Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Comfort Food Diaries
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE: NC
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Emily-Nunn/401754146 * https://www.npr.org/2017/09/30/548665733/hunger-both-physical-and-emotional-in-the-comfort-food-diaries
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2003050651
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2003050651
HEADING: Nunn, Emily
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100 1_ |a Nunn, Emily
670 __ |a A guide to great American public places, c1996: |b t.p. verso (copy-edited by Emily Nunn)
670 __ |a Simon and Schuster web site, viewed January 23, 2017 |b (Emily Nunn is a freelance food writer and home cooking evangelist living in North Carolina. She worked for almost a decade at The New Yorker, where she was an arts editor covering both theater and restaurants (she created Tables for Two, the magazine’s restaurant column). Her writing about the arts has been featured in Vogue, Men’s Vogue, Elle, Details, Departures; her food writing has been featured in Food and Wine, Men’s Vogue, The New Yorker, and the Chicago Tribune Magazine, among other publications)
670 __ |a The comfort food diaries, 2017: |b ECIP t.p. (Emily Nunn)
670 __ |a Emailed Atria Books, Feb. 7, 2017: |b (Emily Rees Nunn, b. Nov. 6, 1980)
PERSONAL
Born in VA.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and former journalist. New Yorker, New York, NY, arts editor; Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, features reporter.
WRITINGS
Contributor of articles to publications, including Vogue, Food and Wine, Chicago Tribune, Men’s Vogue, Details, Elle, and Departures.
SIDELIGHTS
Emily Nunn is a writer and former journalist. She served as an arts editor at the New Yorker for nearly ten years. During her tenure at that publication, Nunn founded its “Tables for Two” column on dining in New York and also covered theater productions. After leaving the New Yorker, Nunn joined the Chicago Tribune, for which she was a features reporter. She has also written articles that have appeared in other publications, including Vogue, Food and Wine, Chicago Tribune, Men’s Vogue, Details, Elle, and Departures.
In 2017, Nunn released a memoir called The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart, in which she explains how food helped her through a traumatic time during which her brother died, her engagement dissolved, and she was forced to move. In an interview with a writer on the Gannet website, Nunn stated: “In my book I describe a scene from my only trip to Spain, with my ex-fiancé. I’d just found out my brother had died by suicide, and yet the very next night I was standing in line at Cal Pep as if nothing had happened. Before the restaurant had opened its doors, though, I fell over in an incredibly goofy way, like Jerry Lewis, and broke my wrist. I won’t go into it here, but this night still shames me deeply.” Nunn continued: “After we’d eaten a few bites of our gorgeous food, I was in so much pain I admitted that I needed to go to the hospital to have my arm set. The incident seemed really significant to me back then, and it still does: it was the moment when my whole life suddenly seemed like a lie and broke apart and scattered like balls of mercury.”
In an interview with Cara Strickland, writer on the eHarmony website, Nunn expounded on her breakdown and the support she received from friends. She stated: “I just completely fell apart and I drank a bunch of wine and I got on Facebook, the way people do, and I complained about my life. I woke up the next day and I thought: ‘Oh my god, what have I done. I’m going to have lost half of my Facebook friends.’ Instead I had these amazing, incredible, warm notes from people—I mean hundreds of them—from friends that I hadn’t talked to in ages, some who were living across town from me, basically on my side, telling me they had a place for me if I needed it.” She added: “I ended up traveling around and staying with friends and cooking with them … and some of them gave me favorite recipes and sometimes we just hung out.” Though she was grateful for the invitations of her friends, Nunn felt ambivalent about being around others. She told Raquel Laneri, contributor to the online version of the New York Post: “My grief was so complicated that I really had to force myself to be around people, and food was my way to do that.” One of Nunn’s first stops was at the home of her Aunt Mariah. There, the two women cook bolognese ragu, as well as buttery rolls Nunn remembered from her childhood. She told Laneri: “I think if I hadn’t had that experience of making these rolls with my family, I wouldn’t have had faith that food could have such power in my life.”
“Never preachy or smug, Nunn’s memoir of healing is full of warm, bracing honesty,” asserted Kaite Mediatore Stover in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: “With powerful prose and rich details, her memoir is simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking.” Writing on the National Public Radio website, Nina Martyris described The Comfort Food Diaries as an “insightful, unsparing, and touching memoir.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, August 1, 2017, Kaite Mediatore Stover, review of The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart, p. 11.
Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2017, review of The Comfort Food Diaries.
Library Journal, September 1, 2017, Phillip Oliver, review of The Comfort Food Diaries, p. 140.
Publishers Weekly, June 12, 2017, review of The Comfort Food Diaries, p. 55.
ONLINE
eHarmony, https://www.eharmony.com/ (April 12, 2018), Cara Strickland, author interview.
Gannet, http://www.thegannet.com/ (February 6, 2018), Megan Honan, author interview.
National Public Radio Online, https://www.npr.org/ (September 30, 2017), Nina Martyris, review of The Comfort Food Diaries.
New York Post Online, https://nypost.com/ (October 18, 2017), Raquel Laneri, author interview.
Simon & Schuster Website, http://www.simonandschuster.com/ (April 12, 2018), author profile.
Emily Nunn
Emily Nunn is a freelance food writer and home-cooking evangelist living in North Carolina. She worked for almost a decade at The New Yorker, where she was an arts editor covering both theater and restaurants (she created Tables for Two, the magazine’s restaurant column) and as an award winning features reporter at the Chicago Tribune. Her writing about the arts has been featured in Vogue, Men’s Vogue, Elle, Details, Departures; her food writing has been featured in Food and Wine, Men’s Vogue, and the Chicago Tribune Magazine, among other publications. She is the author of The Comfort Food Diaries.
QUOTED: "My grief was so complicated that I really had to force myself to be around people, and food was my way to do that."
"I think if I hadn’t had that experience of making these rolls with my family, I wouldn’t have had faith that food could have such power in my life."
LIVING
These buttery biscuits can heal a broken heart
By Raquel Laneri October 18, 2017 | 6:22pm | Updated
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These buttery biscuits can heal a broken heart
Courtesy of Emily Nunn
For culinary writer Emily Nunn, 2010 was a devastating year. Then 49, Nunn lost her brother to suicide, broke up with her fiancé and was evicted from her home in Chicago.
In search of solace, she instinctively turned to the activities that had always brought her comfort: cooking and eating.
In her new book, “The Comfort Food Diaries” (Atria, out now), Nunn chronicles how spending time in the kitchen with loved ones helped pull her through the ensuing years of sorrow and personal struggle.
“My grief was so complicated that I really had to force myself to be around people, and food was my way to do that,” Nunn, now settled in the mountains of western North Carolina, tells The Post.
The book is the result of a road trip, during which Nunn visited with family and friends and asked them to prepare and share their most restorative dishes. “The Comfort Food Diaries” includes their stories, along with a range of recipes, from virtuous vegetable soups to rich roasts.
Nunn says the first recipe she sought out was for the buttery rolls she had grown up baking with her Aunt Mariah.
“I think if I hadn’t had that experience of making these rolls with my family, I wouldn’t have had faith that food could have such power in my life,” Nunn says.
