Breaking Bread

<b>“More local color than a steamed lobster wearing wild blueberry bracelets, along with a mess of wistful nostalgia for any reader raised in Maine or New England.” —<i>Portland Press Herald</i></b><br><br><b>Nearly 70 renowned New England writers gather round the table to talk food and how it sustains us—mind, body, and soul</b><br><br> An award-winning collection of essays by internationally recognized and beloved foodies, <i>Breaking Bread</i> celebrates local foods, family, and community, while exploring how what’s on our plates engages with what’s off: grief, pleasure, love, ethics, race, and class.<br><br>Here, you’ll find reflections from top literary talents and food writers like<br> <ul><li>Award-winning novelist <b>Lily King</b> on connecting with her children over a tweaked chocolate chip cookie recipe</li><li>Pulitzer Prize recipient <b>Richard Russo</b> on the Italian soup his mother snubbed that he came to enjoy</li><li>Coauthor of <i>Mad Honey</i> <b>Jennifer Finney Boylan</b> on how cheese pizza holds her family together through the good and the bad</li><li>Coauthor of <i>About Grief</i> <b>Brian Shuff</b> on how greasy takeout can be life-giving food for the grieving soul</li><li>Award-winning writer <b>Ron Currie</b> on the childhood shame—and adult pride—of your mother being a “lunch lady”</li><li>Author and homesteader <b>Margaret Hathaway</b> on building a community cookbook to bring food and family together in the early days of COVID-19</li></ul>Other essays address a beloved childhood food from Iran, the horror of starving in a prison camp, and the urge to bake pot brownies for an ill friend.<br><br>Rich and flavorful, <i>Breaking Bread</i> brings together some of the most influential voices in the literary and food worlds to show how we experience life through the foods we eat.<br>Proceeds from this collection will benefit Blue Angel, a Maine-based nonprofit founded by writer and <i>Breaking Bread</i> coeditor Deborah Joy Corey to combat hunger. The organization purchases food from local farmers and delivers it directly to families in need.