I wanted to like this book as it sounded good but I couldn't get into it. I would have not reviewed but NetGalley insists on a review to keep your profile rating up even when you say you are declining to read it.

This was a funny and fascinating insight into the life of Grace Dent - journalist, food critic and author.. Her memories about her loving, working class childhood which moulded her and helped her in the flakey and shallow world of media and celebrity is amusing, but engaging and relatable.

I will be honest, I had no idea who Grace Dent was before reading this book, and I don’t watch Masterchef, but I found her to be delightful. As a woman of a similar age, with a working class background, there was a lot of her life that I could identify with.

Well worth a read.

I am a real admirer of Grace Dent, I enjoy her witty writings in her column for the Guardian and other publications. She writes wonderful restaurant reviews with a unique perspective and humour. She is a very gifted writer and her love for food is so evident. She has also appeared on various cookery shows, namely Masterchef and Great British Menu and I avidly listen to her podcast: Comfort Eating. She invites various guests and in each episode they discuss their favourite comfort foods, food memories and their lives in general. She has real warmth and guests open up, the conversations are rich and free flowing and the series is well worth listening to if you love food.

Her Memoir was very well written of course. It gave a great insight into Graces' life and childhood and all the factors that have made her the person she is. She is unflinchingly honest throughout and shares all. Family is very important to her and she has many a funny tale about them. So many funny stories feature and it is very much laugh out loud in places. Grace writes very well about the loss of her mother witnessing the decline in both her parents health.

The book is full of food and memories around dishes and meals. I really enjoyed reading about how Grace got into the world of food journalism. I could not recommend this book more and I loved it. I have read it twice in the space of a year, it is the good!

I always loved Grace Dent’s columns and this nostalgic trip to the 70s & 80s is a gem. It bought back so many memories of a working-class upbringing with inexpensive plain food. Returning to care for her parents later in her life was an interesting insight into her character -so far removed from the cut and thrust of journalism and reviewing restaurant food. I will certainly revisit this book one day. Thanks for the opportunity to read a cracking book.

Grace Dent is a food critic and lately, it seems, a tv personality. As a working-class Northern girl, hailing from Carlisle, she has a childhood steeped in love and the mass produced, bad food that we all remember liking, but pretend not to. Findus crispy pancakes, Fray Bentos pies in flat tins, Angel Delight.

This autobiography tells of Grace’s childhood in the 70s and 80s, her university years, moving to London and forging her way in a London where anything was seemingly possible (with a large dose of luck). The latter part of the book movingly and starkly describes Grace’s father’s descent into dementia and the family struggles to cope, reminiscent of the struggles being fought daily by families all over the country.

Her writing is entertaining, wry and witty, and a couple of times made me laugh out loud, which always makes me feel kindly towards an author. However, I never felt she gave away a great deal of herself, and I’m not sure as a reader I know her any better than I vaguely knew of her before.

I was totally reminded of “Toast” by Nigel Slater, albeit two decades on, so my enjoyment of the book was slightly tempered by the fact that it had been done before.

This was the year of memoirs for me and I've been very lucky that all those I've read have been beautifully written. Hungry was no exception. A story that flicks back and forth through time, space, and emotional highs and lows; Hungry is a perfect encapsulation of key British experiences written in a way that anyone can feel the same things Grace Dent felt. Woven throughout the story of food is the story of family and Grace Dent's fears about her father. Alzheimer's is a terrible thing and she approaches it gingerly but head on, looking over her life and finding indicators. She brilliantly shows that combination of fear, guilt, and relief that comes with making choices for a loved one with Alzheimer's while nodding to the fact that somewhere just under all that, is the person you've always known and loved. Moving and hilarious, a fantastic memoir.

4.5* rounded down to 4*

I finally managed to read Hungry by Grace Dent last month- part of non-fiction November and Netgalley November!

I’m not sure what took me so long, to be honest because it was a great book (even though I find it difficult to rate someone's life). The book begins with Grace growing up in Carlisle and the foods she ate as a child; even though I’m not a child of the same era, I loved her descriptions/feelings of getting treats from the shop and picking certain chocolate bars- it felt reminiscent of when I was child. To be honest, I was expecting it to be similar to Toast by Nigel Slater but it was quite different- in a good way as the book talked about her career and relationship with food as a critic, journalist and lover of food. I used to watch Masterchef a lot and often remember Grace judging with Jay Rayner, Charles Campion and William Sitwell amongst others, so I found it interesting to hear about it from the judge/critic side.

At times this was heart breaking, particularly as her parents have grown older and battled illness resulting in Grace moving North again, but I was so glad to read it and regret leaving it for as long as I did.

As well as reading the book, I also listened to the audio which was narrated by Grace herself. It included a short discussion/interview with Jay Rayner- definitely a bonus of listening to the audio!

Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit when I started this book I didn’t know who Grace Dent was. I was more enticed by the good reviews.
This book was funny, sad and very well written. I have since googled Grace Dent and read some of her columns. She is a very good writer. This was well worth reading.

I have been a fan of Grace Dent's writing for years so this book was a real treat. Brilliantly written, sharing her life and the food that shaped it, this makes for a wonderful read.

I’m not a big reader of autobiographies/memoirs as I often find them a bit self indulgent and boring but this one caught my eye. I was hoping for some light hearted anecdotes and familiarities to chuckle away to and it did provide some, a couple of laugh out loud moments and some astute observations of the difference between life then and now, but it just didn’t carry through. It was more humorous at the beginning, mid way became a bit of a disjointed ramble about restaurants, food and the life of a magazine column writer, and ended on a very sobering recount of her parents ageing years which was heartfelt and thought provoking. However none of these bits seemed to fit together - it’s just a disjointed diary. Lovely in itself if you like reading the day to day thoughts of someone else, and probably an incredibly therapeutic process for the author but I needed more flow, more connections and more meaning. Three stars for the smirks at the beginning and the thought provocative prose towards the end but it hasn’t persuaded me to pick up another memoir in the near future.