Plus, the rolls taste amazing. “They’re crispy on the outside, and the inside is tender. They’ve got that sweet yeasty flavor,” she says. “They’re perfect.”
Modal Trigger
Emily Nunn, author of “The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart.”
Aunt Mariah’s rolls
¼ tsp. ground ginger
2 packages dry yeast
¾ cup plus 1 tsp. granulated sugar
½ cup powdered skim milk
3 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp. salt
½ stick butter, melted, plus 4 tbsp. more for dipping
6 cups all-purpose flour, plus 3 tbsp. more, if needed
In a large bowl, stir ginger, yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in 2 cups of warm water until dissolved. The mixture should foam slightly.
In a medium bowl, combine powdered milk, eggs, salt, ¾ cup sugar and ½ stick melted butter and add to yeast mixture. Add 2 cups of flour and stir until well combined, then gradually mix in remaining 4 cups of flour.
Cover bowl with a clean dishcloth and put in a warm place — such as a sunny windowsill. Allow dough to rise until it doubles in volume, about an hour. Punch down and place on a floured cutting board. Knead gently for 1 minute.
Roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness, sprinkling with flour if too sticky, and cut out circles with a 2 ¾-inch biscuit cutter. Dunk each circle in melted butter and fold in half, pinching lightly so dough stays folded. Place semicircles of dough on ungreased baking sheets, about half an inch apart. Cover with dishcloth and let rise again for about 1 hour, or until rolls have doubled in size and their sides touch.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.
Yield: About 48 rolls
QUOTED: "In my book I describe a scene from my only trip to Spain, with my ex-fiancé. I’d just found out my brother had died by suicide, and yet the very next night I was standing in line at Cal Pep as if nothing had happened. Before the restaurant had opened its doors, though, I fell over in an incredibly goofy way, like Jerry Lewis, and broke my wrist. I won’t go into it here, but this night still shames me deeply."
"After we’d eaten a few bites of our gorgeous food, I was in so much pain I admitted that I needed to go to the hospital to have my arm set. The incident seemed really significant to me back then, and it still does: it was the moment when my whole life suddenly seemed like a lie and broke apart and scattered like balls of mercury."
THE GANNET Q&A
Emily Nunn
6th February 2018
Interview: Megan Honan
Photograph: Dot Griffith
Emily Nunn is a journalist, author and home-cooking evangelist living in Todd, North Carolina. Born in Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains, she worked for almost a decade at the New Yorker, where she was an arts editor covering both theatre and restaurants (she created Tables for Two, the magazine’s restaurant column), and as an award-winning features reporter at the Chicago Tribune. Her first book, The Comfort Food Diaries, was published in October. She continues to freelance for both arts and food publications.
If you could revisit one meal in your life, which would it be?
Dinner at the incredible café Cal Pep, in Barcelona, back in 2010. In my book I describe a scene from my only trip to Spain, with my ex-fiancé. I’d just found out my brother had died by suicide, and yet the very next night I was standing in line at Cal Pep as if nothing had happened. Before the restaurant had opened its doors, though, I fell over in an incredibly goofy way, like Jerry Lewis, and broke my wrist. I won’t go into it here, but this night still shames me deeply. After we’d eaten a few bites of our gorgeous food, I was in so much pain I admitted that I needed to go to the hospital to have my arm set. The incident seemed really significant to me back then, and it still does: it was the moment when my whole life suddenly seemed like a lie and broke apart and scattered like balls of mercury. Because of my horribly messy grief, in the days and months that followed quite a few people very close to me would leave me behind, which altered my life considerably. It seems odd to want to revisit such a place, but I do. I want a second chance to do it right. What I mean is that rather than trying to pretend nothing had happened, and rather than trying to grieve in a tidier, more socially acceptable way, this time I would go to Cal Pep with the people in my life who truly loved me. People who had my back, people who understood the pain of surviving a sibling’s suicide. And we would all share a beautiful meal, mourn my brother, and celebrate the precariously beautiful ridiculous gift of being alive.
What’s your most food-splattered cookbook?
Definitely Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Not because Italian food is my favourite cuisine, although I love it. But because Hazan seemed to be supernaturally intimate with every facet of her ingredients, able to coax them into asserting their most vibrant personalities. And she made this feat seem effortless, although of course it wasn’t. (I joke that my favorite Marcella recipe is waving garlic over a tomato.) And she did it long before professional cooks began fetishising the kinds of hard-to-get or expensive ingredients that tended to eject the average home cook. One great example is her red and yellow bell pepper sauce with sausage on pappardelle, which I include in my book: you have to peel the peppers – just plain old yellow and red peppers from the grocery store – and it’s a transformative technique that renders them buttery and sweet in the pan; without it, the dish verges on average.
What’s your biggest food or drink aversion?
I’m sober, so my biggest drink aversion is alcohol – it turns me into a giant weirdo, a drunk, nonsensical cartoon mouse. My biggest food aversion is probably seared foie gras. I don’t mind admitting that the first time I had a giant seared slice delivered to my table – which was not until I moved to New York in my 20s – I felt a kind of judgmental revulsion completely new to me. I liked my first bite – of course it was delicious! But the relish with which my date consumed it, as if he were eating a block of 18-carat-gold pudding, or a stack of money, made my skin crawl. I now associate it with a fading archetype: the Lieblingesque red-faced, overindulged gourmand (aka the glutton) who subsists on only the richest foods. Besides, there are so many other exquisitely delicious things to eat in this world that are not ethically loaded and disturbing.
Describe your perfect breakfast.
Lately, I don’t really eat breakfast, and don’t lecture me, please. Most of the things that Americans eat in the morning strike me as inappropriate for my stunned state of mind in the early hours: giant honeybuns or doughnuts, a mocha latte with whipped cream and caramel drizzled all over. Good lord. I do like a big Southern American country breakfast, but I want it for dinner: eggs and bacon and biscuits and fried apples. That said: my perfect breakfast, the one I would definitely eat every single day if I could get it, is traditional Japanese breakfast. It usually consists of a piece of broiled fish, some miso soup, rice, nori, a little Japanese style omelette and pickles (including umeboshi, the salty picked plums, which I love). I became hooked while living in NYC and covering restaurants for the New Yorker. Once I moved to Chicago to work for the Tribune, it was hard to find any real Japanese restaurants serving it. But I managed to locate a couple of fancy hotels with regular Japanese clientele. It was way too expensive, but it hit the spot: pow!
I like to hear the sounds of cooking. Everything about it; the splashing spigot, the clanking, the sizzling, the chopping, the opening and closing of cabinets and refrigerator
Of all the restaurants in the world, which makes you happiest, and why?
