If You Can’t Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury

James Beard Award–winning blogger DeRuiter (All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft) relates her life experiences through the lens of food. The acclaimed food writer came to love food at a young age, as it represented a way for her to control one aspect of her life while living in a strict household. She describes events in her life—particularly her childhood and relationships with her husband and parents—to explore various topics, using food memories as a connector. These topics include her child-free status, living with anxiety and fears, absent fathers, difficult mothers, religion, gender roles, anger, masculinity, and weight and dieting. With a feminist lens, she ponders why women often get stuck with the holiday cooking and are judged more harshly than men and cannot express their anger without being labeled in a negative way. She describes her love of baking, her relationships to menu histories, and the work of other food writers. She also addresses her award-winning essay critiquing Mario Batali, whose apology letter for a string of sexual harassment allegations included a cinnamon bun recipe.