food that she loves like cheese, sausage, olives, greens and even beef come to her table, Dayna's inside look makes her reexamine her relationship with nourishment in a way that no diet ever could. Following each food type that she delves into is a recipe, many of which I am anxious to try myself. Why might there be recipes in a book about overeating? Because food is not the culprit. Our inability to stop eating it is.
RAVENOUS is an easy-to-read book with beautiful phrases peppered throughout. Although Dayna kicks herself for not venturing into writing sooner, she absolutely has a way with words. This is a book for anyone who has tied feelings with food and who struggles to turn away from the table even when your body says "no more."
*ebook provided by Netgalley
Interested in the plethora of quotes I jotted down but have no space for here? Check them out here:
http://www.recycleyourreads.com/
February 12, 2011
Food can be a lot of things. Delicious. Nourishing. Yummy. But food can be much more than that. It can be protection, comfort, pleasure, and love. Like in Dayna Macy's case.
With her memoir Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey From Obsession To Freedom she offers a downright honest look into what food meant and means to her, from early childhood up to the present. Admittedly this book wasn't quite what I expected it to be, starting off with a praise to different foods, which made me think that “Know Thy Food” would probably have been a more appropriate title. Slowly, the author then embarks on a journey to uncover the origins of her food obsession, starting off with the foods she loves, moving on to the exploration of food production (which was actually my favorite part of the book), and moving along to knowing and appreciating what you eat. And let's not forget that she even throws in recipes at the end of each chapter, which are celebrations of food in itself.
A vivid and beautifully described exploration of her eating habits and their roots, this book is wonderfully engaging as far as a memoir goes, but it also lacks deeper insights into the psychological aspects of food obsession, which, in my opinion, would have definitely moved the book from average to great.
In short: An honest read, an easy read, and unexpectedly delicious!
With her memoir Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey From Obsession To Freedom she offers a downright honest look into what food meant and means to her, from early childhood up to the present. Admittedly this book wasn't quite what I expected it to be, starting off with a praise to different foods, which made me think that “Know Thy Food” would probably have been a more appropriate title. Slowly, the author then embarks on a journey to uncover the origins of her food obsession, starting off with the foods she loves, moving on to the exploration of food production (which was actually my favorite part of the book), and moving along to knowing and appreciating what you eat. And let's not forget that she even throws in recipes at the end of each chapter, which are celebrations of food in itself.
A vivid and beautifully described exploration of her eating habits and their roots, this book is wonderfully engaging as far as a memoir goes, but it also lacks deeper insights into the psychological aspects of food obsession, which, in my opinion, would have definitely moved the book from average to great.
In short: An honest read, an easy read, and unexpectedly delicious!
December 28, 2011
The memoir parts were interesting and engaging. The parts where she visited farms, the slaughterhouse, etc. were fairly informative. I was not fond of the recipes at the end of each chapter and skipped right over them. The "orange" recipe at the end felt forced and trite. Furthermore, the conclusions she came to at the end of her journey were cliche at best and patronizing at worst. For what this book is presented as, it really didn't address the deeper issues of over- and emotional eating or the basic differences in body composition and metabolism and how to develop a healthy relationship with food.
SPOILER ALERT: She basically ends up going on yet another diet. Even though she calls it a "practice", it's a diet and it's exactly what she (and most of us who struggle with our body image) vowed never to do again. Particularly disturbing is that she cooks "normal" food for her family while she meticulously measures out her own "healthy" (read: diet) food, all the while justifying her actions as "discipline." That ugly "W" word even makes an appearance (willpower). Yikes.
This is a diet memoir. Period, end of story. It's silly to me that she wouldn't openly own that. I truly wish her the best of luck as it is painfully apparent to me that her journey to developing a healthy relationship with food and an appreciation for her body "as is" is far from over.
SPOILER ALERT: She basically ends up going on yet another diet. Even though she calls it a "practice", it's a diet and it's exactly what she (and most of us who struggle with our body image) vowed never to do again. Particularly disturbing is that she cooks "normal" food for her family while she meticulously measures out her own "healthy" (read: diet) food, all the while justifying her actions as "discipline." That ugly "W" word even makes an appearance (willpower). Yikes.