The Dairy Bar, in my hometown [Galax, Virginia]. It’s a tiny drive-in restaurant, which means curb service. A teenager usually comes out to your car to take your order, or you can eat inside at one of the 4-5 tables or on the deck with a view of the fairgrounds and factories. When I was growing up, there were very few real sit-down restaurants, but we had three drive-ins. I always preferred The Dairy Bar, which was, and still is, all about burgers and chili-slawdogs and onion rings and shakes. It’s where our parents took us as little kids, loaded up in the back of our station wagon during the hot summer for chocolate dipped cones, banana splits and lime flips, which were milkshakes made with sherbet rather than ice cream. And it’s where we drove ourselves on weekends, once we were teenagers, to drink cherry cokes and eat crinkle-cut fries dipped in ketchup. We’d listen to the radio for hours, before riding up and down Main Street, American Graffiti style, to look at other teenagers doing the same thing. And now that we’ve all grown up and moved away, it has become the place we return to out of nostalgia, with our friends, spouses and out of town visitors, hoping it will mean as much to them as it always has to us. It doesn’t, but the food is exactly what we want because it never changes. When you order a cheeseburger it automatically comes with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, which is how I’ve ordered it my entire life, since I was a very small kid. But I’ll occasionally ask for coleslaw and tomato instead.
What do you listen to when you’re cooking?
I don’t listen to music. I like to hear the sounds of cooking. Everything about it; the splashing spigot, the clanking, the sizzling, the chopping, the opening and closing of cabinets and refrigerator. I just love it.
What’s your favourite food scene in the movies?
Until something wholly more wonderful comes along, my favorite movie food scene will remain the iconic final minutes in Big Night, in which two Italian brothers try to make a go of running an authentic Italian restaurant in 1950s red-sauce America – with integrity. I was so struck by this scene back when the movie came out in 1996: they gamble everything on a single stupendous dinner party meant to save the restaurant from the bank. It doesn’t quite work out for them. The life-altering disappointment they’re faced with seems less awful the next morning, as one brother (the manager, who has tried to let his discriminating chef sibling continue cooking like an artist rather than a crowd-pleaser, even though they are going under) arrives, hungover, to find his busboy asleep on the chopping block. He begins to fix eggs for breakfast. While he’s quietly whisking, then moving the eggs around in the pan over a flame, the busboy tears some bread, the chef arrives, poleaxed from the event, and they share their simple breakfast – in complete silence; no one tries to console the other, or makes a plan to fix things, or worries or blames. No one speaks. They just cook and eat, which of course means that they know, no matter what, they’ll continue. It is completely heartbreaking, but also comforting. It reminds me of the final scene of Waiting for Godot; we’re all waiting for the spectacular, the savior. It’s probably not coming. But the sign that we’ll go on: we keep going on, we cook.
Tell us about a dish you make when you’re short on time.
Lemon butter pasta, which is from a 1986 thrift-store cookbook someone sent me as a present after I got my book contract. You break some thin spaghetti in half, then toss it into a pan with some hot melted butter, pour in chicken broth and sprinkle on some freshly ground black pepper; bring it to a boil, turn it way down and let it simmer until the broth is absorbed and the pasta is al dente. Then you finish it with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice per serving – and more pepper if you want it. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes and it is absolutely dreamy.
If you could drink only one thing, aside from water, what would it be?
Coffee. I love it so much that sometimes, late at night, I become excited about the magical coffee-making process that awaits me the next morning, which seems very far away. Living here in America, where tea is not an important cultural ritual, I don’t understand people who drink only tea in the morning. What is wrong with them? Did someone give them bad coffee as children? Are they trying to get attention with their little silver tea-balls and assorted boxes and bags? I have a hard time relating to them. But coffeeeeee! Some of my fondest memories in life, particularly of traveling abroad, are coffee scented: waking up in Santa Fruttuoso on my first trip to Italy, I couldn’t believe how elementally different the scent of their coffee was. It had wandered like a living animal from the dining room downstairs and into our room. It made coffee new to me again. I have very few unhappy coffee memories. Also: I once had a nightmare in which the only thing that happened was I made bad coffee. That was the whole dream and I remember it perfectly: I was using the paper cone method. Now I use an Italian espresso maker.
I once had a nightmare in which the only thing that happened was I made bad coffee
What was your favourite food when you were 10?
Shrimp cocktail! It was my gateway seafood, which led directly to my love of lobster, oysters, clams, scallops, squid, octopus and almost any fresh fish. I grew up landlocked in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia so seafood was completely exotic to me – although we did have fried clams at Howard Johnson (which I loved, because: tartar sauce). And I’m pretty sure my first shrimp cocktail was the now sadly defunct Sau-Sea Shrimp Cocktail, which my mother bought at the grocery store. They came frozen in packs of four reusable glasses, embossed with a nautical ship’s wheel and sealed with disposable metal tops. Each one had about eight small shrimp floating in sauce. Were they fresh? No. Were they heaven to me? Yes. The company is still around, but they only make seafood-related condiments. Anyway, I later graduated to almost any variation I could get my hand on, as long as there was lots of horseradish-laden cocktail sauce; it’s easy to find me at certain fancy parties because I stake a claim near the fresh shrimp on ice.
Who is your food hero?
The late novelist and short story writer Laurie Colwin, who, of course, also wrote a food column for the now defunct Gourmet magazine (my other food hero). She made me – and a lot of other food writers – realise that not all of us who care about cooking were meant to be full of competitive swagger. Some of us write about food and cook and develop recipes because it makes us so happy. And she did it at a moment when food was just on its way to becoming less about inclusiveness and sharing and more about celebrity and exclusiveness. Home cooking is just as noble and often as, or more, delicious than restaurant fare. Of course, it’s silly to compare the two.
What’s your greatest talent in the kitchen?
Picking recipes. I think I have a knack for recognising the good ones. This may or may not be true.
What’s the best thing you cooked at home in the last month?
Spoonbread. It’s a Southern side dish, whose best version I thought I distinctly remembered from a childhood trip to a famous Virginia hotel. I prepared the hotel’s recipe a couple of times and it turned out really good exactly once. My plan had been to include it in my book, but about six months before we went to press, after testing and retesting it and even having my food friends test it, I finally gave up and created my own version, which more than lived up to my memories of the dish I had as a kid. Actually, it was better than the original, a fact that I now see as a sort of tremendous metaphor for the way I’ve been trying to live my real life in relation to my occasionally faulty memories of my Southern upbringing. Anyway, spoonbread is something the British need to get on board with: it’s like a very dense cornbread soufflé and you can play around with it: add cheese, jalapenos, chives, etc.
What ingredient or food product are you currently obsessed with?
Better than Boullion, made in Rome, Georgia – a potent little jar of joy that I highly recommend for busy home cooks who haven’t been freezing their own stock and/or don’t like that stuff in the box. It comes in chicken, beef, vegetable – and an organic version. I use the chicken version all the time, including in the concoction I mention here as “the dish you make when you’re short on time”. Its first ingredient on the nutritional panel is roasted chicken meat with natural juices. You stir a teaspoon of it into 8 ounces of hot water for an equivalent amount of boullion. It’s a bit salty, so I never salt anything I use it with. It has more true chicken flavour than canned or boxed stock or broth.
After a couple of years cooking for myself, dining out in a real restaurant seems like the most exquisite luxury in the world. A pizza joint. A hot-dog stand. It doesn’t have to be fancy
Describe a kitchen object you can’t live without.
