Cooking for Change: Tales from a Food Service Training Academy

The Food Service Training Academy of the FoodBank of New Jersey couples the dream of rebirth through education with the inherent magic of the kitchen. In the afterword to this lavish and heartening book, distinguished writer and scholar Warren Belasco comments that working with food is empowering and transformative. Cooking turns ex-cons and recovering addicts into savvy artisans who exercise professional taste and judgment in executing ambitious menus. A food bank's simple lunchroom becomes an arena for performance art and transnational culinary tourism. Writing about their personal food experiences, high school dropouts become lyrical poets. Food scholars write about commensality (how dining together binds families, communities, and alliances), the food voice (how people express themselves through cooking), and madeleines (how particular foods trigger poignant memories). All of these are served up in ample, tasty portions in Cooking for Change.