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Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger
Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger: A Memoir | Lisa Donovan
18 posts | 11 read | 15 to read
Renowned Southern pastry chef Lisa Donovan's memoir of cooking, misogyny, and the incredible power in reclaiming the stories of women Noted chef and James Beard Award-winning essayist Lisa Donovan helped establish some of the South's most important kitchens, and her pastry work is at the forefront of a resurgence in traditional desserts. Yet Donovan struggled to make a living in an industry where male chefs built successful careers on the stories, recipes, and the culinary heritage passed down from generations of female cooks and cooks of color. At one of her career peaks, she made the perfect dessert at a celebration for food-world goddess Diana Kennedy. When Kennedy asked why she had not heard of her, Donovan said she did not know. "I do," Kennedy said, "Stop letting men tell your story." OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HUNGER is Donovan's searing, beautiful, and searching chronicle of reclaiming her own story and the narrative of the women who came before her. Her family's matriarchs found strength and passion through food, and they inspired Donovan's accomplished career. Donovan's love language is hospitality, and she wants to welcome everyone to the table of good food and fairness. Because Donovan herself had been told at every juncture that she wasn't enough: she came from a struggling Southern family that felt ashamed of its own mixed race heritage and whose elders diminished their women. She survived abuse and assault as a young mother. But Donovan's salvation was food, self-reliance, and the network of women in food who stood by her. In the school of the late John Egerton, OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HUNGER is an unforgettable Southern journey of class, gender, and race as told at table.
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ElizaMarie
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Sorry so late! I mailed this out yesterday (so much going on this month -already)

Tracking # 9500 1153 9291 4197 5045 79

#LMPBC
#GroupO
@BookWormJillK
@BookAndBedAndTea
@TheBookHippie

TheBookHippie No worries mine is going out today as well 😬🤣😅🫣🫠😵‍💫 5mo
bookandbedandtea I've barely touched mine. 😬 I've been having such a hard time reading this month but I'll definitely focus on it this weekend. 5mo
ElizaMarie @bookandbedandtea I had a rough couple of days at work, then my inlaws came in, and my husband “cleaned“ the kitchen island, so it was misplaced for a bit! 5mo
16 likes3 comments
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ElizaMarie
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Bookwormjillk Agree! 6mo
TheBookHippie ♥️ it was so good! ♥️♥️♥️👩🏻‍🍳 6mo
19 likes2 comments
review
ElizaMarie
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Pickpick

I was unsure what I expected, but this book was so beautiful! Thank you for sharing. Today is my last infusion for hopefully a good while!

#LMPBC
#GroupO
@BookWormJillK
@BookAndBedAndTea
@TheBookHippie

TheBookHippie ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ 6mo
Bookwormjillk Hooray for last infusions! I loved this book too. I will be mailing the two I have on tomorrow. 6mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks ❤️❤️❤️ 6mo
bookandbedandtea Yay for hopefully last infusion 💗 6mo
17 likes1 stack add5 comments
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ElizaMarie
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I got to read a good chunk of this during my infusion today (I love how they bling out the name bands). I am not a cook/baker, but I am enjoying reading her story so far :)

#LMPBC
#GroupO
@BookWormJillK
@BookAndBedAndTea
@TheBookHippie

bookandbedandtea I hope you're feeling OK. 6mo
KadaGul Sending you Good 😌 Vibes. 6mo
Bookwormjillk Sorry about the infusion, but glad you have a good book. 6mo
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dabbe Hope you're feeling okay. 💙💚💙 6mo
Crazeedi I've thought of you often, wondered how you are doing. Sending my ❤️ 6mo
ElizaMarie @crazeedi - Hi! I am around! Just been so so overwhelmed with life lately. I keep thinking of yall too! 6mo
Crazeedi @ElizaMarie take care my friend!❤️ 6mo
19 likes7 comments
review
bookandbedandtea
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Pickpick

Finished! @ElizaMarie I'll plan to mail this to you after work Tuesday.
#LMPBC #GroupO #BookWormJillK #TheBookHippie

ElizaMarie I got it! Can't wait to start it :) 6mo
bookandbedandtea @ElizaMarie That took a long time! I'm glad it's there now. 😊 6mo
ElizaMarie @bookandbedandtea Yes! I mean. I feel like (even though this is the last #LMPBC) I have been unlucky with mailed bookclub readings. I don't seem to get them on time - had several that actually got lost in the mail for more than a month - other book club. I am excited to start it. I will be starting it today (or tomorrow). 6mo
bookandbedandtea @ElizaMarie I certainly didn't help by sending you the completely wrong book in the 1st round. 😳 That must be really frustrating for you though! It's very unfortunate that so many of the mailed book club books take a long time getting to you- or go astray entirely. 6mo
38 likes4 comments
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bookandbedandtea
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Ahhh Saturday, you're my favorite. 🩷🤫
#LMPBC

