"I'm a bread person," Shauna Niequist confesses in the introduction to her memoir-cum-recipe collection, Bread & Wine: "Flaky, buttery croissants; chewy pita; tortillas, warm and fragrant, blistered by heat." A few lines later, she adds, "And I am a wine person--the blood-red and liquid gold, the clink and glamour of tall-stemmed glasses, and the musty, rich, almost mushroom-y smell."
Niequist (Bittersweet; Cold Tangerines) writes with warmth and honesty about her complicated relationship with food, from diets to allergies to the difficulty of eating well when traveling for work. She insists, over and over, that real life happens around the table: in the planning and chopping, the slicing and pouring and finally in the act of sitting down with family and friends, offering not only meals to nourish their bodies but community to nourish their souls. Amid the daily chaos of marriage, children and work, Niequist urges readers to open their messy homes and their crowded lives and make time to linger around the table.
Each brief chapter highlights a distinct theme or memory, often accompanied by a recipe for mango chicken curry or watermelon feta salad or Niequist's mother's blueberry crisp. Every recipe is linked to people, and often associated with a place, be it Paris or a friend's kitchen table. This intertwining of food and remembrance emphasizes the collection's main point: what we eat, and where, and with whom, is important.
Packed with vivid descriptions and mouthwatering recipes, Bread & Wine provides deep nourishment for the body and the soul. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams