Title: Finding Freedom
Author: Erin French
Published: April 2021, Celadon Books
Format: ARC E-copy, 304 pages
Source: Netgalley via Publisher
Summary:
From Erin French, owner and chef of the critically acclaimed The Lost Kitchen, a TIME world dining destination, a life-affirming memoir about survival, renewal, and finding a community to lift her upLong
before The Lost Kitchen became a world dining destination with every
seating filled the day the reservation book opens each spring, Erin
French was a girl roaming barefoot on a 25-acre farm, a teenager falling
in love with food while working the line at her dad’s diner and a young
woman finding her calling as a professional chef at her tiny restaurant
tucked into a 19th century mill. This singular memoir–a classic
American story–invites readers to Erin’s corner of her beloved Maine to
share the real person behind the “girl from Freedom” fairytale, and the
not-so-picture-perfect struggles that have taken every ounce of her
strength to overcome, and that make Erin’s life triumphant.
In Finding Freedom,
Erin opens up to the challenges, stumbles, and victories that have led
her to the exact place she was ever meant to be, telling stories of
multiple rock-bottoms, of darkness and anxiety, of survival as a jobless
single mother, of pills that promised release but delivered addiction,
of a man who seemed to offer salvation but in the end ripped away her
very sense of self. And of the beautiful son who was her guiding light
as she slowly rebuilt her personal and culinary life around the solace
she found in food–as a source of comfort, a sense of place, as a way of
bringing goodness into the world. Erin’s experiences with deep loss and
abiding hope, told with both honesty and humor, will resonate with
women everywhere who are determined to find their voices, create
community, grow stronger and discover their best-selves despite
seemingly impossible odds. Set against the backdrop of rural Maine and
its lushly intense, bountiful seasons, Erin reveals the passion and
courage needed to invent oneself anew, and the poignant, timeless
connections between food and generosity, renewal and freedom.
My thoughts: I love reading memoirs and as soon as I saw this book, I knew I wanted to read it. While I am not a huge cook myself, I am slowly starting to become more comfortable with it and I found this book both inspiring and uplifting, especially considering Erin is not a trained chef herself.
I think what I find most appealing about reading memoirs is just how enlightening they can be. I used to be so afraid to cook. I don’t know all the spices and how they go together and if I’m not following a recipe, I’m completely lost, but after reading this book about a woman who had more ups and downs than I can ever begin to imagine, and yet just followed her passion, finding solace and home in a kitchen, I feel that I just need to try. I’m a simple girl at heart and that is exactly what Erin was all about…her farm to table philosophy was crystal clear throughout this book and I so loved that. She wasn’t all about complicated recipes and if that’s the one takeaway I get from this book, I think that’s a pretty good one. A good tasting meal doesn’t have to be exotic…it can be quite simple and I can certainly do that…I just need the confidence.
Erin had a remarkable journey to get to where she is today. She’s not had an easy life, having to reinvent herself after hitting rock bottom a few times due to a myriad of circumstances, some of her own making and some out of her control, but through persistence, perseverance and the love of some family, she never gave up. I loved her honest, raw approach to telling her story. It wasn’t an easy one, yet she told it in an easy, relatable manner and I felt myself completely wrapped up in it, celebrating her wins and feeling her losses.
I only wish there were some recipes included in this book…I would definitely love to give some of the wonderful foods that Erin talks about preparing a go. But, perhaps that just means I’ll have to head to The Lost Kitchen to taste her menu myself!