This is a diet memoir. Period, end of story. It's silly to me that she wouldn't openly own that. I truly wish her the best of luck as it is painfully apparent to me that her journey to developing a healthy relationship with food and an appreciation for her body "as is" is far from over.
April 14, 2011
While I don't agree with Macy's spiritual philosophy, I thought she had some really interesting and apt things to say about food. I can understand why someone who's never had an issue with weight or food could find this book tedious and even boring. But as someone who has struggled with weight and self-image my entire life, I found some good bits of truth in this book.
I loved the way she described food. She used words that I would never have imagined could describe food. She made me more aware of the fact that food doesn't just affect one or 2 senses, but can be experienced by ALL senses.
I also really enjoyed her journey back to the roots of the foods that she loves: sausage-making, creating chocolates, growing olives, milking goats; even slaughtering beef.
She gave credit to nature or the earth for things that I would credit to God. The memoir portions seemed really affected. And I get the feeling that some of the conversations were re-imagined or paraphrased and passed off as if they actually occurred that way.
After picking out the parts I utterly disagree with, I found some pieces I could hang on to and incorporate into my own dealings with food.
I loved the way she described food. She used words that I would never have imagined could describe food. She made me more aware of the fact that food doesn't just affect one or 2 senses, but can be experienced by ALL senses.
I also really enjoyed her journey back to the roots of the foods that she loves: sausage-making, creating chocolates, growing olives, milking goats; even slaughtering beef.
She gave credit to nature or the earth for things that I would credit to God. The memoir portions seemed really affected. And I get the feeling that some of the conversations were re-imagined or paraphrased and passed off as if they actually occurred that way.
After picking out the parts I utterly disagree with, I found some pieces I could hang on to and incorporate into my own dealings with food.
December 1, 2011
See more of my reviews at Bettering Me Up.
Other reviewers have done a fine job of giving an account of the novel, so I'll talk about how this book affected me.
Like the author, I have struggled with obsessive eating my whole life and wondered "why?"
There were several passages that really spoke to me and helped me reframe how I think about food and what I put in to my body. I will be doing further reading on Ayurvedic practice, as Macy's description of the healing properties have really intrigued me.
Other reviewers have done a fine job of giving an account of the novel, so I'll talk about how this book affected me.
Like the author, I have struggled with obsessive eating my whole life and wondered "why?"
There were several passages that really spoke to me and helped me reframe how I think about food and what I put in to my body. I will be doing further reading on Ayurvedic practice, as Macy's description of the healing properties have really intrigued me.
October 27, 2011
Full disclosure: Dayna and I worked together years ago and recently bumped into one another at a yoga class, which reminded me I needed to review her book! The truth is I would've read this book even if I'd never known the author, because it touches on two areas near and dear to me: food and yoga. In Dayna's case the latter helps her gain insight into and control over the latter. But the book is really about the journey. In an effort to control her impulses and her weight, she delves into the origins of her own eating habits and the food she can never seem to get enough of. The result is part personal memoir and part lifestyle (lots of sustainable, organic northern california cuisine, which has a way of making the eater feel superior while still indulging). I did feel the ending was abrupt, I couldn't quite connect what came before with the method the author ultimately chooses to employ, but it was a deep and delicious read nonetheless.
February 1, 2011
Food and relating to food obsess me too, so I'm thrilled with this author's journey to delve deeply into her eating history and to seek authentic change of body-mind-spirit in the midst of overwhelming abundance. We also share living in the Bay Area and being longtime members of Full Belly Farm's CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
I'm planning to employ one of Ms Macy's practices to help explore one of my blocks--the practice of measuring. "'The secret is there is no secret.' A portion is portion, and practice is practice. There are no shortcuts. Measuring, by its nature, requires me to pay attention to every portion. Measuring forms a container for my longings and boundaries for my lust. Without boundaries, I cannot find balance. Without limits, I cannot hope to be free." (p. 185)
I'm planning to employ one of Ms Macy's practices to help explore one of my blocks--the practice of measuring. "'The secret is there is no secret.' A portion is portion, and practice is practice. There are no shortcuts. Measuring, by its nature, requires me to pay attention to every portion. Measuring forms a container for my longings and boundaries for my lust. Without boundaries, I cannot find balance. Without limits, I cannot hope to be free." (p. 185)
March 7, 2011
This was a free book I found on Pixel of Ink. I wasn't too sure how I would like it since I am not a big fan of memoirs, but this book was really interesting. The author has an unhealthy relationship with food, so she sets out to find the origins of her food obsessions in order to change her relationship with food. She meets farmers, a forager, a chocolatier & many others on her quest to understand where food comes from & what it means to her. She looks into the family traditions surrounding food & the spiritual meaning of eating. The book did include recipes at the end of each chapter. I did have to skip the chapter that described her visit to the slaughterhouse. It was very graphic & I felt sick reading up to the point that I did. That part aside though, I would definitely recommend this book if you are a foodie like me.