My lemon reamer. I put lemon in a lot of dishes to freshen/brighten them up or balance them out. But I also drink the juice in seltzer all day long and make a lot of things that feature lemon in a big way, such as my Aunt Mariah’s lemon sponge cups. Mine is wooden, but I’ve used it so much it’s starting to splinter. I just gave a heavy, bright yellow plastic Farberware reamer to my cousin as a present. I’m not sure she understood the magnitude of what she’d received.
Describe the thing that most annoys you as a customer in a restaurant.
For some reason, having a waiter ask me how my food tastes drives me insane. Waiters in the United States actually pop by your table once you’ve started eating and say: “How’s that tasting?” It bothers me for a couple of reasons: first, it seems so personal, overly intimate. (What? Who needs to know? What size is your underwear, buddy?) And second: do you really want to know? It doesn’t seem like it, because you flounce away almost immediately after asking the question. I often wonder what would happen if I actually started describing to a waiter exactly how my food was tasting, in great detail. But I’m too nice. I just say: “good”, and then after they walk away and I am sure they can no longer see me, I roll my eyes so hard that I almost fall out of my chair.
What food trend really gets on your nerves?
I’ve barely noticed them, having been off the grid while writing my book, but I have noticed the rise of a sort of foodie cliquishness. It seems unnecessary and flies in the face of what seems to be one of the most inclusive and loving thing humans do: cook and eat together.
What’s your favourite food and drink pairing?
Coffee and a cigarette. (Fortunately I stopped smoking many years ago.)
What’s your biggest food extravagance?
Lately, just about anything not made by Emily Nunn feels extravagant. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been living in a barn set down in dairy farmland in the middle of nowhere where restaurants are non-existent. I was on a very strict budget (a.k.a. flat broke). Even when I wasn’t testing recipes, most everything else I ate, I made myself with ingredients from a so-so grocery store 20 minutes away or local gardens and farm stands (with amazing tomatoes and blackberries in the summer – winter was a little depressing). I’m a pretty good cook, so I ate well, but now for me dining out in a real restaurant seems like the most exquisite luxury in the world, almost miraculous. A pizza joint. A hot-dog stand. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Going to a French bakery in NYC recently felt like a dream: Oh, my god: this perfect croissant.
The Comfort Food Diaries is published by Atria/Simon & Schuster
Follow Emily: Twitter | Instagram
QUOTED: "I just completely fell apart and I drank a bunch of wine and I got on Facebook, the way people do, and I complained about my life. I woke up the next day and I thought: 'Oh my god, what have I done. I’m going to have lost half of my Facebook friends.' Instead I had these amazing, incredible, warm notes from people—I mean hundreds of them—from friends that I hadn’t talked to in ages, some who were living across town from me, basically on my side, telling me they had a place for me if I needed it."
"I ended up traveling around and staying with friends and cooking with them ... and some of them gave me favorite recipes and sometimes we just hung out."
Emily Nunn’s Comfort Food Diaries: Lessons in Life and Love
By Cara Strickland
THE HEART BEAT
Emily Nunn’s new book The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart is a memoir about a woman in the midst of grief. In the wake of her brother’s death, her fiancé breaks up with her and her life falls apart. What does she do? First, she moves toward health, going to rehab to get sober, but then she embarks on a “comfort food tour,” visiting friends around the country who have offered to host her (and cook for her) while she puts the pieces of her life back together.
I caught up with Emily for a sneak peek at her book and the lessons she learned along the way about connection, community, and love.
the-comfort-food-diaries-9781451674200_hrTell me a little bit about your book?
Well, you know, it’s got a lot going on, but the premise of it was, I had this period in my life, years ago, where the top three or four things on that list of terrible things that can happen to you—I can’t remember the name of the chart—but about four or five of those happened to me, all within a couple of months. I just completely fell apart and I drank a bunch of wine and I got on Facebook, the way people do, and I complained about my life. I woke up the next day and I thought ‘oh my god, what have I done. I’m going to have lost half of my Facebook friends.’ Instead I had these amazing, incredible, warm notes from people—I mean hundreds of them—from friends that I hadn’t talked to in ages, some who were living across town from me, basically on my side, telling me they had a place for me if I needed it. It was like crying across the backyard fence with all your friends, or going down to the river to mourn—all of this kind of community on the internet. One of my old friends from college said ‘Well, you should just come with all of us and make comfort food—come visit us,’ and I was like ‘That’s a really good idea.’ So even though that didn’t happen immediately, and even though my life didn’t repair itself immediately—things got a little bit worse for a while, and that’s the reality of most situations like this, you don’t heal them with a comfort food tour—but that’s what I ended up doing. I ended up traveling around and staying with friends and cooking with them and they cooked for me or I cooked for them and some of them gave me favorite recipes and sometimes we just hung out, but it ended up turning into a real project for me and it was a real lifesaver, that part of the book, visiting so many old friends and friends also that I had actually never met before, some of them were friends from the ether that I had met through food sites. Meeting them in person was pretty amazing, and it turned into a book.
Obviously your book is about a lot more than food. Why did you choose food as a lens to explore heartbreak, family, and friendship?
Because at that point in my life it was kind of the only thing that I felt like I could count on. It actually makes me feel like crying saying that. I don’t know if I’ve ever really thought about that. I was a food writer at the Chicago Tribune and I had covered restaurants at The New Yorker magazine so food has always been a big part of my life, but it’s a way to connect and at that point in my life I felt so isolated and alone, despite the fact that these people were coming to me, I felt a little bit like I was in a jar and my trust was kind of shattered and my desire to be around other people was kind of shattered, but I knew that I needed to learn to trust people, I needed to connect. It’s the way that we all do connect, I mean our culture, you know, you meet for coffee, you meet for a hamburger, you meet for a glass of wine, you go to the zoo and you feed animals. We’re a food culture. I mean sitting at the table with people you love, there’s nothing like it, and there’s nothing like it with strangers either, so it turned out to be really perfect and natural.
At the beginning of the book, you had a hard time believing that you were worthy of love, even from yourself, what changed along the way and what are some of the ways you’ve learned to show yourself love?
I wish I had an easy answer for you but my path back from heartbreak, in many different ways not just a love relationship, but other areas of my life was hard for a while. I actually avoided it as long as I could. I avoided grieving, I avoided facing the heartbreak but you know it was a really gradual process and for me it actually took a really, really long time.
But as far as taking care of myself, there was this night, a really clear night, with moon and stars and I was outside and I was drinking coffee even though it was night time and I looked up and I could see the stars—I was out in the country and I just had this feeling that I was going to be okay, and it had been a long long time since I had thought I was going to be okay. I struggled for a long time. But I trusted that, I just chose to believe in it and I hung on to it.
As far as changing my habits, I had to ease into it, of course, but I think it was the people connection. I had to cook for other people before I could cook for myself, and that eventually led me to cooking for myself. I cook for myself all the time now. Back then, I stopped doing things that were harmful first. What I would do is I would force myself to accept love from people who were offering it to me. I forced myself to be aware of other people, that I wasn’t alone in the world, that nobody really is. It is partly your responsibility to not feel that way. It was really hard for me to accept things from other people, and I forced myself to do it. That’s part of what the comfort food tour is about—making myself accept love. I think if you didn’t learn to do it as a kid I think you kind of have to teach yourself.
