Ruby Tandoh

TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Think about that first tickle of hunger in your stomach. A moment ago, you could have been thinking about anything, but now it's thickly buttered marmite toast, a frosty scoop of ice cream straight from the tub, some creamy, cheesy scrambled eggs or a fuzzy, perfectly-ripe peach.Eating is one of life's greatest pleasures. Food nourishes our bodies, helps us celebrate our successes (from a wedding cake to a post-night out kebab), cheers us up when we're down, introduces us to new cultures and - when we cook and eat together - connects us with the people we love.In Eat Up, Ruby Tandoh celebrates the fun and pleasure of food, taking a look at everything from gluttons and gourmets in the movies, to the symbolism of food and sex. She will arm you against the fad diets, food crazes and bad science that can make eating guilt-laden and expensive, drawing eating inspiration from influences as diverse as Roald Dahl, Nora Ephron and Gemma from TOWIE. Filled with straight-talking, sympathetic advice on everything from mental health to recipe ideas and shopping tips, this is a book that clears away the fog, to help you fall back in love with food.

Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want

Eat Up

TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Think about that first tickle of hunger in your stomach. A moment ago, you could have been thinking about anything, but now it's thickly buttered marmite toast, a frosty scoop of ice cream straight from the tub, some creamy, cheesy scrambled eggs or a fuzzy, perfectly-ripe peach. Eating is one of life's greatest pleasures. Food nourishes our bodies, helps us celebrate our successes (from a wedding cake to a post-night out kebab), cheers us up when we're down, introduces us to new cultures and - when we cook and eat together - connects us with the people we love. In Eat Up, Ruby Tandoh celebrates the fun and pleasure of food, taking a look at everything from gluttons and gourmets in the movies, to the symbolism of food and sex. She will arm you against the fad diets, food crazes and bad science that can make eating guilt-laden and expensive, drawing eating inspiration from influences as diverse as Roald Dahl, Nora Ephron and Gemma from TOWIE. Filled with straight-talking, sympathetic advice on everything from mental health to recipe ideas and shopping tips, this is a book that clears away the fog, to help you fall back in love with food.

Gelaine Trinidad

3.5/5 

 "When the joy goes out of eating, nutrition suffers."

"Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful. Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life." 

Ruby Tandoh and I share the same ethos about food, appetite, and nutrition. I enjoy her personal stories about food–especially when it brings back her cherished memories. I also appreciate her openness about her eating disorder and the dangers of orthorexia ("clean” eating) and its association with class. It is also comforting to read through passages where she talks about how food is used/portrayed in films (i.e. Le Big Mac from Pulp Fiction). She also touches on the intersection between food and politics (i.e. the relationship between colonialism and sugar plantations).

Although this is mostly based on UK History, Tandoh is knowledgeable about diverse food recipes. She talks about Filipino Chicken Tinola as an example of a comfort meal taught to her by her girlfriend who is half Filipino. She stirs away from co-opting these diverse meals and acknowledges the roots of these recipes. Food should not be 100% embedded in morality. Appetite and taste is personal; at the same time, food is communal and better when shared with others.

Easy-to-read nonfiction for those interested in food writing. Poetic, non-judgemental, and wholesome. 

We drift through hope and hunger with the whims of the seasons, and embed ourselves in the communities we live in by yielding to a shared culinary calendar. Maybe sometime in the distant past we had to bend to the whims of nature, but now most of us live in places where strawberries fill the shelves the whole year round, and in the flood of orange streetlamps, the night is as bright as the day. We take our cues not from the sun or the stars or the earth but from the societies that nurture us. We plough the supermarkets and pick the crisps and wake early to take in the healing morning coffee.

Every day is a feast.

This is beautiful writing by Ruby Tandoh not just about food but bodies, culture, class, and feelings. It has been such a wake up call to struggle less with what I eat and slow down to be kinder to myself. There's a core of kindness and lack of judgment here that is so refreshing when it comes to food writing.

Yasmin

katherine

Charlotte Dann

Alli

Natalie Taylor 

Sian

Toyah Blackburn

Katie Chua

Mira McMahon

Sophie Koonin

Courtney Sutton

Nadia Bailey

Think about that first tickle of hunger in your stomach. A moment ago, you could have been thinking about anything, but now it's thickly buttered toast, a frosty scoop of ice cream straight from the tub, some creamy, cheesy scrambled eggs or a fuzzy, perfectly-ripe peach. Eating is one of life's greatest pleasures. Food nourishes our bodies, helps us celebrate our successes (from a wedding cake to a post-night out kebab), cheers us up when we're down, introduces us to new cultures and - when we cook and eat together - connects us with the people we love. In Eat Up, Ruby Tandoh celebrates the fun and pleasure of food, taking a look at everything from gluttons and gourmets in the movies, to the symbolism of food and sex. She will arm you against the fad diets, food crazes and bad science that can make eating guilt-laden and expensive, drawing eating inspiration from influences as diverse as Roald Dahl, Nora Ephron and more. Filled with straight-talking, sympathetic advice on everything from mental health to recipe ideas and shopping tips, this is a book that clears away the fog, to help you fall back in love with food.

Esme

Lindsay Cronk

Sophie Gallagher

Siewling Seet

Eat Up Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want

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