ElizaMarie This looks like a beautiful Saturday ❤️❤️ 7mo
Cathythoughts Great title ❤️ 7mo
fredthemoose Oooh—I really liked that one! Hope you are enjoying it! 7mo
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bookandbedandtea @ElizaMarie I'm enjoying the heck out of my Saturday! Even more so knowing Monday is a holiday... my last paid holiday, New Years Day, was a looong time ago! 7mo
bookandbedandtea @Cathythoughts Isn't it, though? The title definitely made me curious about the book 7mo
bookandbedandtea @fredthemoose The writing is beautifully descriptive! 7mo
35 likes6 comments
blurb
bookandbedandtea
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It arrived @Bookwormjillk! Workday is done so my reading companion and I are enjoying a little back porch time. 😊☔️
@TheBookHippie @ElizaMarie

Bookwormjillk Whew! I‘m so glad they decided to deliver it this time!! 7mo
bookandbedandtea @Bookwormjillk I was very happy to see it. And your handwriting was beautiful! 7mo
ElizaMarie Love your companion :) 7mo
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bookandbedandtea @ElizaMarie She's a sweetheart and she loves to lounge in that chair where she has a good view of the squirrels on the fence highway. 😃 7mo
dabbe What a face! 🖤🐾🖤 7mo
bookandbedandtea @dabbe She's a cutie girl! 💓 🐶 7mo
33 likes6 comments
review
Bookwormjillk
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Pickpick

I ended up listening to the audiobook version of this, and I‘m glad I did. The author reads it herself and you can hear the emotions in her voice in certain parts. I liked what she had to say about being a working mother. I‘ll transfer my notes to the book and get it in the mails this week @TheBookHippie @ElizaMarie @bookandbedandtea #LMPBC

TheBookHippie ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ 8mo
bookandbedandtea 😊💜 8mo
52 likes2 comments
review
booklover3258
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Pickpick

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/qHb-M-wC3dQ

Enjoy!

review
ReadingEnvy
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Pickpick

Lisa Donovan is my kind of chef, "uncomplicated and thoughtfully prepared - nothing flashy, just good, just delicious, and ultimately, just comforting." She writes about her life starting with an unexpected pregnancy and an abusive partner, struggling to make ends meet, how she found her pastry feet in Nashville, and how she pulled elements of her family background into her craft.

ReadingEnvy For those that love chef gossip there is some about Sean Brock and the Husk years as that's what she is most known for, but she has had significant experiences before and after. (You can watch her make her most known dish on The Mind of a Chef.)

I actually think what will be most interesting is what she does next. There is a sense in the book that she is only now really stepping into claiming her power.
4y
kyraleseberg I loved this book so, so much! She's such a gifted writer! 4y
ReadingEnvy @kyraleseberg yes! I marked up a bunch. 4y
54 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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ghandigl

The thing is, women are revered straight into abjection, useful only as a totem of inspiration. When we go to make that work our own, we are unable to survive in the industry the men built, the one they sell our wares within.

1 like1 stack add
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ghandigl

No one ever tells you how lonely being a woman who is dedicated to her career, either by choice or necessity, will be....Worse yet are the women who find your career to be a commentary on their failures or ambitions, or see you as some kind of competition, and that equation has never made sense to me.

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ghandigl

And, anyway, I‘ve learned from previous experiences that if someone values you only when you‘re about to walk out the door, you should definitely keep walking.

HettyG Wow. 8mo
2 likes1 stack add1 comment
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ghandigl

Poverty and inequality breed an unsettled nature in a person. And they breed something very dangerous and insidious in the powerful men who write the contracts with biases that they will never admit they have as they continue to decide how this world gets to go.

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ghandigl
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ghandigl
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ghandigl

I had watched people who loved the work as much as I did get turned inside out on a daily basis, only to be used up and barely wrung our before they were used up again, with no consideration for their young hearts. I was supposed to be fine with how their eagerness to learn and their willingness to work hard were exploited.

review
britt_brooke
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Found out about this fantastic memoir from The Bookshop in East Nashville on IG. Donovan is a local author and, gosh, her story is triumphant, but she went through some shit to get where she is. Part foodie/chef memoir, part life story, this is one of the best memoirs I‘ve read in a long time. It feels amazing to support local authors! Talent is abundant here in Music City.

Prairiegirl_reading Oooo I love a good foodie memoir! Sounds great! 4y
britt_brooke @Prairiegirl_reading It‘s a great read. 4y
mom2bugnbee Stacked! Obviously! 😁 #nashvillestrong 4y
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britt_brooke @mom2bugnbee Btw, you doing ok, momma? I know you have a lot going on right now. Hope everyone is happy, healthy, and safe. 💚 4y
HeatherBookNerd Yay for local authors! 4y
mom2bugnbee @britt_brooke Thx for asking! I had a good, long cry today that was much overdue. ☺ Very cathartic. 4y
100 likes3 stack adds8 comments