Blue Plate Special

Blue Plate Special (2013) by Kate Christensen. This book is a gourmand's delight, as Christensen frequently goes into detail about the meals she has eaten, the preparation of the food, and what it meant to her at a particular time in her life. The memoir is subtitled, An Autobiography of My Appetites, and that's a pretty good description. Although she downplays sex, she gives full-on narratives about her history with food, how she learned to love food, and how she has enjoyed eating in her past. Surprisingly, she is not fat. She periodically goes on strict diets, which are effective in controlling her weight. Other than that, her relationships are often defined by how the man she is dating relates to food, and whether she and he like the same foods. Christensen also gives recipes at the end of every section of the book, and she clearly knows what she's doing in the kitchen. This book made me hungry. Grade: B+