Funny, in places moving and very nostalgic. Especially enjoyed the part about the Scottish relationship to Fish Suppers. Grace Debt is always readable and entertaining, and she manages that here in large portions.

Hungry would not be my usual read but the combination of the author combined with food and memoirs of growing up in the 70’s,80’s and 90’s got me hungry!
I was not disappointed and found the humour, honestly tinged with some sadness was a very interesting read. I particularly liked the London memories of her developing and changing career.
Well recommended read and brings back many memories for me.
Thanks for NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hungry by Grace Dent is a memoir about her life, experiences and family right from childhood to becoming a food critic.

This book made me laugh and cry all the way through. Grace Dent had me in stitches at the way she described the slightly dysfunctional life she and her family shared. From being a rebellious teenager in the 80's to, most recently, dealing with her dads illness, this book truly has a 'real life' feel to it that i could really relate to.

I would be laughing out loud at times to then having tears rolling down my cheeks, at others, through her descriptions of nostalgia and sheer heartbreak

I felt she wrote this book from the heart and the ways in which she talks about her relationship with her parents, both, with such love, respect and a whole lot of frustration is amazing!

This is a book for foodies and fans of Masterchef – the story of food critic Grace Dent’s rise to fame and fortune. It is funnily outrageous and honest about her working-class roots in Cumbria, university life, and early career. Through it shines her love of her Mum and her Scouse Dad. She outlines her Dad's secret past and sad slide into dementia, which is very moving yet unsentimental. It also contains a detailed portrayal of food – not the posh food of the restaurants she reviews now, but school dinners and supermarket bakeries, BOGOF offers, and all-you-can-eat buffets – all enjoyed in the heart of a loving family. It is a more personal account than her funny guardian article on junk food and its comfort value despite its damage to health – the post-war generations never had it so good but too much fat and sugar were definitely too much of a good thing. I like the way she explains how she loves its nostalgia value anyway - and life before the internet!

How does Grace remember so much from the 80s so accurately and in so much detail?! I guess taste is a sense that’s very closely related to memory so maybe that’s why. Anyway I gobbled this book up, it’s very morish and funny and real. Loved it.

Fascinating autobiography by Grace Dent giving insights into what it was like to grow up in the 70s and 80s in a working-class family. Grace was rebellious as a teen but definitely had grit and determination to get where she is today. The book has you hooked right from the beginning. There are some hilarious anecdotes from her childhood, such as her mother’s aspirational desires to have the house with the most improvements including the vestibule where Grace once tried to spend the night. There are also some poignant parts to this too, particularly where Grace tries to keep the family together towards the end. Some of it felt slightly sleazy as she aspires to get on in her journalist career and I definitely preferred reading about her childhood, but also about her struggles later on as she tries to juggle her career with looking after her parents. I am a big fan of Grace’s and love her MasterChef appearances as she comes across as very witty with her comments while always looking amazingly stylish. There is real heart in this book and it does not disappoint - you can almost hear Grace and the way she speaks as you are reading it. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me an ARC of this fascinating book.

A book consisting of memoirs by well known broadcaster, author, columnist as well as restaurant critic, Grace Dent.

The storyline focuses on different parts of Grace's life with the main theme of food, feelings and people.

Grace was born and raised in Carlisle in Cumbria, England. She is the older child of working parents.

One of her fondest earliest memories is at the age of 7 making the warm, hearty 'Sketty' (Spaghetti Bolognese) with her dad in Carlisle. She also remembers her mum renovating their house as well as her dislike of Ready Brek, and playing with the neighborhood children.

The text is dated and it's written
well with thorough use of descriptions and feelings, especially humour. It's written as a diary account. It makes you feel as though you're experiencing the moments with Grace. It makes you also think about your own experiences with food and key events in your life.

I haven't read any books by Grace Dent but I've seen her on a variety of television shows, mostly on MasterChef. Having read this book, I'll be looking for more books written by her. This has giving me an insight into her upbringing and her love of food, surprisingly a good read.

The first three quarters of this book are an enjoyable enough nostalgia tour through the life and food of the 1980s. Sherbert Dips and the excitement of the big Asda opening. She tends to make sweeping generalizations about things, which is frustrating, because no, not every teenager of our generation was doing MDMA in a bus shelter.

That said, in the last quarter of the book she writes movingly of caring for her elderly parents. That made the book for me, and I wish the writing had been like that all the way through.

I completely and utterly adored this book! Hungry is Grace Dent’s memoir and in it she details her life through with real emphasis on food. I’m just a little bit younger than Dent so a lot of her food memories are very similar to mine – the thrill of a Sara Lee Gateau as a very special treat is one such memory. I loved reading about her childhood in Carlisle, a place I know well, and her love for her family. There is so much love that shines out of these pages. Anyone who grew up in the north in the 70s and 80s will identify with this book so much. As Dent gets a little older and starts to move away from her family and to build a career for herself we see how she got into being a food critic and this was every bit as interesting as her childhood. There is sadness and worry along the way too as her dad starts to show signs of dementia and her mum suffers with ill health too but the way Dent and her siblings rally around was wonderful to read about. I can’t put into words just how much I loved this book, I enjoyed every single bit of it and I would recommend it to everyone. This will definitely be one of my top books of 2021, I’m certain of it!