I put my whole self into my new book On Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites. Truly, I have never worked harder on anything in my life. I really tried to let every other concern (within reason) fall away so that I could write my ass off, and that is what I did. It is a chronicle of not just my life as an eater, cook, baker, and food writer, but the ecological, cultural, and political roles of the ingredients that have marked it. Last week, I ran an excerpt from the “On Lamb” chapter in both text and audio, if you’d like a preview. Down below the fold, there’s the full 75-song soundtrack to the book, which pairs perfectly with the reading (and can also be listened to separately).

The full book is one hundred percent original and fresh and distinct from what you’ve been reading in this newsletter and in my other publications. The analysis, the stories, the research—it is distinct! New! There’s a nemesis nun, reporting trips to mushroom cultivators, the story of how I met my husband, and tours through sugarcane fields…

Kirkus Reviews referred to it as “a personal tour of the larder” and “a pleasure for foodies of all persuasions.”

Bettina Makalintal at Eater wrote that the book “shows the prolific culture writer at the top of her game.”

Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved as well as other books, and a recent National Book Award juror, wrote, “There were a good many first person treatments of food and cooking and restaurant-running and eating in our pile last year…but I’m certain none were as wise, humane, and engaging as On Eating.”

“On Eating is both a compelling first-person account of a curious and intelligent woman's life, and a well-researched and engagingly written treatise on the practices of growing, distributing, cooking and eating food, a serious subject that Kennedy nevertheless imbues with wit and charm. I am always better and smarter for having read anything Alicia Kennedy has written.”
—Laurie Woolever, author of Care And Feeding: A Memoir

“Gorgeous and effortless in her prose, Alicia Kennedy weaves seamlessly through the personal, the historical, and the political. Through evocative and clear-eyed examinations of her appetites, Kennedy inspires readers to reflect on the way food shapes both our inner and outer worlds. On Eating is a remarkable feat of memoir, cultural criticism, and a celebration of both food and one's own humanity.”
—Ifrah Ahmed, author of Soomaaliya: A Cookbook

“Already a cultural force in food writing and activism, Alicia Kennedy reveals her lyrical and literary gifts to the fullest in this richly personal memoir. Acutely observed, sparklingly intelligent, forging pointed and unexpected connections between the personal and the political—it's a fresh, seductive, unputdownable read.”
—Anya von Bremzen, author of National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home

“If her book No Meat Required and her laser-sharp writing on her weekly newsletter hadn't already proved it, On Eating emphatically confirms Alicia Kennedy as one of the food industry's most thoughtful thinkers. Kennedy's prose is alive, tactile, and at times heartbreaking, a delicious and evocative exploration of how the food we consume shapes how we view ourselves and the world around us, and vice versa. I devoured every word.”
—Hetty Lui McKinnon, food writer and cookbook author

“This book moved me with its uncompromising reflections on grief, its elegant and witty chronicles of falling in love, and its gentle challenges to make me think harder about what I eat and why. Alicia Kennedy is great company on the page, and On Eating asserts her as not only one of our finest writers on food but one of our finest writers, period.”
—Mayukh Sen, author of Love, Queenie and Taste Makers

I’ll be on tour for the next two weeks. There are still tickets available for Brooklyn if you purchase a book, for the dinner in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and for my Baltimore and D.C. conversations. Philadelphia and Boston sold out quickly. Find the full tour details.

The “On Appetite” podcast will return when I’m back from the tour. I’ve simply been too busy (and, frankly, jittery) for the focused work of editing audio.