June 4, 2012
Like me, Dayna Macy has a love of food and is unable to control herself at times around her favorites. She has steadily put on weight and wants to find out why this relationship with food is controlling her.
To do so, she sets off on a journey to find out where her food comes from. She watches cattle being slaughtered at a local farm, which gives her an appreciation for each bite of meat she puts into her mouth. She visits an olive grove and learns how table olives are made.
Macy also travels to her hometown and thinks about what emotional issues are tied to her eating.
She realizes, as we all eventually do, that food cannot fill up the holes that were left by emotional devastation.
This book was well-written and easy to read. Reminded me a lot of Eat Pray Love. I enjoyed it a great deal.
March 31, 2011
I can definitely identify with Macy and the journey she's sharing. It's not a preachy story, but a recounting of the trials and tribulations sustained while dissecting herlove affair with food. It was heartfelt and relatable, sometimes crossing over into bits of cheesiness. But life can be cheesy, can't it?
Macy brings up many personal and societal ideals relating to food, agriculture, and nature that you may or may not agree with, but she poses them in ways that make you think. Everyone is different. Everyone can decide for themselves, but she shows you that finding out for yourself is more important than just going with the norm.
Plus, I loved that there were recipes at the end of every chapter that related to the subject matter, many of which I'm jotting down for myself.
Macy brings up many personal and societal ideals relating to food, agriculture, and nature that you may or may not agree with, but she poses them in ways that make you think. Everyone is different. Everyone can decide for themselves, but she shows you that finding out for yourself is more important than just going with the norm.
Plus, I loved that there were recipes at the end of every chapter that related to the subject matter, many of which I'm jotting down for myself.
February 24, 2011
This fabulous book is filled with insight and wisdom as the author Danya Macy attempts to free herself from her obsession with weight and food by learning both more about the food as well as herself.
We follow Macy on her journey and learn about the responsibility of eating meat after visiting an abattoir, about the love of land many farmers have and try to cultivate whether they raise goats or lettuce. This is definitely a journey of love and hope.
For those who are obsessed with weight and food read this book and find hope and inspiration to listen to the deeper cravings of your body that you may be trying to replace with food. I highly recommend this book.
We follow Macy on her journey and learn about the responsibility of eating meat after visiting an abattoir, about the love of land many farmers have and try to cultivate whether they raise goats or lettuce. This is definitely a journey of love and hope.
For those who are obsessed with weight and food read this book and find hope and inspiration to listen to the deeper cravings of your body that you may be trying to replace with food. I highly recommend this book.
April 19, 2011
I like what she had to say about food. I thought it was unfortunate that she missed the fact that all of this does connect to the Lord. But understanding our bodies and not looking merely at weight, bmi or clothing size is an important and that seemed to be a lot of what this book is about.
I started to read and the first few chapters didn't have me sold. I wasn't sure where she was going with the book, or if I was even interested enough to continue along. But I had read some good reviews on sparkpeople.com and figured I'd give it a bit more time. The last section of the book is definitely worth the read (could you skip the first two parts? Maybe).
I started to read and the first few chapters didn't have me sold. I wasn't sure where she was going with the book, or if I was even interested enough to continue along. But I had read some good reviews on sparkpeople.com and figured I'd give it a bit more time. The last section of the book is definitely worth the read (could you skip the first two parts? Maybe).
March 20, 2011
This is a quick read -- I started and finished it while flying from North Carolina to New York (one stop). It's a quickie inspirational but sometimes uncomfortably honest account of one woman's quest to redefine her relationship with food in a healthier way. There's a bit of New Age-y stuff that didn't do much for me, and some of her ideas verged on silly to me (e.g. visiting a slaughterhouse to understand her lifelong fascination with pork... and by the way, pork does not come from cows). But on the whole, her honesty about her ambivalent relationship with food shone through, and made this a fairly satisfying snack of a book.
