Life From Scratch
A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Witty, warm, and poignant, food blogger Sasha Martin's memoir about cooking her way to happiness and self-acceptance is a culinary journey like no other.
Over the course of 195 weeks, food writer and blogger Sasha Martin set out to cook—and eat—a meal from every country in the world. As cooking unlocked the memories of her rough-and-tumble childhood and the loss and heartbreak that came with it, Martin became more determined than ever to find peace and elevate her life through the prism of food and world cultures. From the tiny, makeshift kitchen of her eccentric, creative mother, to a string of foster homes, to the house from which she launched her own cooking adventure, Martin's heartfelt, brutally honest memoir reveals the power of cooking to bond, to empower, and to heal—and celebrates the simple truth that happiness is created from within.
"This beautifully written book is both poignant and uplifting. Not to mention delicious. It's an amazing family tale that reminds me of The Glass Castle, but with more food. And not just any food: We're talking cinnamon raisin pizza." —A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
"Life From Scratch is an unconventional love story. This beautiful book begins with the quest of cooking a meal from every country—a noble feat of it's own!—but then turns it into something far beyond a kitchen adventure. Be prepared to be changed as you experience Sasha's journey for yourself." —Chris Guillebeau, author of The Happiness Pursuit
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Martin, a food writer and blogger, spent 195 weeks cooking meals from every country of the world. But the most memorable moments in this spirited narrative take place in the many weeks before those 195, and they have surprisingly little to do with food. The department of social services hovered around Martin's childhood: her father was absent, her home was so cramped that the kitchen doubled as the living room, and her mother, as people said, was "a troublemaker." When Martin was a pre-teen, her mother sent her and her brother Michael to live with family friends. Soon thereafter, Michael killed himself. The author made her way to the Culinary Institute of America, as she recounts without self-pity, and then to the cooking project that launched this memoir. Food had long provided the few happy moments in Martin's life. She recalls her mother's determination to save their scarce money to buy ingredients for a special cake, and how Martin asked her to "start cooking the world all over again" when they ate their last meal of the 195-week trip, from Zimbabwe. These moments may not be enough to satiate the appetite of foodie readers who are looking for lush bite-by-bite writing, but there is plenty here to engross memoir lovers.
