MY BOOK HAS A COVER

TASTING HOME: COMING OF AGE IN THE KITCHEN. She Writes Press, February 2013. The history of a woman’s emotional education,  a romantic tale of a marriage between a straight woman and a gay man, and an exploration of the ways in which cooking can lay the groundwork not only for personal healing and intimate relation but for political community as well. Organized by decade and by cookbook,  Tasting Home draws us into an extraordinary, but familiar,  journey through the cuisines, cultural spirit, and politics of the 1940s through the 2000s. It comes with recipes. ISBN 978001938314 03 2

Advance Praise for Tasting Home:

“In this . . . elegantly written work Newton has completely taken us by surprise.  . . . there’s a sense of tension, of expectation, of waiting for the other shoe to drop that creates a subliminal buzz. Her vibrant writing has . . .  energy and  momentum . . .. [and through] her personal story, Newton manages to weave in the entire course of the culture, a reflection of her skills as an historian and an accomplished writer as well as a born storyteller.”

–Jeanette Ferrary, author of Out of the Kitchen: Adventures of a Food Writer  and M.F.K. and Me.

“In this captivating memoir, Newton draws the reader into a world where major events
are brought to life with poignant food memories. Each vignette is pitch-perfect, lively, and engaging, striking a delicate balance between self-disclosure and universal themes of acceptance, love, community-building, and political engagement.”
— Janet A. Flammang, author of The Taste for Civilization: Food, Politics, and
Civil Society

Tasting Home  is more than a food memoir. Influenced by the civil rights struggle, the women’s movement, and the AIDS epidemic, it is an odyssey of emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth.  Cooking serves as a powerful metaphor for the difficulties and pleasures of relations among mothers and daughters; husbands and wives; gays and heterosexuals; and racial-ethnic groups.  Like a grand meal, Tasting Home is a resounding success. —–Belinda Robnett, How Long? How Long? African-American Women in the Struggle for  Civil Rights.

This evocative memoir creates a tapestry of the personal and the political, weaving together stories of family, friendship and community, of love, birth and death.    Punctuated by favorite recipes for thoughtfully prepared meals, this vivid narrative celebrates matter of both the kitchen and the heart. —-Wendy Martin,  We are The Stories We Tell and More Stories We Tell.