November 7, 2011
While I enjoyed reading parts of this book, it really didn't come together for me. Her journey led her to journaling and measuring her food? That was sort of anticlimatic for me. That, and the editing was terrible. I'd love to know who did the "find all and replace" four with flour. By the end of the book, I almost found that amusing. While I don't happen to agree with all of her spiritual beliefs, I was impressed by her willingness to learn about various foods and the effort that goes into producing them. I was also impressed that she confronted the areas of her life that troubled her the most.
September 22, 2011
I heard about this book in an issue of Yoga Journal. I don't personally identify as having food issues, but I did relate to the authors questions about the role food plays in our lives and our well being. Detachment from food isn't the answer, our bodies demand calories to live. Finding where we can have our cake (or sausage!) and eat it too seems to be the key to the balance.
I did wish the author took a bit more time with the final part of the journey and the last chapter. after the long journey in, the quick escape seemed like a bit of a cop out.
I did wish the author took a bit more time with the final part of the journey and the last chapter. after the long journey in, the quick escape seemed like a bit of a cop out.
February 28, 2011
This book didn't provide the insight I thought it would. It reminded me of "Eat, Pray, Love" but lacking in depth (not that the aforementioned had much depth). The end was such a let down because she decided that the "secret" to being at peace with her eating and weight issues was portion control and tracking what she ate. Gee - sound familiar? But the book was a tad bit interesting in finding out how certain foods make it from beginning to plate. The slaughterhouse information was insightful in a sickening sort of way.
November 16, 2011
Blah. This book was not at all as insightful or meaningful as the author would want you to believe.
I can't stand people who try to pat themselves on the back for eating "humane" or "organic" animals products. Also, I find it funny that she felt the need to "go to the source" for the cheese and sausage she so dearly loves, but not to see or even research into the slavery, environmental destruction, and racism that goes into her precious chocolate.
I can't stand people who try to pat themselves on the back for eating "humane" or "organic" animals products. Also, I find it funny that she felt the need to "go to the source" for the cheese and sausage she so dearly loves, but not to see or even research into the slavery, environmental destruction, and racism that goes into her precious chocolate.
May 2, 2012
I have struggled with self-image issues, weight issues, and emotional eating, but this book just did not grab me. Even though it was a short and easy read, I just couldn't push past page 60. The writing itself fell flat for me, and to be honest, I expected a lot more substance.
I do think it's an interesting idea to learn more about the foods we obsess over, and although I glossed over the recipes at the end of each chapter, I think it was a cute touch.
I do think it's an interesting idea to learn more about the foods we obsess over, and although I glossed over the recipes at the end of each chapter, I think it was a cute touch.
March 21, 2011
The idea behind this book spoke to me. I have an unhealthy relationship with food, as do most Americans. When I read the description I could relate to the author. Her journey isn't something most people can do, she uses a lot of her connections to get her into places that most people could never visit. However, we can learn something from her path. In the end she comes to the most basic of conclusions, the ones most people don't want to accept.
March 22, 2011
I got this for free for my Kindle and I have to say a big thumbs down. The idea is interesting, which is why I downloaded it. Even for free there are some books I don't bother with. But after plowing through the whole book, here is her big revelation/solution. A food journal and portion control. Um.... I think weight watchers might have been able to help you with this a while ago. If controlling your portions was easy, everyone would do it and no one would be overweight.
February 16, 2011
A great read for anyone who obsesses over food. Dayna unearths the reasons why she craves particular foods, and in doing so, finds peace of mind and a new way to focus on life. This book will make you pause and think about your relationship with food. There is no reason to go on a diet if you don't understand the root of your problem.
March 6, 2011
This book was amazing. I love reading food non-fiction and I love stories of women discovering the reasons we tick the way we do. Dayna Macy wrote an excellent book here encompassing a lot of what we probably all share in our food relationships.
If you have a love of food and non-fiction, this book might rock your world as much as it rocked mine.
If you have a love of food and non-fiction, this book might rock your world as much as it rocked mine.
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