REVIEWER: Ruth Bancewicz

BOOK: The Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection and Celebration

(Broadleaf Books, 2023) 219pp, hardback, £20.99

This is not just a book about sustainable cooking. The authors love food and want us to reflect on the whole process, from growing ingredients to composting – which to them is an expression of hope. They truly celebrate food and reflect on all the processes that go on in the kitchen, including messiness and the days when you don’t have time to cook. At times it feels like activism; at others, therapy.

This book comes out of The Food and Faith Podcast, and includes contributions from many of the guests. It is attractively laid out in a hardback scrapbook-type format. Each chapter includes a good amount of reflective input and information from the authors, some personal stories, a recipe and a piece of liturgy.

The chapters cover the cultural importance of food, the way we grow or source ingredients, our attitude and approach to cooking, creativity with what’s in the larder – especially when we don’t have much, and the kitchen as a place of healing, community, celebration and hope.

This is a kind book, which doesn’t make you feel bad if you can’t afford to eat organic, or don’t have the energy grow vegetables or cook every day. It might redeem some of your experience of cooking or help you to relax about having people over for a meal. It’s also a deeply spiritual book that might inspire you to allow a bit more time for food-related activities. The authors share their own failings and mistakes by way of illustrating that life is never ideal, but we can enjoy learning to appreciate what we have available and how to use it better.

Although the focus is on the authors’ experience of sourcing and cooking food in the USA, much of the content is applicable anywhere. We may have different regulations in the UK, but can still grow in our understanding of where our food comes from. We may have different seasonal ingredients, but we can always learn more about how to use them well and appreciate what goes on in our kitchens. We can all learn new ways to express our faith through what we eat.

Reviewer: Ruth Bancewicz

Ruth Bancewicz is Church Engagement Director at The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge