I wanted this to be a good book but it turned out to be pretentious, wandering, ideologically messy, self-indulgent, and over-written. Where was the editor?

"Babies bring with them a primordial sense of Time's alchemy, where night becomes day in the blink of an eye. This growing fatigue potentially leaves us open (if not raw) to receive wisdom from Nature's nursery - the quantum mysteries that link food and love"- is just one example of how to over-complicate what should be a simple message (especially if you are writing for exhausted new parents!)

2.5 stars rounded up.

As a mental health practitioner, I was intrigued by the premise of "Kitchen Therapy". Always on a lookout for new techniques and tools, I expected more practical advice on how to implement food preparation as a therapeutic endeavour. Sadly, this book did not meet my expectation and I don't think it fulfils it's promises either.

First of all, the language. It's overcomplicated, borderlining pretentious. Cooking should be a human experience, yet here it disappears under the lingo. It feels like a book written for a privileged individual who received higher education and now has plenty of time to dedicate to food.

Second of all, this book tries to be too many things at the same time. It's a memoir (and not very interesting one, to be frank), a self-help book (not very helpful because of too high point of entry for an average reader), case studies collection (these are actually interesting as they actually showcase how the author implements cooking and food preparation in the therapeutic setting and this was what I was hoping for the most), collection of recipes (which is just impractical and strange because for some reason the author personifies ingredients or dishes, musing what they would say).

For me, there's no clear target audience here - because certainly it's not a book for everyone, and it seems like the author was given too much editorial freedom as the end product feels incoherent and inaccessible.

Kitchen Therapy by Charlotte Hastings was a very interesting book from start to finish, it is a self help and cookery book. So, if you love Food and want to know and understand the meaning of food and what is behind the way of how and why we cook it and especially eating it; here is a book for you.
This wonderful book explains so much it focuses on physical nutrition and directs their attention on how we feed ourselves within our own social and environments, how we all use the cooking process to understand ourselves and how to try and eat healthier - sometimes it is hard but this book explains why we all have to try to do this.

"Kitchen Therapy was a breath of fresh air and a joy to read."

A good self help and memoir of Kitchen Therapy.

Big Thank you to Literallypr and the author, Charlotte Hastings for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this book! Food is more than 'fuel' for our bodies. We eat for many reasons. Food is a conduit between people and peoples' core memories. Food can be an art both in the garden and in the kitchen. Food ties us to our pasts and our presents. These ideas are presented well by the author. Seasonal eating can be a celebration and a cost saving strategy. Rediscover the joy of preparing food, preferably with others, and the joy in sharing meals with others whenever possible. Explore your memories, Heal in mind and body. Yes, this book can help you!

With this title, I was thinking it would be more of a cookbook but it ended up as a strange combination of self help and memoir. I am simply not the audience.

I love reading any book about food, cooking, eating, health. So this book was a book I knew I would like. It is interesting, has plenty of information and makes you think but I must say it wasn't what I expected and had never really heard of Kitchen Meditation so it is all something rather new for me. Interesting and unique so I will give it 3 1/2 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Free Association Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Hi there,

To continue my posts on kitchen meditation, I agreed to read and review "Kitchen Therapy" for Net Galley.

The book's beginning seems primarily written for therapy professionals. I found the idea of practicing psychological therapy in the kitchen interesting, and several of the beginning chapters provided fascinating examples of how it is used.

The second half of the book contains recipes. Each recipe includes an intimate story about becoming more aware of your kitchen surroundings and the spiritual meaning behind the ingredients and preparation.

The recipes are suggestions for the ingredients and preparation. Although the meditative descriptions of the recipes are well worth reading, they would require an experienced cook to use them.

I chose to prepare hummus. She describes hummus as a dish filled with humility. She asks the reader to reflect on the message of humble hummus: "This dish doesn't mind being one of the crowd whilst making a valuable contribution.

If you are starting or well on the road to developing a kitchen meditation practice, I think you will find this book interesting and helpful.

This book was not what I expected so therefore the lower rating. I expected more cooking, not psychiatry. I also did not read much about the relationship between cooking and therapy. I thank NetGalley and Free Association Books for the advance read.