The Joy of Snacks: A Celebration of One of Life's Greatest Pleasures, with Recipes

"It’s really hard to put your finger on what this book is because it’s such a medley. It’s part memoir, because she talks about snacks through the prism of the memorable occasions on which she’s had them—either when she’s first experienced them or where they play a particular role in her life. So her life comes into it. She talks about having a child. There’s a beautiful moment when she talks about having a lolly in the garden with her daughter, who’s about two years old and has started speaking. The daughter says something—I can’t remember what it was—but it was very ‘out of the mouths of babes.’ It’s a beautiful vignette. That then causes her to reflect on how difficult it’s been. She had a baby during lockdown. She doesn’t talk about this much, but she alludes to the fact that she had postnatal depression. She had this heady life in Los Angeles before she became a mother and a lot of the snacks are born of that life, this time pre-pandemic, pre-motherhood, pre-gear change in her personal circumstances. So you get to know her quite well, even though the chapters aren’t ‘My Life in LA’ or ‘My Life as a Mother.’ The chapters are about nachos and crisps and frozen custard and lollies. “The judging process is really rigorous” Each snack prompts a reverie. It might be a memory, or it might be something philosophical. For example, she talks about ordering tzatziki for lunch in Greece (or Cyprus) and taking a photo because it looks so delicious. That prompts her to reflect on that constant pressure to be in the moment and whether taking a photo of something takes away from that or whether it is the most being in the moment you can be because by capturing it you keep it forever. What started off as very mundane suddenly becomes a philosophical musing. That’s beautiful. Again, there’s a little bit of history in there. She talks about how nachos came to be, their origination in Mexico and their bastardization in various gastropubs. She writes about coffee breaks and the role of the Scandinavians in developing the cakes that we have alongside, what’s called ‘fika.’ Also, how the American habit of drinking coffee all day every day is also Scandinavian derived. She has fun recipes. She has a lot of culinary knowledge. She’s incredibly funny. There aren’t many writers who could take on crisps and make it both meaningful and hilarious. There are some really interesting bits in there, but then there’s also a lot of levity because snacks are inherently light foods. There’s nothing serious about a snack. Her book Carbs was brilliant , but I feel like in The Joy of Snacks , she found her calling. It’s funny, isn’t it? On one shortlist, you have Laura Goodman eulogizing on snacks, and then on another you’ve got Olia Hercules’s Home Food which is full of hearty meals. Olia is famously not a snacker and then you’ve got this book, which is snack central."