Book Review
How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty by Bonny Reichert
Memoir | Culinary
Do you ever try new books solely based on recommendations from other authors? How to Share an Egg first caught my eye thanks to the endorsement by Ruth Reichl (another culinary author I can’t get enough of!) Described as a “heartbreaking and hopeful” this captivating memoir took me on an emotional journey that was gripping and beautiful and will stay with me long after the final page.
This raw and emotional memoir immediately drew me in with its poignant opening and sharp writing. It’s a look at intergenerational trauma, identity, and family relationships, and the joy and connection that can come from food.
As a child, Bonny was often labelled “the sensitive one” in the family. Having grown up hearing, and being so deeply impacted by the stories of her father’s near-starvation and ultimate survival in Auschwitz-Birkenau, she steadfastly avoided everything to do with the Holocaust. So when her father asked her to write his story, she put it off. But in time, through the careful exploration of self-identity, heritage, and trauma, this book took shape — a sweet mix of memoir and history, personal exploration, and the story of a father who survived and a daughter who found her voice.
It’s clear that Reichert can write. With her experience as a journalist and writer, her prose is mesmerizing, particularly when it comes to food. Sprinkled throughout Reichert’s reflections are mouthwatering descriptions of savoury delights, expertly interlaced with each chapter. The food sizzles on the page, taking readers on a culinary expedition through Reichert’s life. It was beautiful, and so perfectly woven into the overall theme.
Reichl’s endorsement was spot on too, this memoir is equal parts “heartbreaking and hopeful” and I flew through this short but impactful book. For readers looking for a true story about family bonds, mental health, and food, this is one to savour.
Recommended for:
Readers looking for a culinary memoir about finding oneself
This post contains affiliate links; as an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Advance copy of the book provided courtesy of the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada. All opinions expressed are my own.
About the book:
(From the publisher): A moving culinary memoir about the relationship between food and family—sustenance and survival—from a chef, award-winning journalist, and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
When you’re raised by someone who once survived on potato peels and coffee grounds, you develop a pretty healthy respect for food. Bonny Reichert avoided everything to do with the Holocaust until she found herself, in midlife, suddenly typing those words into an article she was writing. The journalist had grown up hearing stories about her father’s near-starvation and ultimate survival in Auschwitz-Birkenau, but she never imagined she would be able to face this epic legacy head on.
Then a chance encounter with a perfect bowl of borscht in Warsaw set Bonny on a journey to unearth her culinary lineage, and she began to dig for the roots of her food obsession, dish by dish. Tracing the defining moments of her life, from her colorful childhood in the restaurant business to the crumbling of her first marriage and the intensity of young motherhood, her decision to become a chef and that life-altering visit to Poland, the author recounts a tale of scarcity and plenty, stepping into the kitchen to connect her past to her future.
Whether it’s the flaky potato knishes and molasses porridge bread she learned to bake at her Baba Sarah’s elbow, the creamy vichyssoise she taught herself to cook in her tiny student apartment, or the brown butter eggs her father, now 93, still scrambles for her whenever she needs comfort, cuisine is both an anchor and an identity; a source of joy and a signifier of survival.
How to Share an Egg is a journey of deep flavors and surprising contrasts. By turns sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, this is one woman’s search to find her voice as a writer, chef, mother and daughter. Do the tiny dramas of her own life matter in comparison to everything her father has seen and done? This moving exploration of heritage, inheritance, and self-discovery sets out to find the answer.