Reviews - The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City

104 reviews for:

The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City

I was interested in this book after reading Benjamin Lorr's "The Secret Life of Groceries." I was hooked on the style of investigative journalism focused on food and supply chains. When scrolling through NetGalley, "The Meth Lunches" caught my eye.

The first chapter was great -- it's an essay the author had previously submitted and as she explains, it gave her her start as an essayist. I hadn't read it before, so it caught my attention, making me glad to have picked up this read.

Overall, Foster does an amazing job giving context and color to the lives of those struggling with poverty, addiction, and being unhoused. She gives us insight into the lives of her community members-turned-friends. I admire her passion and compassion for people. I think we all want to be a bit of Kim Foster. Or to at least eat something delicious from her kitchen.

But there were some parts of the book I struggled with. Chapters 2-4 were a struggle-- I was tempted to put the book down for good in places because the pacing lagged and pulled focus from the book's initial premise.

But I'm glad I stuck with it. The pacing returned by Chapter 5 onward, with the most compelling plot line of the book: the free food pantry Foster, her family, and community operated out of her front yard during COVID.

Overall three stars for me, and a huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

daisha101's review against another edition

2.0

informative medium-paced

This is a love it or hate it kind of book. I checked this out on Libby on a whim so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Foster describes her and her family’s life moving from New York ti Las Vegas as she learns about issues in the community, hearing stories from people that she meets and become a part of her life one way or another. She is telling others stories and how they became intertwined with her own. Food is at the center of this book with recipes and descriptions of food driving the different stories. Depending on your perspective, this is a wonderful story telling tool or a jarring shift from the reality of what’s being portrayed in the book. I align more with the latter perspective. I’m not a fan of some of the language used to describe people either.

This was an okay book. It’s in a space in between all information and all personal narrative. While somewhat informative, I would not recommend to those interested in learning about the topics (addiction, poverty, trauma, etc) that are prevalent throughout. It could be a good read if you enjoy the narratives and food recipes.

Content Warnings

dhasenkampf's review against another edition

1.5

This book left a bad taste in my mouth (bad pun intended). Something about the writing didn't click with me and most chapters left me feeling either uncomfortable or annoyed. The author makes too many broad statements and generalizations while she preaches about what everyone else is doing wrong. All adoptees are lumped together and assumed to have exactly the same feelings because that's how she felt. Food banks aren't doing enough to address everyone's individual desires. How dare they not cater to every person, every day, every meal, exactly what each person wants right then. She rails against 'the system' for making judgment calls about what is and is not neglect, but in the next chapter she bemoans a situation in which no one stepped in to help a girl who was being neglected. Almost no one in this book is doing something right. No one gives a satisfactory amount.

And honestly, the food stuff was too over the top. In one chapter she talks about meth literally destroying (eating away) a person's brain. But don't worry, it's all good because she fixes him some bo ssam with quick pickles, pickled watermelon rind, homemade radish kimchi, rice ssam sauce, and ginger scallion sauce. Repeatedly she writes detailed lists of the elaborate meals she cooks and drops them in like they are anywhere near as important as the peoples' lives she's dissecting. It was jarring, like someone spliced together the transcript for some self-important foodie reality show with a life on the streets documentary.

I have a feeling the author is a really nice person, but I didn't like this book.

smallness's review against another edition

2.0

I want to like this book, but it’s hard for me to believe that her young children could understand what they were agreeing to with their stories being shared this way. Some stories aren’t a parent’s story to tell, no matter how loved those children are.

li66ylou's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

thuglibrarian's review against another edition

5.0

Author Kim Foster is a James Beard award-winning food essayist and has written a LOT about food including the industry of it, how to eat in a city, charcuteries and much more. This book is a look at the intersection of food, the homeless populations and how drug addiction and how relations between all it: think of it as a Ven diagram in book form. It seems like I would read a few pages, then put it down to go down the rabbit hole to investigate what she'd written. I've not read a book is long time where I've been compelled to do this. Readers will learn how social services, child protective services and even the origins of the misdemeanor as an offense to hold people down, in order to control them. Readers will also learn about compassion. So much compassion. Did I agree with everything that Foster wrote? Certainly not, but that's where true learning comes from.

Highly recommend.

* I read an advance copy and was not compensated.