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Food Person

A Novel

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 18 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 18 weeks
For fans of Alison Espach's The Wedding People and Dolly Alderton's Good Material, a delectable comedy of manners about cooking, ambition, and friendship set in the food world as a young and socially awkward writer takes a job ghostwriting the cookbook for a famous (and famously chaotic) Hollywood starlet.
Isabella Pasternack is a food person. She revels in the beauty of a perfectly cooked egg, she daydreams about her first meal at Chez Panisse, and every inch of her tiny apartment teems with cookbooks, from Prune to Cooking by Hand to Roast Chicken and Other Stories. What Isabella is not, unfortunately, is a gainfully employed person. In the wake of a disastrous live-streamed soufflé demonstration, Isabella is summarily fired from her job at a digital food magazine and must quickly find a way to keep herself in buckwheat and anchovy paste. When offered the opportunity to ghostwrite a cookbook for Molly Babcock, the once-beloved television actress now mired in scandal, Isabella warily accepts. Unfortunately, Molly quickly proves herself to be a nightmare collaborator: hungover, flaky, shallow, and—worst of all—indifferent to food. But between Molly’s bizarre late-night texts, goofy confessions, and impromptu road trips, Isabella reluctantly begins to see Molly’s charms. Can Isabella corral Molly out of the gossip rags and into the kitchen? Can she find the key to Molly’s heart and stomach? Or will Isabella’s devotion to her culinary idols and Molly’s monstrous ego send the entire cookbook—and both of their careers—up in flames?
A mouthwatering, hilarious debut peppered with insider food world detail—the real writers behind celebrity chef cookbooks, the hot restaurants that run on the backs of their sous-chefs, the secret to perfect blinis à la Russe—Adam Roberts's Food Person is a literary soufflé—a deceptively light, deliciously rich, showstopping confection.
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    The publisher provides the following statement about the accessibility of the EPUB file supplied to OverDrive. Experiences may vary across reading systems. After borrowing the book, you may download the EPUB files to read in another reading system.

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    This ebook features mark-up that supports accessibility and enables compatibility with assistive technology. It has been designed to allow display properties to be modified by the reader. The file includes a table of contents, a defined reading order, and ARIA roles to identify key sections and improve the reading experience. A page list and page break locations help readers coordinate with the print edition. Headings allow readers to navigate the ebook quickly by level. Images are well described in conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Colors meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA contrast standards. There are no hazards.

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  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      April 15, 2025
      An unemployed food writer agrees to ghostwrite a cookbook for an erratic starlet looking to revive her career and reputation. "Dowdy" Isabella Pasternak is on the bottom rung of the career ladder, writing about things like chickpea trends and cheese options forComestibles magazine. After unexpectedly stepping in to do an Instagram Live on chocolate souffl�s that ends in disaster, she is unceremoniously fired. The same day, after rescuing her best friend, Owen, from a caviar catastrophe at his wealthy father's birthday party, Isabella is rewarded with an opportunity via Owen's dad: Ghostwrite a cookbook for one of his clients. Isabella initially balks; cookbooks are sacred to her, and she wants to be more than a mere ghostwriter. But the alternative--help her mother make "her signature Frankensoups" for soup kitchen patrons--is too anguishing. The client in question, Molly Babcock, isn't about to make things easy. She's everything Isabella expects from a disgraced actress who's been in the tabloids more than on set. Molly is self-absorbed, vain, and often drunk--plus apparently uninterested in actually eating any food. But when Molly unexpectedly lets Isabella in on a key part of her past, the women's professional and personal relationship grows suddenly more complicated, forcing Isabella to confront the kind of career she really wants, and the person she really wants to be. Roberts' novel is a confection--satisfyingly over-the-top--but with complex notes; he has a true knack for understanding the ways that food rules every aspect of our lives, from the gourmet's obsession to the shame and guilt surrounding indulgence. But even readers who don't know a branzino from bearnaise will find plenty to enjoy here, from the colorful secondary characters to the zippy plot. A debut novel that dishes up one of the most delectable ingredients of all: fun.

      COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from April 1, 2025
      In cookbook author and food blogger Roberts' delightful debut novel, Isabella, a lost, twentysomething foodie, agrees to ghostwrite a has-been actress' cookbook. Molly, the actress, squeezes lemon on hacked-apart kale for her social media followers, while Isabella, whose most prized possession is Zuni Caf� Cookbook, dreams of penning something with "voice, style, incredible recipes." When Molly takes Isabella to New Jersey to rescue a binder overflowing with gravy-stained recipes perfected by Molly's deceased mother, Isabella thinks she finally has what she needs to write a great book. As Isabella's confidence grows and Molly gets nervous about losing a role, the women begin a friendship. But when Molly finds out what Isabella's been working on, everything goes up in flames. Roberts' love for food shines in his descriptions of ingredients, kitchen skills, and a lovely culinary bookshop brimming with titles by food-world greats like Edna Lewis and Gabrielle Hamilton. The sage shop owner and Isabella's quirky widowed mother are standouts among the fun supporting cast that includes love interest Gabe, who serves Isabella a stunning dinner of branzino filet with crunchy shoestring potatoes. Just like that meal--"simple, but not simple in the pejorative sense"--and filled with "salty surprise," Food Person is perfectly cooked.

      COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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