{"product_id":"our-lady-of-perpetual-hunger-isbn-9780525560944","title":"Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger","description":"\u003cb\u003eNamed a Favorite Book for Southerners in 2020 by \u003ci\u003eGarden \u0026amp; Gun \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Donovan is such a vivid writer—smart, raunchy, vulnerable and funny— that if her vaunted caramel cakes and sugar pies are half as good as her prose, well, I'd be open to even giving that signature buttermilk whipped cream she tops her desserts with a try.”—Maureen Corrigan, \u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNoted chef and James Beard Award-winning essayist Lisa Donovan helped establish some of the South's most important kitchens, and her pastry work is at the forefront of a resurgence in traditional desserts. Yet Donovan struggled to make a living in an industry where male chefs built successful careers on the stories, recipes, and culinary heritage passed down from generations of female cooks and cooks of color. At one of her career peaks, she made the perfect dessert at a celebration for food-world goddess Diana Kennedy. When Kennedy asked why she had not heard of her, Donovan said she did not know. \"I do,\" Kennedy said, \"Stop letting men tell your story.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HUNGER is Donovan's searing, beautiful, and searching chronicle of reclaiming her own story and the narrative of the women who came before her.  Her family's matriarchs found strength and passion through food, and they inspired Donovan's accomplished career. Donovan's love language is hospitality, and she wants to welcome everyone to the table of good food and fairness. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDonovan herself had been told at every juncture that she wasn't enough: she came from a struggling southern family that felt ashamed of its own mixed race heritage and whose elders diminished their women. She survived abuse and assault as a young mother. But Donovan's salvations were food, self-reliance, and the network of women in food who stood by her. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the school of the late John Egerton, OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HUNGER is an unforgettable Southern journey of class, gender, and race as told at table.“The pastry chef Lisa Donovan knows the insides of some of the South’s top restaurant kitchens even better than people \u003ci\u003ethink\u003c\/i\u003e they want to know them. In her moving, real-talk memoir, the James Beard Award–winning writer describes beautifully the current, sometimes painful moment that Southern writers, editors, and chefs—perhaps especially women—have found themselves in as the world at large seems enamored by Southern food.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGarden \u0026amp; Gun, \u003c\/i\u003eFavorite Books for Southerners in 2020\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Donovan is such a vivid writer—smart, raunchy, vulnerable and funny— that if her vaunted caramel cakes and sugar pies are half as good as her prose, well, I'd be open to even giving that signature buttermilk whipped cream she tops her desserts with a try. . . . \u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger \u003c\/i\u003eis about the multiple hungers that Donovan has been driven to satisfy in her life—for wonderful food, certainly, but also for love and community and for gratifying work that can support a family.” \u003cb\u003e—Maureen Corrigan, \u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An absolutely stupendous memoir…defines a philosophy that I value very much: good old American pragmatism—what is most useful is most truthful… She’s an amazing chef, she’s an amazing person, an amazing mom… [Now,] the world will finally get to see what an unbelievable writer she is. She is gifted in ways that most people, even good writers, are not… [Donovan] finally has a platform to let the world know just how talented she is.” —\u003cb\u003eDave Chang, chef of the Momofuku restaurants and host of “Ugly Delicious” \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Lisa is an all-around perfect person, and this book tells the story of one of my favorite people.” \u003cb\u003e—Matty Matheson, \u003ci\u003eNew York Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e from Southern pastry royalty Lisa Donavan won’t steer you wrong. A heady cocktail of love, family, food, and the fire that drives her personal and professional journey, Donavan really knows how to wring out the marrow in a story, how to bring you into a world that is etched and fleshed out with tremendous skill and a singular voice.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThrillist \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With anger, honesty, wit and passion...an impeccable blend of deadpan humor, candor and righteousness, Donovan critiques not only the rampant sexism in haute cuisine, but also the misogyny prevalent in our culture at large, not shying away from depicting her experiences of domestic partner abuse, rape and gender-based pay disparity...Assertive and empowering”—\u003cb\u003eKathleen Rooney, \u003ci\u003eStar Tribune \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Donovan documents her struggles in a male-dominated field, her mixed-race heritage, her own experience with abuse and assault and how she put her life back together through the salvation of food.\"—\u003cb\u003eZibby Owens, \u003ci\u003eGood Morning America \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As much a manifesto as a memoir—in the tradition of Anthony Bourdain’s \u003ci\u003eKitchen Confidential\u003c\/i\u003e—Donovan’s testimony is beautifully written, fresh, and powerful. . . . a straightforward, no-holds-barred account of a difficult journey described in vivid, eloquent prose showcasing equal parts strength, anger, persistence, earthy humor, and eventually, something like grace.” \u003cb\u003e—Chapter 16\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Donovan’s story is that of a pastry chef working her way up in an often inhospitable industry, but it’s also about a woman creating her own narrative and grappling with the ways that the choices of the women who came before her—both personally and professionally—affect her life.\" —\u003cb\u003eEater\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Like Donovan's famous desserts, \u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e takes simple ingredients--a woman's life, a journey into motherhood, a romance, a family legacy--and transforms them into something delectable, delicious and downright inspiring.