The comfort food tour was at at least in part a way to break unhealthy relational habits that you had. Would you talk a little bit about that process?
First of all, of course you have to be aware of it. When something happens in a dysfunctional family like mine, the patterns develop so early that you don’t notice for a long time that you are picking people like your family. If your family is, say narcissistic, or if your family is very shut down—if you have very reserved parents, I think you pick a very reserved guy. I think I’ve done that in my life and it didn’t really dawn on me to the degree that I needed it to until everything fell apart. When it felt like nobody in my life was really there for me, they were worried about how my break down made them look or made them feel, but I didn’t get a lot of support—it was a wake-up call. I was able to except certain kinds of ways of relating that might not be exactly the healthiest kind, they didn’t seem abnormal to me. So having everything split wide open the way it did really opened my eyes. I don’t recommend my method, it would be better to go to a good therapist, but I had it thrust upon me. I wasn’t going around saying ‘I wonder why I feel funny all the time?’ until the bad things came to visit.
Not everybody can take quite so elaborate a comfort food tour in the wake of the end of a relationship or in the midst of grief. What advice would you give to those wanting to experience a similar journey in their own lives?
First of all, anybody can cook. I say this in the book again and again: making a sandwich for somebody is cooking and there’s a saying: the best damn sandwich is the one someone else makes for you. It’s such a special thing to do for somebody. It’s just incredibly healing.
If you’re single and all your friends have families, you have to say: ‘Can I come and have family night with you? Can I be at your table?’ You have to say to your friends: ‘I want to meet people, I want you to set me up. I want to come to your house for dinner. I want to be with you. I know you have a family. When can you and I go for coffee?’ Whatever it is, you have to make yourself a part of other people’s families, and not get your feelings hurt if they are like: ‘No, this is family time,’ but you have to kind of sing above your voice in terms of getting the love you need.
What was your greatest take away from living this story and writing this book?
For me personally it was that I could survive anything, that no matter how far down I fell in so many different ways I could pick myself up and keep going. I could continue on some sort of path but that to do that I had to connect to other people.
When I was writing the book and not quite sure what I was trying to say I think what I wanted was to make sure that people knew that there was a way out of a deep hole—that when you feel like you’re being pushed just further and further down and you feel hopeless that you can get out—it does happen eventually.
The food lens is a really important aspect of it, but I think it applies to anybody’s life, especially when talking about relationships. You have to find a window into relating to other people, you have to get outside yourself and that can be really difficult. I wanted to show people that no matter how dysfunctional your family is, no matter how horrible a thing has happened in your life, not just to you but to other people in your family, or your friends, I guess it’s about finding your inner strength and connecting. I guess that was kind of the point of the book.
Cara Strickland writes about food and drink, mental health, faith and being single from her home in the Pacific Northwest. She enjoys hot tea, good wine, and deep conversations. She will always want to play with your dog. Connect with her on Twitter @anxiouscook.
QUOTED: "Never preachy or smug, Nunn's memoir of healing is full of warm, bracing honesty."
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Print Marked Items
The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for
the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart
Kaite Mediatore Stover
Booklist.
113.22 (Aug. 1, 2017): p11.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
* The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart. By Emily Nunn, Sept.
2017.320p. Atria, $26 (9781451674200). 641.5973.
The shelves of memoirs are full of stories of educated, accomplished women whose glittering lives have
crashed into titanic icebergs, strewing about them the wreckage of substance abuse, austerity, and emotional
ruin. Cheryl Strayed strapped on a pair of hiking boots, Elizabeth Gilbert ate her way through Italy, and
Helen Macdonald trained a bird of prey. Nunn did what most of us would probably do in the wake of
multiple personal tragedies--she drank, she inappropriately Facebooked, and she turned to food and friends
for comfort. In graceful, candid prose, Nunn never flinches while brutally examining her fears and
anxieties, seemingly rooted in her dysfunctional southern family. But Nunn takes a different, far more
relatable approach to her healing process. She visits friends and family, cooks for them, allows them to cook
for her, and slowly comes to learn that accepting the smallest acts of human kindness in times of greatest
need is not only one of her issues, but it is a universal one. Never preachy or smug, Nunn's memoir of
healing is full of warm, bracing honesty and the humor and paradox in family memories and sprinkled
liberally with the type of recipes that will make book-club members say, "I could make that." --Kaite
Mediatore Stover
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Stover, Kaite Mediatore. "The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken
Heart." Booklist, 1 Aug. 2017, p. 11. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A501718677/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=08ce89bf.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A501718677
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Nunn, Emily: THE COMFORT FOOD
DIARIES
Kirkus Reviews.
(June 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Nunn, Emily THE COMFORT FOOD DIARIES Atria (Adult Nonfiction) $26.00 8, 8 ISBN: 978-1-4516-
7420-0
A tale of recovery from a broken heart via comfort foods found across the United States.Within a short
period of time, freelance food writer Nunn, who worked for nearly a decade at the New Yorker, lost her
brother to suicide and broke up with her fiance and was forced to leave the beautiful apartment they shared.
She turned to alcohol to cope, dropping further and further into the gin bottle until she reached out for help.
A stint in the hospital and another at the Betty Ford Center helped her realize she was not alone; family and
friends were there to assist in any way that they could, which included invitations to visit. Nunn spent the
next several months traveling across the country, cooking and collecting recipes for favorite foods, the ones
that sprang to mind whenever there was a death, an accident, or a broken heart in need of comfort. During
her journey, she learned that everyone has a different food they turn to when they need a form of sustenance
beyond filling an empty stomach. It might be a mother's lime-green gelatin salad from childhood, a country
ham biscuit (one of the author's "very favorite foods"--"funky, potent, leathery, salty ham that has been
placed on a biscuit whose edges crumble from crisped fat and whose center is sweet in comparison"), or a
silky custard made in a double boiler. Crisscrossing the country, Nunn repaired her fragmented heart as she
listened to humorous and moving stories about her relatives and friends. The author includes a few dozen
recipes for the comfort foods she describes, resulting in a sort of minicookbook inside a candid memoir of
despair and triumph over depression. Nourishing, truthful reflections on family, friends, and love all
wrapped up in the idea of food as sustenance for both the body and the soul.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Nunn, Emily: THE COMFORT FOOD DIARIES." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495427721/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b28eebc7.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495427721
QUOTED: "With powerful prose and rich details, her memoir is simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking."
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The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for
the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart
Publishers Weekly.
264.24 (June 12, 2017): p55.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart
Emily Nunn. Atria, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-14516-7420-0
Gorgeous and moving, Nunn's memoir will enlighten readers on how closely food can be intertwined with
healing. Nunn, a former New Yorker arts editor, reflects early on that "the very idea of comfort food is often
a scattershot longing, an elastic and suggestible concept," and recounts how comfort food helped her heal
after the death of her brother Gil. In straightforward prose, Nunn describes her alcoholism in the wake of
Gil's suicide and her subsequent stint in the Betty Ford Center. Along the way, readers meet those in Nunn's
life who share their recipes and stories with her while she rebuilds her idea of family. She includes recipes
for the key comfort food meals of her life, such as a recipe for cream cheese and olive sandwiches, which
she ate as a fourth grader with a "nervous stomach"; a recipe for the Bolognese ragu she made while staying
with her aunt Mariah, trying "to get it together"; and a recipe for the collard soup prepared by her friend
Portia as they discussed AA meetings. With powerful prose and rich details, her memoir is simultaneously
uplifting and heartbreaking. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart." Publishers Weekly, 12
June 2017, p. 55. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495720705/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9b2f1b78. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495720705
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Science & technology
Library Journal.
