Fresh food writing: Eat Up by Ruby Tandoh
Eat Up—subtitled ‘Food, Appetite, and Eating What You Want’—is a manifesto in favour of food that combines personal anecdote, discussions of topics such as comfort food, mental health, dietary requirements, and cultural eating differences, and a sprinkling of recipes. Ruby Tandoh is known for being a contestant on Bake Off and talking about food, particularly on Twitter. In this book, she describes a lot of relatable material for many people, including the phenomenon of eating each Creme Egg like it is your last of the year, and also gives short accounts and information about major topics connected to food and eating such as eating disorders and supermarket production.
The content is interesting and the style is charming and quirky. For people who enjoy books about food, this may be something a bit different in that Tandoh tries not to prescribe or pass too much judgement. The proliferation of descriptions of food can get a bit much, especially if you’re not hungry when you read it, but this is a book full of affection that seeks to combine a love of food and eating with discussion of some important things to consider (and a nice little selection of recipes relating to the content).
Fiendfully Reading 