Food glorious food! I picked up Relish: My Life in the Kitchen after discovering it on Goodreads. Being that I
love food, recipes, fresh ingredients and cooking, I had to give this a try. It’s a graphic novel depicting the life of Lucy Knisley through food. She was lucky enough to be surrounded by a mother who was an excellent chef and a father who knows when he’s getting a good meal. She was encouraged to eat healthy and was exposed to an eclectic array of food and cultures. Relish consists of twelve chapters starting from her childhood to her years at university in Chicago. At the end of each chapter there is a recipe that is straight forward and easy to produce, which consists of simple drawings and measurements. It correlates to the preceding chapter. There are recipes for sangria, guacamole, chai tea, pesto, mushrooms, etc. This would make a lovely present for a lover of food and of graphic novels. The artwork is excellent and it’s a fast read that you’ll want to take your time with.
Lucy Knisley is the writer and designer of quite a few other works such as Radiator Days, Make Yourself Happy, and French Milk, which 
recounts Lucy and her mother’s move to France and living in a 5th arrondissement apartment in Paris for six weeks, among other works. French Milk is a travel journal that combines photography, drawings, and introspection. Knisley is an American writer, comic, and musician, who studied art at The Art Institute in Chicago. With her touching graphic novels about travel and food and her music and videos she has become a growing success online. You can can learn more about her on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/user/lucylou21?feature=watch and her blog at http://www.lucyknisley.com and http://lucyknisley.tumblr.com. Check out the video on her tumblr where Mtv interviews her about Relish: My Life in the Kitchen.
Title: Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
Genre: Graphic Novel/Food/Memoir/Cookbook
Published: 2013
Edition: First Second
Pages: 192
Language: English
My rating: * * * *
+5,452
Sounds good! I’ve added it to my never ending to read list 😉
I’m sure you’ll enjoy it! Come back and tell me what you think.
Oh No! not food! Deirdre you may be responsible for me one day getting around to reading graphic novels! There’s just so much to read (sigh!) I enjoyed Lucy Knisley’s videos and the line in your review that she was “lucky enough to be surrounded by a mother who was an excellent chef…” reminded me of a great moment in the movie “Big Night” when a woman cries after enjoying a delicious meal, because it makes her realize what a horrible cook her own mother was!
Well it’s really worth it. Food blogs! That’s the next kind of blog I like reading after book blogs. Books and food are a lovely combination. Knisley does it well in a graphic novel. She’s quite a talented young lady. Enjoy!