Lia Huber knows the healing power of good food. From her college summer in Greece, where she first experienced the Greek cuisine made from the freshest of ingredients, to her travels in Central America, where she and her husband struggled to find the most basic necessities, Huber has made herself a life based on cooking, eating, and creating flavorful, healthy meals.
Starting in her teens and continuing through her 20s, Huber battled pain and fatigue. It took many years and dozens of visits to doctors and specialists before anyone finally put a name to the pain and fatigue she'd been feeling: systematic lupus. Since there were no magic medicines that could fix that, Huber turned to food. Armed with cookbooks that taught her to make healthier choices, she opened herself up to the possibility of vegetables being edible. As she experimented with fresh, seasonal vegetables and herbs and spices, she very happily discovered that healthy food can taste even better than the processed foods she grew up on.
From there, her life took her to places all over the globe, where she discovered new ingredients and flavor profiles that just kept adding depth to her dishes. Years of writing for food magazines and developing recipes gave her courage and confidence to create a life filled with amazing flavor, a loving family, a strong faith, and good health. Nourished, Huber's memoir of food and travel, faith and family, is a beautifully written story of one woman's journey from illness to health, from skepticism to Christianity, and from eating out to cooking for herself and others as a way to promote health and connection.
Each chapter focuses on a story in Huber's life, ending with a delicious recipe that takes you back to the story through food. Most recipes are simple enough for beginners and can be recreated by a home cook. A few recipes for special occasion take more time and skill. From Zucchini Frittata to Impossible Cake, from Mama's Salt Cod Fritters to Crab Ravioli in Saffron Lemon-Butter Sauce, from Roasted Rack of Lamb with Sauteed Spring Peas to Fausto's Lasagna, Huber's recipes offer a wide variety of options for any palette.
This lovely memoir is an honest, moving story of finding connection and warmth through real food and real relationships. It's inspiring and comforting and incredibly hard to put down once you've started it. Like the food Huber cooks, Nourished is heart warming and fulfilling and will leave you wanting more.
Galleys for Nourished were provided by Crown Publishing (Convergent Books) through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.