Home Made by Liz Hauck

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up--and What We Make When We Make Dinner 
Author: Liz Hauck
Release Date: 6.8.21
Publisher: The Dial Press

Publisher's Summary

A woman honors her father's legacy by teaching a cooking class in a home for youth in state care--a powerful memoir about the small acts of showing up that transform our lives and how making food can make community.

Liz Hauck and her dad had a plan to start a weekly cooking program in a residential home for teenage boys in state care, which was run by the human services agency he co-directed. When her father died unexpectedly after a brief illness, Liz decided to attempt the cooking project without him. She didn't know what to expect volunteering with court-involved youth, but as a high school teacher she knew that teenagers are drawn to food-related activities, and as a daughter, she believed that if she and the kids made even a single dinner together she could check one box off of her father's long, unfinished to-do list. This is the story of what happened around the table, and how one dinner became one hundred dinners.

An intimate account of humorous and heartbreaking conversations, and a vivid account of the clumsy choreography of cooking with other people, Home Made is a sharply observed and honestly told story about how a kitchen can be both safe and dangerous; how even the short journey from kitchen to table can be perilous. Each chapter explores the interconnectedness of flavor, memory, culture, and life and offers a glimpse into the ways we behave when we are hungry and the food we crave when we seek comfort. Home Made is a tender and vivid portrait of poverty and abundance, vulnerability and strength, estrangement and connection. It is a memoir about the radical grace we discover when we consider ourselves bound together in community and a piercing investigation of the essential question: Who are we to each other?


My Review

As someone who truly thinks food is a love language, I was in awe of how Liz gave the gifts of responsibility and nourishment (physical and emotional) to these boys and young men. It also ripped my heart out to hear the stories of hunger and poverty. This book stands as a testament to the power of food and the warm welcome of a community gathered around a dinner table. Nonfiction readers and those who love to cook will enjoy this book. It would also be a great selection for high school summer reading.