J. Ryan Stradal

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Standal is an intriguing mixture of culinary stories and family. Each section is named after a food item that plays an important part in the life of Eva Thorvald and we follow along through her earliest years to her adulthood and her becoming one of the top chefs in America.

Eva was just a baby when her birth mother leaves and her chef father dies, she is claimed as their own by her aunt and uncle but from the start shows that cooking is in her blood. As she grows she learns more and more about ingredients and recipes. She embarks on a career of running a pop-up supper club that eventually has a multi-year waiting list. The story is interesting and the author enhances this by his decision to tell Eva’s story in a series of interconnected short stories that play out through the eyes of various people that are connected to her. Perhaps my favorite of all the stories was the fiercely competitive county-fair bake-off, in which mid-western women compete with their prized dessert bars. The final story comes full circle as Eva serves a special dinner that uses the ingredients that helped to shape her life.

Food, family, recipes, humor and heartbreak all combine in this unique story. Kitchens of the Great Midwest is a charming story with an interesting structure that surprised me with it’s depth.… (more)

My, oh my, did I love this book.

I'm not sure if it resonated so strongly because:

a) I spent most of my growing-up years in the Midwest
b) I married a man from Minnesota
c) I have actually eaten lutefisk
d) My in-laws once, as a gift, gave me The Central Lutheran School of St. Paul, MN Cookbook (and it wasn't a gag gift). Said cookbook includes an entire chapter dedicated to bars.

Stradal's book isn't quite a novel, and isn't exactly a collection of short stories, but more like "snapshots" of life, with each chapter told by a different narrator. These snapshots take place at different intervals in time, often with major gaps in time in between, but in some way involve the character Eva Torvald. We follow Eva from infancy though adulthood and see her challenges and triumphs. Each of the snapshots is strong, though my favorite was the one titled "Bars."

Stradal does a fantastic job of capturing human character and foibles. He deftly (and hilariously) contrasts typical Midwestern culture with foodie hipness.

Although I was provided a galley of the book, I ended up listening to the audio version, which was superb.

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for a galley of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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This book was highly recommended by a friend of mine who is a dedicated bibliophile, and I’m so thankful she encouraged me to read it. I don’t consider myself a foodie, so I was skeptical about how much I would enjoy it. However, food is so dynamic in the story that it’s essentially a character. I adore the stories, each uniquely its own, but all woven together so beautifully, almost in magical realism. It’s so well written and makes me *want* to be a foodie. (I’m not going all in on that, but I have ventured out into experimenting with more spices and seasonings and combinations in my cooking since reading this, so that’s something.)… (more)