I read Hunger in one day, bringing it from my couch to an appointment and back to my couch again. (Ina Garten, as Gay points out, is a rare exception a woman who looks like she loves to eat, talking about food with gusto and without a whiff of shame.)
We see them in photo spreads, on videos that play on our television and Facebook feeds. There’s a world of slim food-world women. literally everywhere?), there’s true currency in not looking like you give in to your hungers. The food we celebrate in print, on websites, on Instagram, and on television is (usually) at odds with the body our culture tells me I should have (or at least, should want to have).īut in food media (as in. It’s an uncompromising look at what it’s like to navigate the world with what Gay calls her “unruly” body that doctors cruelly label “super morbidly obese.” The injuries, violence, care, and comfort her body sustains or provides are the organizing thread of the memoir.įatness (along with its twin pillar, dieting) is a part of my life, and has been since puberty - I’m what Gay calls “Lane Bryant fat.” Working in food media, for me, is bizarre on that front. I’ve been eagerly awaiting Hunger, in large part because I’m still processing an episode of This American Life from last year called “ Tell Me I’m Fat” that featured an interview with Roxane Gay as its third act.