142.14 (Sept. 1, 2017): p140+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No
redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
AGRICULTURE
Haegele, Katie. Cats I've Known: On Love, Loss, and Being Graciously Ignored. Microcosm. Oct.
2017.160p. illus. ISBN 9781621064817. pap. $14.95; ebk. ISBN 9781621061274. PETS
Haegele (White Elephants), whose broad writing experience includes memoirs, poetry, and contributions to
various print and online publications, here discusses 44 cats in 42 vignettes. Readers are sure to find at least
one cat among those featured whose story and antics appeal or brings back memories of their own feline
encounters. The conversational narrative style fits well with the relaxed mood of the stories. Although the
cats are predominantly strays, there is nothing preachy or overly emotional about this telling. VERDICT
Given the popularity of cats, as well as the interest in memoirs about animals, this book will satisfy pet
lovers everywhere. Recommended for young adult as well as adult readers.--Edell Marie Schaefer,
Brookfield P.L., Wl
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Gillick, Muriel R. Old and Sick in America: The Journey Through the Health Care System. Univ. of North
Carolina. Oct. 2017.336p. notes, bibliog. index. ISBN 9781469635231. $90; pap. ISBN 9781469635248.
$29.95; ebk. ISBN 9781469635255. HEALTH
While the U.S. health-care system as a whole is once again attracting significant attention, Gillick chooses
to zero in on one particular segment. A geriatrician at the Division of Aging, Brigham and Women's
Hospital, Boston, the author touches on the history of geriatric care and uses individual stories to discuss
current policies and practices. Shaped primarily by the interplay of hospitals, physicians, the medical device
industry, pharmaceutical companies, and Medicare, which together determine how care is administered and
who provides it, the industry is "fragmented, confusing, and alienating." More integrated and cohesive care,
better communication among providers, and a greater focus on specifically geriatric needs are needed, as is
allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies and to consider costs when approving medical devices.
Only Medicare, which the author sees as flawed but with a concentration on access to and quality of care,
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can lever change in the other components and produce improvement. VERDICT With passion and skill, this
book offers providers and consumers of health care a rare apolitical analysis of important aspects of the
health-care system and how it might be improved.--Maxwell, Porter Adventist Hosp. Lib., Denver
Gover, Tzivia. The Mindful Way to a Good Night's Sleep: Discover How To Use Dreamwork, Meditation,
and Journaling To Sleep Deeply and Wake up Well. Storey. Dec. 2017.192p. index. ISBN 9781612128825.
pap. $16.95; ebk. ISBN 9781612128832. HEALTH
Soothing as a lullaby, Gover's (Joy in Every Moment) latest work is the print version of being tucked into
bed with a warm glass of milk. Bringing her yoga and mindfulness training to shed light (or perhaps dark)
on how to get a good night's rest in this 24/7, go-go-go world, the author asks us to slow down and
contemplate the value and importance of how we spend one-third of our lives. Both science facts and quotes
from poets lace the pages with reasons why we would want to sleep better and explore our dreams. Gover
provides a linear progression of nuts-and-bolts advice on how to get to sleep, stay asleep, experience lucid
dreaming, remember dreams, keep a dream journal, and wake up with a smile. It's all told with gentle prose
that makes this book delightful and inspiring as well as practical. VERDICT For anyone who has ever had
trouble falling or staying asleep or who is at all interested in interpreting their dreams.--Janet Tapper, Univ.
of Western States Lib., Portland, OR
Sweet, Victoria. Slow Medicine: The Way to Healing Riverhead. Oct. 2017.304p. notes. ISBN
9781594633591. $27; ebk. ISBN 9780698183711. MED
Historian and physician Sweet (medicine, Univ. of California, San Francisco; God's Hotel) has encountered
many changes in the medical profession. Medicine has morphed into health care. Physicians are now called
providers. Efficiency and cost-effectiveness are more important than taking the time to care for patients.
The author knows from experience that technology alone does not cure disease. In fact, says Sweet, it often
interferes with good treatment because practitioners are too focused on completing the electronic medical
record than caring for the patient in the room. Using case histories and examples from teachers, nurses,
patients, and other practitioners, she proposes the practice of slow medicine, noting that it involves both art
and science. Taking the time to listen, touch, and fully communicate with patients in addition to using the
modern bells and whistles will result in effective, efficient care and healing. VERDICT Sound advice that
all involved in health care should heed. This title will appeal to both professional and lay readers. [See
Prepub Alert, 3/20/17.]--Barbara Bibel, formerly Oakland P.L.
HOME ECONOMICS
Meehan, Jim. Meehan's Bartender Manual. Ten Speed: Crown. Oct. 2017.488p. illus. maps, bibliog. ISBN
9781607748625. $40; ebk. ISBN 9781607748632. COOKING
Any student of the craft cocktail movement is aware of Meehan; besides owning the New York City-based
lounge PDT and stints at the Pegu Club and Gramercy Tavern, he has written several books and articles on
cocktails. His latest work is more than a manual to making drinks, however. It is a guide to the business of
bartending as a profession. With detailed, informative sections on bar layout and decor (using reallife
examples), menu construction, drinks development, service advice, and hospitality theory, this invaluable
volume will appeal to any food or beverage professional. The history and evolution of cocktail culture is
covered, along with sections on each of the base liquors. There are 100 beautifully photographed cocktail
recipes, with tasting notes and suggestions for various substitutions. Rounding out the text are sidebars by
50 other professionals, including bar operators, distillers, and blenders, as well as artists and publishers.
VERDICT A must-have for anyone in the beverage business. Amateur mixologists will also find plenty to
enjoy, but this is not a primer; Meehan is writing for an experienced audience.--Devon Thomas, Chelsea,
MI
*Nunn, Emily. The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish To Mend a Broken Heart. Atria.
Aug. 2017. 320p. index. ISBN 9781451674200. $26; ebk. ISBN 9781451674279. COOKING
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Following the suicide of her brother, the demise ofher relationship with her fiancee, and a stint at the Betty
Ford Clinic, freelance food writer Nunn embarked on a journey of self-healing that led to an exploration of
the power of comfort foods. Returning to her roots in the American South-a place she both loves and hatesthe
author spent time with relatives and friends, sharing memories, anecdotes, and cherished recipes. These
recipes range from her personal favorite (country ham and biscuits) to her Aunt Mariah's lemon sponge
cups. Most of the dishes are straightforward, easy to recreate, and deliciously tempting. As much as readers
may want to visit the kitchen to try a recipe, it may be difficult to tear themselves away from the author's
beautifully written narrative, rich in details and filled with humor and poignancy. VERDICT Combining
elements offood, travel, and family histories, this engrossing account will interest everyone from culinary
memoir lovers to general audiences.--Phillip Oliver, formerly with Univ. of North Alabama, Florence
Spring, Justin. The Gourmands' Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy. Farrar.
