Foodways Book Club: An Exploration of How Food Connects Us Beyond the Table

Hello, we are two librarians interested in foodways. Because food and foodways are multifaceted, we will be reading and listening to material from many disciplines, such as the history and anthropology of food, environmentalism, food justice, artistic expression, sociology and more.

We will host discussions every few months and each meeting will focus on a different book. We will also share reading and listening material for additional understanding and enrichment of foodways.

Please join us on Wednesday, July 26 from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM over Zoom as we discuss Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family by Rabia Chaudry. 

Book description: 

“My entire life I have been less fat and more fat, but never not fat.” Rabia Chaudry was raised with a lot of love—and that love looked like food. Delicious Pakistani dishes—fresh roti, chaat, pakoras, and shorba—and also Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, and an abundance of American processed foods, as her family discovered its adopted country through its (fast) food.

At the same time, her family was becoming increasingly alarmed about their chubby daughter’s future. Most important, how would she ever get married? In [this book], Chaudry chronicles the dozens of times she tried and failed to achieve what she was told was her ideal weight. The truth is, though, she always loved food too much to hold a grudge against it.

At once an ode to Pakistani cuisine, including Chaudry’s favorite recipes; a love letter to her Muslim family both here and in Lahore; and a courageously honest portrait of a woman grappling with a body that gets the job done but refuses to meet the expectations of others. For anyone who has ever been weighed down by their weight— whatever it is—Chaudry shows us how freeing it is to finally make peace with body we have." 

Books can be placed on hold and picked up at your local branch through our catalog: https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/...

For questions or comments, contact Stephanie Chace ([email protected]) or Alea Stokes ([email protected]).

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