Relish: My Life in the Kitchen in Around the Year in 52 Books

May 05, 2016 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir-and-autobiographical-essays, non-fiction, food-and-drink, graphic-novels-and-comics, non-fiction-graphic-novel

This is a fun little graphic novel with brightly colored art and sentimental reminiscences ... and recipes! I got so hungry while reading this. Pesto ... Chocolate chip cookies ... Grilled lamb ... Huevos rancheros ... Make yourself a nice cheese plate or something when you settle down with this book. The entire book is really a giant love letter to Ms Knisley's mom, with a nod of appreciation to her dad. This will be enjoyed by anyone who loves food (even amateur foodies, like me).

So why only t ...more

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Jan 03, 2014 Chelsea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: graphic-novel, cookbooks

I had not planned on being consumed with a graphic novel this Friday night. New groceries were purchased yesterday, so I was going to make something from my new cookbook. I sat down to go through the recipes in it and found something I wanted to try. While I was still in my reading spot I put my cookbook aside and happened upon this beautiful little book. I just checked it out from the library today, so it wasn't high on my 'to be read' list. I flipped through a few pages and ended up reading th ...more

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Aug 31, 2021 Jenn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: new-books-2021, 2021

I love the way Lucy writes about food. She makes me crave whatever she writes about. Her descriptions and illustrations are so vivid. The croissant story was my favorite as I could totally relate to that memory.

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Feb 23, 2017 Maggie rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories, non-fiction, biography-memoir, graphic-comics, coming-of-age, usa

She loves telling stories, and she wants to tell stories of her memories, Lucy Knisley says. And when she thinks of stories from her past, memories of scents and tastes of food closely linked to those events arise. So she draws stories of her past, growing up in a family of chefs and bakers. Her mother, who in her youth had a job behind the cheese counter of Dean & Deluca's, was a prolific cook, her father a prolific eater, and both were advocates of whole, fresh food, none of that processed jun She loves telling stories, and she wants to tell stories of her memories, Lucy Knisley says. And when she thinks of stories from her past, memories of scents and tastes of food closely linked to those events arise. So she draws stories of her past, growing up in a family of chefs and bakers. Her mother, who in her youth had a job behind the cheese counter of Dean & Deluca's, was a prolific cook, her father a prolific eater, and both were advocates of whole, fresh food, none of that processed junk they were later horrified to see their daughter eat. Her grandmother made a mean cucumble pickle, and her uncle Pete taught her to shell mussels. Lucy tells us of her parents' divorce, and about moving to the countryside with her mother, where she learnt to eat vegetables from gardens and drink milk from farms. Her mother set up a catering company, and Lucy reaped the benefits of eating leftover food while working with her mother. She brings us on vacations with her parents and friends, and the foods she ate on those memorable trips. She tells us, too, of her own experiences cooking and baking, and each chapter ends with a recipe. All this is done short story style, in a graphic novel.

I loved Lucy's Displacement, and I loved Relish as well. I like her style of drawing, with its clean lines, soft yet vibrant colours, and readable fonts. I like her casual yet serious narrative tone, which is entertaining and amusing without actually being comedic.

I expected this to be about food and recipes. and I was surprised to find that food was not the centrepiece of this book, but rather the medium through which Lucy tells a story of her life. Yet, unlike many other memoirs, she does not come across as self-centred. While her parents' divorce obviously played a large part in her life, she is not self-pitying,a nd does not accuse her parents in any way. In fact she seems to take great pains to defend her parents from serious criticism, and even highlights that her father occasionally visits her mother to eat her cooking. All this is said in a matter of fact way, designed to show that these events in her life are just events, not good or bad, but events that have shaped her, and given her a foodie perspective that she treasures.

The recipes are not formal recipes, but they have all the basics needed to make decent food. They are vague where Lucy was taught to be vague, and as specific as she needs them to be. Where she learnt valuable tips, she shares those tips. Her recipes are intentionally simple, and she encourages even the beginner to make food and to modify the recipes to their taste and resources. ...more

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