\" —\u003cb\u003eShelf Awareness, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Donovan . . . reveals the struggles and hard-fought lessons that have made her the courageous woman that she is today. . . . [W]ritten in a fierce and visceral style. . . . In a world that all too often credits male chefs for the culinary contributions of women and people of color, [\u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e] is a valuable addition to the culinary memoir canon.\" —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Donovan… chronicles her career as a chef and her unrelenting passion for the culinary arts, but she also digs into her family history, offering keen reflections on the intersections of race and gender and spirited discussions of work, class, and opportunity. . . .  [\u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e] is not just a lively story of a talented pastry chef at the top of her game; it’s also a profoundly relatable memoir of the pervasive push back against female success. \u003cb\u003eA fresh voice with a recipe for empowerment\u003c\/b\u003e.\"— \u003cb\u003eKirkus\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] fiesty confessional. . . . Donovan’s candid, passionate memoir will resonate with anyone who has worked in professional kitchens, and particularly women.\"—\u003cb\u003e Publishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Lisa Donovan’s writing has such intensity and assertiveness. It spikes the adrenaline and creates tension in a way that feels almost athletic. And it’s through this toned and visceral prose that we are forced to reckon with Lisa’s most essential recipe: that respect is bred from unflinching truth and raw honesty. In life, and on these pages, Lisa charts a path of personal growth with brave transparency, eloquently acknowledging that life’s greatest challenges are not circumstance, but a calling.”—\u003cb\u003eAshley Christensen, James Beard Award-winning chef \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The first time you meet Lisa you want to pull up a stool, pour a drink and listen to every story she has to tell. It turns out you don't need the stool or the drink. This is a woman you will be happy to get to know.” —\u003cb\u003eRuth Reichl, author of \u003ci\u003eSave Me the Plums \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e is more than the story of a woman who finds her own voice in the patriarchal world of professional cooking. It’s also the story of making a life — a life of love, of community, of commitment to the flame of creativity that somehow manages to burn against all odds. Lisa Donovan has written nothing less than the story of making a life in our times.” —\u003cb\u003eMargaret Renkl, author of \u003ci\u003eLate Migrations \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Lisa Donovan is one of the country's great pastry chefs, but this isn't a story about food, really. It's about the strength of womanhood and motherhood. It's about staring down the betrayals that women face. And it's about the redemptive power, not of food itself, but of finding common cause in feeding others.”—\u003cb\u003eFrancis Lam, host, The Splendid Table\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e“A critique of the 'world that men made,' a pledge to the women who came before her, and a challenge to work in new ways, \u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e blazes a path of self-discovery that manages, as great memoir must, to serve readers more than self. Lisa Donovan knows things we need to know.” —\u003cb\u003eJohn T. Edge, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Potlikker Papers \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e“In \u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger, \u003c\/i\u003eLisa Donovan writes a line I kept returning to: 'I had vigor, the kind you could taste.' I could taste the writing in this book. Her breathless descriptors conjure heat and possibility, her incisive memories capture the dank and earthen bits. To give a book life, a wise writer understands her myths must die. This book's heart is its truth, one woman's unyielding look in the mirror and well beyond it. Lisa's ultimate embrace of the human who stares back at her is a kind of freedom for us all.” —\u003cb\u003eOsayi Endolyn, James Beard Award-winning writer \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, it's about love, family, food, and one woman's personal and professional journey. But more than all that, \u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e is about life force, the unquenchable flame within us that demands to survive and thrive. It could only be written by Lisa Donovan, and it should be read by everyone.”  —\u003cb\u003eMary Laura Philpott, author of \u003ci\u003eI Miss You When I Blink\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Lisa Donovan writes with a voice that is both bruised and tender in \u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e. In tracing her path to food, Donovan honors the women who shaped her philosophy in the kitchen, reminding us of the necessity of women telling their stories in a world so eagerly determined to erase them. We are quite lucky to live in a world where Donovan has written her own story with such grace.” —\u003cb\u003eMayukh Sen, James Beard Award-winning writer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eLisa Donovan\u003c\/b\u003e has redefined what it means to be a \"southern baker\" as the pastry chef to some of the South's most influential chefs, including Margot McCormack, Tandy Wilson, and Sean Brock. Unabashedly serving her church cakes and pies to finish fine-dining experiences, she has been formative in establishing a technique-driven and historically rich narrative of southern pastry. Donovan received a James Beard Award for her writing in \u003ci\u003eFood \u0026amp; Wine\u003c\/i\u003e, where she is a regular contributor, and she has been a featured speaker at René Redzepi's globally renowned MAD Symposium. \u003ci\u003eOur Lady of Perpetual Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e is her first book.","brand":"Penguin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300776988901,"sku":"NP9780525560944","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525560944.jpg?v=1767734330","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/our-lady-of-perpetual-hunger-isbn-9780525560944","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}