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Toast
Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger | Nigel Slater
10 posts | 16 read | 5 to read
Toast is Nigel Slaters truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. In each chapter, as he takes readers on a tour of the contents of his familys pantryrice pudding, tinned ham, cream soda, mince pies, lemon drops, bourbon biscuitswe are transported.... His mother was a chops-and-peas sort of cook, exasperated by the highs and lows of a temperamental stove, a finicky little son, and the asthma that was to prove fatal. His father was a honey-and-crumpets man with an unpredictable temper. When Nigels widowed father takes on a housekeeper with social aspirations and a talent in the kitchen, the following years become a heartbreaking cooking contest for his fathers affections. But as he slowly loses the battle, Nigel finds a new outlet for his culinary talents, and we witness the birth of what was to become a lifelong passion for food. Nigels likes and dislikes, aversions and sweet-toothed weaknesses, form a fascinating backdrop to this exceptionally moving memoir of childhood, adolescence, and sexual awakening. A bestseller (more than 300,000 copies sold) and award-winner in the UK, Toast is sure to delight both foodies and memoir readers on this side of the pondespecially those who made such enormous successes of Ruth Reichls Tender at the Bone and Anthony Bourdains Kitchen Confidential.
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quote
mspixieears

The Masons, the greenhouse and now tennis. Why marry (Joan) in the first place if (Dad) wanted to do so many things that excluded her?
(p207)

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mspixieears

Dad kneels by his bed and says his prayers as he always does. It amazes me that a man who can be so strict, fierce and cold actually thinks he has a right to speak to God.
(p161)

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mspixieears
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Such a warm-hearted yet heartbreaking book, maybe not the best choice for bedtime reading; if anyone ever reviewed food writing of mine and called me the Proust of the Nesquik era, I would be chuffed! It‘s quoted as a review snippet for this memoir.

2 likes1 stack add
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mspixieears

“Fish came from the fish shop rather than in breadcrumbed sticks (I didn‘t taste a fish finger till I was nineteen)” (55).

It‘s starting to dawn on me how sad it is that so few of us will think of why mass-produced food exists in the forms it does; in 1960s England, you would‘ve had to be well-off to afford healthy, fresh produce.

Have things changed for the better? It takes time and skill to cook. We talk ourselves out of devoting this time.

mspixieears when I say “we”, I mean folks with the time, financial means, and with the needed coordination. A self-reminder to flip through my cookbooks and learn or try one recipe I find hard, if I‘ve got the groceries! 11mo
4 likes1 comment
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mspixieears
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Started new book for bedtime reading. So far it‘s funny, warm-hearted, tender, far too relatable in terms of childhood fears, how what we taste and smell evokes either our base comforts or worries, how much this shapes us as adults.

Loving the references to some of my fave British sweets of old too.

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Sapphire
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It‘s impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you

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Mitch
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Front row seats this afternoon for Toast - the stage play. It was super fun - at one point a character on stage invites all 600 members of the audience to open the Walnut Whips we‘d been handed during the interval and there‘s a good few minutes pause whilst we all eat! Fabulous!

Soubhiville That‘s a fun set! 5y
Mitch @Soubhiville they cooked live on stage too... I can‘t imagine, acting, remembering my lines as well as amazing mushrooms on toast and a lemon meringue pie! 5y
80 likes2 comments
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BookladyOnTheMove
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Pickpick

From one of my all time favorite food writers. This book is a raw, honest story of his childhood told through stories of the food that was a part of his home. I read it in one sitting.

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KarenUK
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#marchintoreading #day24 My #autobuyauthors (clockwise from top left) Nigel Slater, David Nicholls, Sarah Winman, Donna Tartt, Jamie Oliver, Audrey Niffenegger, Kazuo Ishiguro and my beloved Alan Cumming... will read anything that any of them write.... 😍📚

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BobbiDrake
Pickpick

Waaay more intimate than I expected. Refreshingly real, if highly stylized à la Slater.