Oct. 2017. 448p. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780374103156. $30; ebk. ISBN 9780374711740. COOKING
French cuisine became more familiar in America post-World War II, as soldiers returned home. This interest
was often fanned by the likes of six authors and chefs: AJ. Liebling, AliceB. Toklas, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia
Child, Alexis Lichine, and Richard Olney. While Child and Fisher may be household names, some of the
others are lesser known, particularly for their culinary contributions. However, all six figures profiled in this
book by Spring (Secret Historian) loved food and wine, and spent much of their lives cooking, eating,
drinking, or writing about the same. Spring chronicles specific chapters in each of their lives, while also
placing them in the context of mid-20th-century French and American culinary, literary, and social history.
Though quite lengthy and detailed, this is a well-crafted and entertaining book in which readers will
constantly find something new to think about or discuss, particularly at the dinner table. VERDICT A solid
read for both foodies and literary history buffs.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
SCIENCES
Halpern, Paul. The Quantum labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and
Reality. Basic. Oct. 2017. 336p. iIIus. noles. index. ISBN 9780465097586. $30; ebk. ISBN
9780465097593. SCI
Physicists Richard Feynman (1918-88) and John Wheeler (1911-2006) tackled the greatest philosophical
questions: How did the universe begin? Will it end? What is time? They also wrestled with weighty moral
questions around the Manhattan Project and the pace shuttle Challenger disaster. Halpern (Einstein's Dice
and Schrodinger's Cat) interweaves these stories with those ofFeynman's and Wheeler's personal lives to
show who they were and how their minds worked. The practical Feynman sought simply "to find a set of
[testable] rules which would agree with the behavior of nature," while the comparatively more speculative
Wheeler strove to discover the fundamental components of the cosmos and their organizing principles.
Their dynamic led to much progress and recognition, including Feynman's sharing with Wheeler the 1965
Nobel Prize in Physics. While readers without a quantum physics background might find parts of the book
to be overly technical, Halpern generally paints an evocative picture of the tension between cooperation and
competition felt by researchers at the cutting edge. VERDICT For those interested in the histories of
physics, astronomy, and/or cosmology.--Ricardo Laskaris, York Univ. Lib., Toronto
Herz, Rachel. Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food. Norton. Dec.
2017. 304p. notes. index. ISBN 9780393243314. $25.95; ebk. ISBN 9780393243321. SCI
Psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist Herz (psychiatry & human behavior, Brown Univ.; That's
Disgusting) incorporates a variety of research about food into her latest book, including vignettes about
individuals who exemplify certain medical conditions or situations (i.e., a pathologically picky eater, a
victim of a car wreck who can no longer smell and thus no longer taste food). The author ties these studies
into coherent narratives, with one chapter seamlessly leading into the next. VERDICT A fun and
compelling book that touches upon several subjects. Recommended for a variety of readers, including tbose
interested in food science, marketing, nutrition, and psychology.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford,
OH
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Rutherford, Adam. A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our
Genes. Experiment. Oct. 2017.416p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781615194049. $25.95; ebk. ISBN
9781615194186. sci
Human genome studies indicate the history of our species is a tangled one. Our ancestors not only inbred
frequendy but also interbred with Neanderthals, Denisovans, and perhaps other early hominids yet
unidentified. As Rutherford (Creation) notes, for Homo sapiens, "there was no beginning, and there are no
missing links." In addition, while early genetic researchers interpreted human variation through a
Eurocentric and often racist lens, contemporary molecular genetics reveals "we all are a bit of everything,
and we come from all over." The author, however, has a clear inclination toward European, particularly
British, incidents and examples. At times, Rutherford succumbs to editorializing on peripheral topics,
including creationism, epigenetics, and genetic determinism, but he continues to be a witty writer
throughout, effectively using typography to illustrate and explain genetic concepts. Included is a brief
glossary of genetic terms. VERDICT By turns amusing and provocative, this book, which may bruise the
egos of a few genealogists, will appeal to both popular and technical science readers.--Nancy R. Curtis,
Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono
Schillace, Brandy. Clockwork Futures: The Science of Steampunk and the Reinvention of the Modern
World. Pegasus. Sept. 2017.400p. illus. notes, index. ISBN 9781681775180. $28.95; ebk. ISBN
9781681775821. sci
Steampunk, a subgenre of sf, merges past and present and encompasses themes of discovery, individualism,
and craftsmanship. Here, Schillace (Death's Summer Coat) examines how developing technologies in the
Victorian era are reflected in steampunk books, graphic novels, films, and TV shows. Her wide-ranging
narrative connects the inventions of Galileo, Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla, and Charles Babbage to the
writing of William Gibson (The Difference Engine), Alan Moore (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and
Scott Westerfeld (Leviathan). Victorian writers such as Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, and Arthur Conan Doyle
influenced other authors as well as scientists of the day who were investigating energy, medicine, artificial
intelligence, and computing. Those not yet immersed in the steampunk ethos will get a sweeping
introduction to the heroes, oudaws, and automatons populating the subgenre and their real-lite progenitors.
VERDICT An engaging social history of technology and invention that offers a great nonfiction crossover
for steampunk fans.--Catherine Lantz, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib.
Tasker, Elizabeth. I he Planet Factory: Exoplanets and the Search for a Second Earth Bloomsbury Pr. Nov.
2017.336p. illus. index. ISBN 9781472917720. $27; ebk. ISBN 9781472917751. sci
In the last few years, 3,500 planets have been confirmed to be orbiting stare outside the solar system, and
1,000 additional candidates have been identified. Tasker (solar system science, Hokkaido Univ., Japan)
describes the theoretical formation of these extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, from dusty gas discs while
also relating how exoplanets are detected. The Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, has proven
enormously successful at exoplanet detection, as it is more sensitive to the tiny dimming of stars than
Earthbound observations. By combining these techniques, astrophysicists can determine the mass and
radius of the exoplanet and gain a better sense of the nature of the planet itself: dense, rocky, or gaseous.
The author explains how many planets are with either short or long orbits, extreme size or small mass, or
possessing other qualities such as a reverse orbit or more than one sun. Inevitably, the question turns to the
possibility of life on exoplanets. A brief glossary and suggestions for further reading conclude the work.
VERDICT A hot topic in astronomy effectively covered by an award-winning science writer and educator.--
Teresa R. Faust, Coll. of Central Florida, Ocala
Thomas, Chris D. Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature Is Thriving in an Age of Extinction. PublicAffairs.
