Reviews for Keeping the Feast: One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy

The average rating for Keeping the Feast: One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-11-09 00:00:00 Stanley Ko 3.5 stars. Butturini writes beautifully about food and the power and influence of gathering at the table. She shares childhood memories of meals in addition to how she prepared food as a way to preserve her own sanity, preserve some kind of normalcy in life when everything seems so abnormal, and nourish her husband's body and spirit as he battled depression. Her observations about food and the table made me thankful once again for every minute I've invested in meal prep for our large family. Butturini speaks of praying, but I'm not sure who she prays to, and her religious influences reveal a vague and very liberal view of a God of man's own making, as demonstrated in this passage: "Sister Mary Ann Walsh...explained that at times she would be 't-eed-off with God and point out that He (or She) is the Almighty One--I'm not--so it's about time He (or She) did a little more for me. God's big enough to hear and respond to our demands.'" Thankfully, Butturini's temper tantrum directed at God doesn't last long in the book, but it reminds me of how patient the one true God is and how abundant His common grace is. Finally, the epilogue addresses that mysterious change in our relationship with food that aging sometimes brings. I love the author's perspective on this as she reminds herself of the privilege of preparing meals while we can: "So tonight and all the other nights when I may be tired, without appetite, or simply not in the mood to produce even a simple meal, I shall will myself to do it anyway."

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-26 00:00:00 Shauna Lyn I read Keeping the Feast after hearing the author speak at a conference. She talked about writing and cooking to cure depression. Something about that combination of topics intrigued me, but I didn't begin her book for a year. Once started, I read through in a couple of days. The paragraphs below are from my blog that I wrote the minute I finished the book. "Having just finished reading Paula Butturini's Keeping the Feast, food is much on my mind. Butturini peppered that memoir of her years in the news capitals of Europe with lists of the fresh vegetables she bought daily in their street markets. Her descriptions of her father's polenta-making and husband John's risotto, in addition to the repasts she prepared, read like a cookbook. No matter that she included not a single recipe; she made me feel like I could whip up a quick pesto while a chicken roasts for dinner guests. I want my cooking to be like Butturini's, to be a time of energetic preparation that precedes family gathering at the table. That is the way I grew up. I cannot remember eating a childhood meal alone. Our family of six sat in appointed places, passed the dishes clockwise until everyone had helped himself to a portion of each--meat, potatoes, vegetables, salad, always fresh bread. . . . "