139. Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Rating: ☆☆☆1/2
Recommended by:
Author: J. Ryan Stradal
Genre: Fiction, Food
310 pages, published July 28, 2015
Reading Format: Audio Book
Summary
Kitchens of the Great Midwest opens with the story of Lars and Cynthia, an unlikely couple from Minnesota. Lars is an overweight chef devoted to his infant daughter Eva. Cynthia, who lacks maternal feelings, falls in love with wine and leaves Lars to raise their child while she escapes her oppressive family life with a dashing Sommelier. Lars is determined to pass on his love of food to his daughter. As Eva grows, she finds her solace and salvation in the flavors of her native Minnesota. Focusing on authentic ingredients, Eva becomes a culinary star and in her own no-nonsense, Midwestern manner, she comes to terms with the people who have shaped her life.
Quotes
“After decades away from the Midwest, she’d forgotten that bewildering generosity was a common regional tic.”
“When Lars first held her, his heart melted over her like butter on warm bread, and he would never get it back. When mother and baby were asleep in the hospital room, he went out to the parking lot, sat in his Dodge Omni, and cried like a man who had never wanted anything in his life until now.”
“Even though she had an overbite and the shakes, she was six feet tall and beautiful, and not like a statue or a perfume advertisement, but in a realistic way, like how a truck or a pizza is beautiful at the moment you want it most.”
“God made her a giving person, and even in this house of people who could be so hateful and hard, her one skill, she knew, was to serve them and make them happy, the way even an unwatered tree still provides whatever shade it can.”
“What people don’t understand about deer is that they’re vermin. They’re giant, furry cockroaches. They invade a space, reproduce like hell, and eat everything in sight.”
“He couldn’t help it—he was in love by the time she left the kitchen—but love made him feel sad and doomed, as usual. What he didn’t know was that she’d suffered through a decade of cool, commitment-phobic men, and Lars’s kindness, but mostly his effusive, overt enthusiasm for her, was at that time exactly what she wanted in a partner.”
“She’s told me that even though you won’t meet her tonight, she’s telling you her life story through the ingredients in this meal, and although you won’t shake her hand, you’ve shared her heart. Now please, continue eating and drinking, and thank you again.”
“Girls were lucky, they didn’t have to have a thing. They just had to look nice and come to your shows and not call you all the time about stupid stuff.”
“But Octavia was a nice person with a big, generous heart who felt sorry for outsiders and tried to help them. And people like her never get any thanks for their selflessness. They are not the ones with the hardness to make others wait; they are the ones left waiting, until their souls are broken like old pieces of bread and scattered in the snow for the birds. They can go right ahead and aspire to the stars, but the only chance they’ll ever have to fly is in a thousand pieces, melting in the hot guts of something predatory.”
My Take
While I enjoyed Kitchens of the Great Midwest, it is quirky and a bit disjointed. Each chapter tells the story of a single dish and character, but the main focus is on the enigmatic Eva Thorvald. We follow her journey from a girl who grows and eats specialty peppers that are extremely hot to a chef sensation who can charge thousands of dollars to attend one of her pop up food events. The other characters are also richly drawn and I mostly enjoyed the time I spent in this particular Midwestern kitchen.
