Review of Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

*Bite by Bite* by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (2024). Published by Ecco.

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

For three years I worked professionally as a film critic, and while going to all of the film festivals and interviewing directors and actors was cool for a while, but I wanted to reclaim my time and watch movies I wanted to watch. Sometimes watching all of the new releases is great, and behind ahead of the curve, but I feel like I was falling so behind on movies I was genuinely excited about.

So I quit and decided to focus on this blog, and fell back more into literary criticism. I also randomly fell into a period of unemployment because of unexpected circumstances, and I took a long and hard look at my finances and realized I had enough to take time off. I did end up doing that, traveled for a bit, applied to jobs, and found myself working on the blog now more than ever.

Because of this period of unemployment, I was also able to read a lot. I’ve had a massive backlog of books I’ve been building for years, especially considering my Goodreads to-read list alone is over 2,000 books now. I’ve come to acknowledge that there is no way I am ever getting to all of these books, and I’m fine with it.

I’ve known of Aimee’s work as a poet, but I’ve never read anything of hers beyond that genre. So when I saw she came out with a nonfiction book about food, I knew immediately it was going to be right up my alley. I used to want to be a food writer, and while I still think that is going to be somewhere in my future, it’s not for me right now.

I ended up checking this book out of the library and finishing over the course of a week. I took my time with this one, especially as I wanted to savor it like a meal.

Let’s get into the review!

Recollections on food and the memories associated with certain dishes and ingredients.

The way this book is set up is that each food item is the focus of the essay, and there are 40 essays scattered throughout the course of this book. The title is the name of the food item (such as mango, or mangosteen), and then Aimee discusses how this specific item holds a memory for her.

These essays take place across the course of her life. Whether it’s something she ate as a child, an old memory from visiting India or from her Filipina background. Something to note about the writer is that she’s mixed between being Filipino and Indian, and thus her multicultural background really does take a spotlight in these essays.

From her childhood and adult travels, to the more mundane aspects of her life back here in the States, these essays really do prove the connection between food, culture, and memory. When I graduated from my first college, I wanted to apply to a PhD program where I could study food history.

I even interviewed at the food history and anthropology magazine Whetstone, getting to the final round with Stephen Satterfield himself. I did not get the job (probably because I was starstruck by Stephen), but it reminded me about how food is such a critical part of people’s lives, even if they don’t know how to appreciate it.

So to read a memoir in essays about food and memory was a special occasion for me, as it proved what I’ve been thinking for all of these years anyways. The writing is deft and tight, and each essay is bite sized. You could read ten of them in the course of thirty minutes if you’re taking your time because of how short each story is.

Overall Thoughts

This review is shorter than my other ones, but it’s because of how simple this book is. I don’t want to reduce its impact by saying that, but I feel like this kind of book you can’t fluff up and write a ton of words explaining its depth to readers.

You need to read it yourself and experience this writing, as it’s more magical than what I could ever put into words. You’ll know its impact when you actually sit down and read it, then you’ll want to pick apart the food you’ve eaten throughout your lifetime and see how it has shaped you as a person.

All of this is to say that I think if this is something that interests you as a reader, go ahead and read it. Go to your local library or independent bookstore to get a copy whenever you have the chance, as you might find it worth it.

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