Licking the Spoon by Candace Walsh

This was an interesting memoir of one woman’s life experiences and her relationship with food and family through the years. Within her life story, we see her evolve from a young girl who goes through a great deal of life difficulties into a woman who has found happiness and a healthier relationship with food as she grows and changes through the years. I found this book to be well written, and at times both heart-wrenching and heartfelt. The author clearly had a very complicated life, as well as a love of cooking.

At times, I found her story hard to read, mainly because it seems to me that she was abused while still a child, and as she grew up she seemed to be developing an eating disorder that was complicated by her love of cooking a wide variety of types of foods. And though she didn’t appear to ever seek help for the eating disorder or have it too negatively affect her life, she did seem to overcome the triggers that caused her to experience the same pattern of eating problems while seeking therapy for some other personal issues.

I wanted to bring this up here because the patterns of abuse and eating disorders may be triggering for some readers. And while I felt for the author, as she struggled to overcome both these issues and the circumstances that periodically seemed to repeat and bring them back, it did make some parts of the story difficult for me to read. Those sections happened during what seemed to be some of the darkest points of her life. And again, she did find her way through and emerged stronger and healthier by the end of the book. And for that, I do applaud her.

The book is not entirely dark or depressing as she does have a number of happier memories and times that are talked about in her story. And the ending of the book is one where we do get to see her happy, healthy, and with something that should put a smile on anyone’s face.

During this book, the author talks about a number of cuisines that she grew up eating and cooking over the years, and those recipes are included in the last chapter of this book for anyone who would like to try them. (They do look like they would be quite tasty, so whether or not this book is one that is right for you, the recipes at the end still make the book a worthwhile read.)

I feel that this book would be a good choice for anyone who enjoys reading biographies about real people and the issues that they must overcome during their lives. It would also likely be enjoyed for the variety of recipes at the end of the book.

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