Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food

By Ann Hood

W.W. Norton     2018

256 pages     Essays

Why is it that sometimes you just need a book that you can read without fuss or anxiety or excitement—just a book that comforts. Ann Hood’s Kitchen Yarns is just that. I began this book of personal essays just before I started preparations for Christmas, and it made me look again at the food I was cooking with an eye toward why I was cooking it. Why do I always want wild rice casserole and frozen yum yum for Christmas dinner? Because there is a story behind each of those dishes.

In Kitchen Yarns, Hood does exactly that. She tells the story of her life—from her happy childhood, through failed marriages, the death of her brother, and then of her young child,  Grace, until her current happy marriage and her career as an author. Each essay, each story is told through the lens of a dish or a meal. She understands the power of a good meal and the power of a good story. The reviewer in People Magazine says, “perfect holiday-season fare. . .you’ll want to keep both kitchen and Kleenex close at hand.”  

The stories brought me peace, because I also believe that meals, properly prepared or even just thrown together, bind us, inspire us, and comfort us. Hood says, “I always believed in food as the greatest comfort. Food can’t heal, but it can soothe and comfort us. “ I am leaving on Tuesday to go to the funeral of the 104-year-old mother of my oldest friend. Of course, my friend and her siblings are planning meals for guests that will warm their hearts and their souls.

This is the major gift of Ann Hood’s book—food and the joy that it brings. But—the recipes are good too. True to Hood’s style, the recipes are, for the most part, uncomplicated, filling, delightful. I really want to try the tomato pie and the Chicken Marbella. The Kirkus reviewer suggests that some of the recipes are marginal, but I think that is part of the value of the book. Some of our best food memories are of the memory rather than the food.

Ann Hood speaks my language. I first met her when I read, The Book that Matters Most a couple of years ago. I came to realize that Hood fashioned the character Maggie after her own struggles following a divorce. You will really enjoy both of these books.

Ann Hood’s website.