An engrossing, empathetic critique of modern culinary culture.
A sweeping social justice analysis of the way we eat—and the problematic ways society tells us to eat.
Journalist Tandoh, a Great British Bake Off finalist and author of three cookbooks, begins by comparing current food culture to “a bad boyfriend, dragging you down or holding you for ransom.” Too often, she argues, the modern dialogue about food seems to force us into “a perfect way of eating that will save your soul and send you sailing through your eighties, into your nineties and beyond.” In reality, food has a complex history sullied by everything from colonialism to homophobia. For example, Tandoh writes, “tea with sugar is a blood sport,” recounting how the British East India Company took over the tea trade in tandem with its bid to colonize India. In another chapter, the author takes on body shaming, emphasizing how “bodily scrutiny” is disproportionately applied to queer and trans people. Later, Tandoh uses sugar—a delicacy in Elizabethan England that has since become associated with the sugary drinks consumed by the working poor—as a tool for interrogating classism. Ultimately, the author encourages readers to eat what they want, when they want: “All we can really do is to take the revolution a meal at a time….Be the only person at the table to get a dessert. When it arrives, don’t share it. Fully rejoice in all your appetites—the wise and the unruly alike.” The combination of Tandoh’s earnest, compassionate tone and lyrical prose produces a text that is readable and informative. Her analysis of the intersecting systems of oppression that affect our ability to enjoy our food is trenchant and original yet occasionally overwritten and meandering. Her call for greater freedom in self-care is particularly relevant within a tumultuous global culture still struggling with the pandemic and myriad other concerns.
An engrossing, empathetic critique of modern culinary culture.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-46681-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Vintage
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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