The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage: True Tales of Food, Family, and How We Learn to Eat

The oysters they ate together the first night in their new city. The chicken Milanese she learned to cook after weight-loss surgery. The cassoulet that both anchors and rebuilds their crumbling marriage.

From the $6 peach to boxed macaroni and cheese, food is never just about what we eat. It is the fuel for our life stories. The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage is an anthology of original essays about how we learn (and relearn) to eat, and how pivotal food is beyond the table. Without mantras or manifestos, twenty-nine writers serve up sharp, sweet, and candid memories; salty irreverence; and delicious original recipes.

You will recognize yourself in these stories. These writers, journalists, and chefs are also parents, husbands, wives, children, and caregivers-just like us. They let you see behind the scenes into the kitchens (and shopping carts) of real American families. With crisp honesty, they articulate for us how food-in our culture, in our lives, and in our families-is sometimes as simple as a pasta sauce, or as complex as cassoulet. The true gift of these essays is that they give voice to our own innermost thoughts and questions. Who