Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey From Obsession To Freedom (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Like me, Dayna Macy has a love of food and is unable to control herself at times around her favorites. She has steadily put on weight and wants to find out why this relationship with food is controlling her.To do so, she sets off on a journey to find out where her food comes from. She watches cattle being slaughtered at a local farm, which gives her an appreciation for each bite of meat she puts into her mouth. She visits an olive grove and learns how table olives are made.Macy also travels to her hometown and thinks about what emotional issues are tied to her eating.She realizes, as we all eventually do, that food cannot fill up the holes that were left by emotional devastation.This book was well-written and easy to read. Reminded me a lot of Eat Pray Love. I enjoyed it a great deal. This book is not just about hunger and longing for food, it far more a spiritual journey through where food comes from (from small yet bountiful gardens and farms, the diary farms, straight through to cattle ranching and slaughtering) and how one should have a reverence for that food. Macy leaves no stone unturned in this story of her study of all forms of food and where it all comes from and the creation of fresh food from the ingredients she explores. Near the end she discusses making her own peace with food, what a normal serving is as opposed to what she was used to eating, and coming out on the other side having learned far more about herself and the world around her. The thing that makes this far less of a simple memoir is the lyrical prose that Macy uses to tell her story. Even though she has written extensively for magazines, this is her first book. She uses first person, present tense prose - a difficult framework to use and hold so well in a full length book. It brings a sense of immediacy and far more intimacy to the story. Macy makes you feel like you are there experiencing everything right there beside her. This is not just a book for those obsessed with food, but also for anyone who enjoys a well told, literary story.
What do You think about Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey From Obsession To Freedom (2011)?
It was a quick, easy read. I enjoyed following Macy's journey, but ultimately didn't love the book.
—hanna
A fun quick read, that I got for free on my Kindle.
—steve