Sept. 2017. 320p. photos, notes, index. ISBN 9781610397278. $28; ebk. ISBN 9781610397285. NATHIST
British biologist Thomas (conservation biology, Univ. of York, UK) has a different take on biodiversity loss:
though it may be the end for some species, others--like the ubiquitous sparrow--are thriving in humanaltered
landscapes. Citing his own research and other relevant scientific studies, the author claims that
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human activity and disturbance have increased the number of species on Earth (though the mix of species is
different from that before the human age). He also examines how our love of "native" species and hatred of
"foreign" (invasive) species is based on the erroneous assumption that there is some "correct" geographical
location for any given plant and animal species. While Thomas's upbeat ecological audit is not a popular
perspective in the conservation community, it is based upon a solid understanding of how ecosystems
function and basic evolutionary principles. VERDICT This well-argued and provocative work is
recommended for open-minded science enthusiasts interested in environmental conservation issues
surrounding biodiversity, rewilding, and the resurrection of extinct species.--Cynthia Lee Knight,
Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc., Flemington, NJ
TECHNOLOGY
Weinersmith, Zach & Kelly Weinersmith. Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin
Everything. Penguin Pr. Oct. 2017.368p. illus. by Zach Weinersmith. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780399563829.
$30; ebk. ISBN 9780399563836. TECH
This enthusiastic exploration of ten areas of potentially world-changing innovation is decidedly
nonacademic in the best way possible. Kelly Weinersmith (biosciences, Rice Univ., Houston) and cartoonist
Zach Weinersmith interview experts and create understandable descriptions of technological advances.
Ordered by physical magnitude, not potential impact or feasibility, these technologies range from space
exploration, fusion power, materials, and robotic science, to customizable genetics and medicine. Each
chapter includes a general background and description of the topic, a survey of current projects or
approaches in the field, cautions about and potential far-reaching benefits of the technology, and interesting
side trails that the authors came across while doing their research. An epilog lists other technologies
explored but not ultimately used as a main chapter. Fans of Zach's webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast
Cereal will appreciate the illustrations, comic asides, and humor of the work, but none of these detract from
the substance of the science described. The Weinersmiths manage to avoid the pitfalls of starry-eyed
boosterism and doomsday predictions that often times plague these types of investigations. VERDICT An
excellent survey of nearly ready technology for science lovers who don't want to embarrass themselves
when speculating about areas outside their own scientific interests.--Wade M. Lee, Univ. of Toledo Lib.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Science & technology." Library Journal, 1 Sept. 2017, p. 140+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A504090957/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6baa5764.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A504090957
QUOTED: "insightful, unsparing, and touching memoir."
Hunger, Both Physical And Emotional, In 'The Comfort Food Diaries'
September 30, 201710:00 AM ET
NINA MARTYRIS
The Comfort Food Diaries
The Comfort Food Diaries
My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart
by Emily Nunn
Hardcover, 320 pages purchase
A few years ago, suddenly jobless and homeless, Emily Nunn set out on what she sardonically calls her "journey back from madness." It would culminate in her new memoir, The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart.
Nunn's life had seemed perfect. After a chic career at the New Yorker (where she co-created the Tables for Two restaurant review column), she'd jumped to the Chicago Tribune; when she became a recession casualty and got laid off, life was still beautiful because of her dreamy fiancé, "the Engineer," who was "tall, handsome, funny, wore Brooks Brothers suits," and had a blue-eyed daughter who became the child Nunn didn't have.
Little did she know that the "darkest winter" of her life lay ahead. Her world began to unravel when her beloved brother, Oliver, a closeted gay man who had struggled with his sexuality, committed suicide. Devastated and guilt-stricken, Nunn sought solace in a faithful old frenemy: alcohol.
The "alcoholic gene" was a family curse that Oliver had succumbed to as well. "Alcoholism is like charisma; you either have it or you don't," she writes with tart humor. Misery memoirs run the risk of having soggy bottoms, but Nunn's sharp writing, studded with sarcastic aphorisms, has a crisp textural bite. It seems wholly in character when she declares that the grapefruit is her favorite fruit, "full of sweetness but leavened with a satisfying bitterness."
As her drinking got worse, so did her relationship with the increasingly aloof Engineer. They broke up, and Nunn found herself alone and adrift. One wine-darkened night, she poured out her woes on Facebook. She woke up hungover and mortified, but her de profundis had touched a nerve. Family and friends from all over the country invited her to come visit. The soothing idea of a Comfort Food Tour took shape, and after a rehab stint, Nunn hit the road.
'Khichuri': An Ancient Indian Comfort Dish With A Global Influence
THE SALT
'Khichuri': An Ancient Indian Comfort Dish With A Global Influence
The Pregame PB&J: How The Comfort Food Became The NBA's Recipe For Success
THE SALT
The Pregame PB&J: How The Comfort Food Became The NBA's Recipe For Success
What followed was a heart-warming safari of food, friendship, and simple joys. Everywhere she went, she and her hosts baked pies, seared scallops and cooked up a storm. Nunn is an excellent food writer, evoking with precise, sumptuous detail the "properly pan-fried, leathery slices of ham and the biscuit with slightly crisped exterior and dense buttery interior, stained by the fried meat." The book is interleaved with recipes gratefully emblazoned with the names of the various hosts whose tonic kindness sustained her: Aunt Mariah's Rolls; Toni's tomato sauce; Eileen's Savannah Crab Stew.
But every visit must end. And when it does, her hosts wave goodbye and head back to their spouses, partners, children, pets, jobs and lives. Nunn drives on, dogged by the "fear of being alone forever."
The book's subtitle, My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart, is slightly glib and misleading – food is not the dominant theme here. What is, and what infuses Nunn's story with poignancy and depth, is another word beginning with F: family.
Nunn is keenly aware that her search for the "perfect dish" is a chimera, for no mess of pinto beans and cornbread, however perfectly cooked, can satisfy the emotional hunger inside her. But remarkably – and this is what makes the book special — Nunn is not in search of another Engineer. Instead, as she mourns her brother Oliver, she yearns to reconnect with her "exquisitely dysfunctional" womb family, lost behind walls of silence.
... food is not the dominant theme here. What is, and what infuses Nunn's story with poignancy and depth, is another word beginning with F: family.
As she heads to her emotional heart of darkness, her hometown of Galax, Va., she recalls the anxieties of growing up with a glamorous, depressed mother and a remote father. Some of the best chapters detail her ongoing love-hate relationship with her caring but controlling elder sister Elaine. "Southern families," she writes, "hand down their craziness like others pass along silverware and secret recipes."
Ironically, the two stand-out meals on her Comfort Food Tour are those in which the food is not particularly comforting.
The first is the dinner she and Elaine share with their ailing father at a Ruby Tuesday (his choice). The snob in Nunn is dismayed, but the time she spends with her father is crucial in helping her heal her relationship with him. For the first time in her life, she and her dad have a meaningful discussion – and they talk about Oliver. In a nice surprise, the steak and salad bar at Ruby Tuesday turn out to be "absolutely delicious."
The second dinner takes place in Charleston, when a local chef invites her home and serves her pasta with a chicken liver sauce. Nunn is disappointed. She'd been hoping for shrimp and grits. But then it dawns on her that this is what the chef wants to cook at home, that he is "simply being himself," not performing to fulfill others' expectations of him. It's an epiphany that illuminates her own fraught relationships: "I was chicken liver pasta to Elaine (and to the Engineer, too, probably), but she kept hoping for shrimp and grits."
Food thus becomes a way of seeing, an invaluable "touchstone for understanding what real love is." Not just for Nunn, but for all those who read this insightful, unsparing, and touching memoir.
Nina Martyris is a journalist based in Knoxville, Tenn.