Hungry Eyes – review (AD)
I was kindly given an advanced electronic copy of Hungy Eyes by Dawn O’Porter ine xchange for an honest review*.
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Hungry Eyes book blurb
What happens at your kitchen table can become the blueprint for everything you are.
Did you sit alone or with people you loved? Was it fun or tense?
Was someone working hard to stop you noticing someone else’s mood?
Did you take it for granted, or know someone had busted their balls to make it happen?
Was the food thoughtful and delicious, or bland and functional? Was the plate laid down with love or anger?
It all matters. It all stays with us.
I think about this every single day.
For years, Dawn O’Porter believed that fulfilment lived somewhere glamorous – in success, recognition, and a life lived loudly.
Somewhere between grieving loss, learning to cook something vaguely nutritious, Hollywood dreams, raising children, writing bestselling fiction and eating wotsits for dinner, Dawn discovered that the real spotlight wasn’t out there.
It was here, at the kitchen table. In the messy moments, and in the meals burned, devoured, avoided and adored. Food became her stage, her comfort and her love language.
Hungry Eyes is a memoir about identity and appetite. The moments and the meals that quietly shape who we become and the ingredients we use to gradually build a life.
She explores the lifelong pressure to ‘bring something to the table’, and the hunger that can create inside us as a result.
Warm, sharp and wise, this is Nigella meets Nora Ephron with a side of therapy and served with a little bit of bite; this will definitely make you want to cook for the ones you love.
What if the thing you’ve been chasing your whole life was already sitting at your kitchen table?
My overall thoughts on Hungry Eyes
I’ve been a fan of Dawn O’Porter for years. I loved her immersive documentaries, looked forward to her column in Stylist, and have thoroughly enjoyed her books.
I was also particularly delighted to watch her on Celebrity MasterChef because, having followed her for so long, I already knew she was a real foodie. In my opinion, she was robbed and absolutely should have won!
So, when I heard about Hungry Eyes, I knew I wanted to read it. What I didn’t expect was quite how much it would make me think about my own relationship with food.
I think most of us have an unconscious relationship with food. For some, it might be fairly simple: you eat to live, food is sustenance and that’s about it.
For others, food carries memories that are embedded deep within us — meals around the family table, particular dishes, smells, tastes and occasions that become tied to people and places. These memories can shape our relationship with the food on our plates in ways we don’t always realise.
I wish I were a proper foodie, but if I’m honest, my relationship with food has become much more functional over recent years.
I’m tired from work, I’m a mam, I’ve never been a particularly good cook, and sometimes getting something on the table is more about necessity than enjoyment.
Reading Dawn’s descriptions of food, cooking, hosting and sharing meals actually made me a little envious. I would quite happily turn up at Dawn’s house on a Sunday and let her feed me a feast!
In Hungry Eyes, Dawn explores her own seesaw relationship with food and the ways it has affected her physically and mentally, while also examining how food has shaped so much of her life.
It is incredibly honest and, at times, raw, as she reflects on where she has come from and the more stable relationship with herself and food that she feels she has now.
This is so much more than a memoir, and so much more than a cookery book. It is an intricate blending of the two.
Dawn beautifully captures the powerful connection between food, memory, family and identity, while peppering her story with real emotion, brilliant anecdotes and recipes that are nostalgic but given a modern twist.
Her writing is warm, engaging and often laugh-out-loud funny.
I particularly loved her descriptions of the tactile experience of food and cooking, and the sheer joy she finds in feeding and being around other people. Her generosity, both with food and with herself, really shines through.
And the recipes!
They feel like an extension of the stories rather than simply something added to fill the pages. They made me want to get into the kitchen and actually make something with a little more love and intention.
I never thought I’d say this, but… thank you, Jamie Oliver, for telling Dawn she needed to write this book!
By the end, I found myself taking Dawn’s advice to take care of myself first. I’ve started thinking about my meals differently.
I absolutely gorged on this book — which feels like the perfect testament to how good it is.
It made me appreciate food not just as something we eat, but as something that connects us to our memories, our families, our experiences and ultimately to ourselves.
A warm, funny, honest and beautifully written book that left me feeling both very hungry and very grateful for the food on my plate.
Five very well-deserved stars.
With huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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*Disclaimer
This review has been written with 100% honesty.
I was not financially compensated for this post. I was given an advance copy of this book for review purposes. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own based on my own experience.
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