"Even the Things That Frustrate Me Are the Product of Choices I've Made to Have the Life I Want."

Happiness interview: Melanie Rehak.

Every happiness project is different. Melanie Rehak's happiness project? She devoted a year to food: working in the kitchen staff of a small restaurant, working on some of its supplying farms, and coaxing her picky-eater toddler to try new foods. Her book just hit the shelves: Eating for Beginners: An Education in the Pleasures of Food from Chefs, Farmers, and One Picky Kid.

None of Melanie's undertakings would appeal to me, and yet I loved her book. I...