By Monica Tang (@goldfishreads)
Few things bring people together better than food. For many people, food comforts us and brings communities together. Food engages all five senses from hearing the sounds of cooking, seeing vibrant colours on plates, smelling the aromas of spices, tasting savoury and sweet dishes, and feeling the textures when you eat with your hands. Food gives people common ground to bridge differences over shared meals. Food can be a means of expression and care.
Food is also political. Who has access to food and who doesn’t? Where does our food come from? What types of food are seen as socially acceptable and who isn’t at the table? For some folks, food is a means for survival and sustenance in more than one way.
This month’s reading challenge asks us to think about food beyond just the things that we eat. The four non-fiction books recommended for March’s reading challenge explore topics of belonging, family and community, colonialism, labour justice and activism, and connections to land.
1) Restaurant Kid by Rachel Phan (Simon and Schuster)
“A warm and poignant narrative about finding one’s self amidst the grind of restaurant life, the cross-generational immigrant experience, and a daughter’s attempts to connect with parents who have always been just out of reach.”
Phan’s memoir will resonate with anyone who has grown up between cultures and felt like they were never enough of one or the other. Her parent’s family restaurant, the only Chinese restaurant in a small Canadian town, was a source of pride and achievement of the North American dream, but also a site of pain and conflict for their family. Phan grew up navigating family dynamics and trying to understand who she was as a Chinese Canadian woman in the world.
On a trip to Asia with her parents as an adult, Phan has an opportunity to learn about her parents in a whole new way, including their motivations and sacrifices that Phan may not have understood before.
2) Queers at the Table: An Illustrated Guide to Queer Food (with Recipes) edited by Alex D. Ketchum and Megan J. Elias
Queers at the Table is an anthology that celebrates and discusses the intersections of queerness and food. A compilation of essays, comics, and recipes, this book “reveals the myriad nurturing ways that queerness informs food production and restaurant culture and how food empowers, transforms, and unites queer and trans folk.”
This book is joyful, insightful, and encourages readers to think about how food can create community and defy gender norms through the ways that food is produced, cooked, and shared with others.
3) Harvesting Freedom: The Life of a Migrant Worker in Canada by Gabriel Allahdua with Edward Dunsworth
Have you ever thought about where our food comes from in Canada? Who produces it? Eye-opening and thought-provoking, Harvesting Freedom is a memoir of Gabriel Allahdua’s four years as a migrant worker in Ontario, revealing the exploitation of migrant labour and highlighting current migrant justice movements in Canada.
Making connections to Canada’s history of slavery and colonialism, this memoir sheds light on the unheard and underrepresented stories from the people who are behind Canada’s everyday food production.
4) Held by the Land: A Guide to Indigenous Plants for Wellness by Leigh Joseph
The Indigenous Peoples of North America have a long history of using native plants as medicine and for food. These traditions have used herbs, trees, and other plants as sources of healing and nourishment. These knowledges also create deeper connections to the land by learning stories and traditions about how these plants have been and continue to be used.
This beautifully illustrated guide introduces readers to how to identify and harvest native plants in their area, how to use them to treat common ailments, and how to add them to your diet and beauty regime. Readers of Held by the Land will develop a deeper appreciation for the native plants and land around us.
The FOLD Admin