Chicken Soup For The Soul: Food and Love {Book Review}

GUEST POST- REVIEW WRITTEN BY MY MOM:

I recently had a chance to review a new favorite, from my old favorite, Chicken Soup for the Soul “Food and Love”.  First I want to say thank you to my daughter for the gift of this book and letting me be the first to read it.  I remember when they came out the first release of Chicken Soup for the Soul in 1993; I was hooked after the first one, and went on to buy seven more in the series.  I was a single mom at the time and my kids and I engaged in hours of reading the stories together.  In fact I still have the first book where I labeled each story with the child’s name that read the story.  They really looked forward to snuggling up before bed and reading together.

Reading this book brings these tender memories back, but also starting this new book in this series reminds me of how much I love reading Chicken Soup for the Soul. This one particularly, because it brings back memories of my growing up and reminds me how much food was a part of my childhood and family tradition.  So many stories I read evokes fond memories from my families past.  Whether it was Grandpas famous rum balls at Christmas, Grandmas always full cookie jar and the pies she made from scratch she would make and how she would never waste anything.  Even teaching me how to take all the excess pie crust scraps put it all together in a ball and then roll it out and spread butter on it sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar roll up,  then slice and bake in the oven until a crispy brown.  Her famous cast iron skillet that she made everything in from pork chops to pancakes. My Mom and step-mom were fabulous cooks too.  Unfortunately the only thing that rubbed off on me was my love of food, recipes and cookbooks. My parents would throw where we would have everything to fondue or the most recent thing my step dad caught after hunting, like Smelt, Venison, Wild Rabbit to frog’s legs. Yes I’m a country bumpkin.   Sunday dinner together was a given, typically at my grandparents house.

I’ve paced myself slowly, and as in the past, I will sit down and read about two or three stories at a time.  Sometimes I will just sit back and recall memories of my childhood or just read some of the touching or amusing stories and prized recipes people have shared in this book ,  and  make me think about starting my own traditions and memories that I would like to pass down to my daughter or start with my grandchildren.

(Disclosure: We received a book for review. All thoughts are my mom’s.)