Iliana Regan

This is another memoir by a crazy alcoholic chef, this time Iliana Regan. I've worked in only two nice restaurants, the owners of both were alcoholics, the chefs were crazy. Regan thought, growing up, that her crazy family was normal. It seems half the time people with crazy families think they're normal and families with normal families think they're crazy. So Regan grew up confused about gender, she really, really wanted to be a boy, her parents had a very strained relationship, her sister show more was an alcoholic, but they all loved food. She knows about food literally from the ground up - where to find the best mushrooms, what they look like and how each one tastes. Her dad killed and butchered animals, her mother cooked great polish food, and Italian, and fish. And they all had great work ethics. So, it takes all kinds. Regan admits that she was mighty harsh early in her restauranteur career, but she has mellowed some. She's had a wild life, but she sure makes you want to taste her food. show less

Overall, this was a really interesting read that kept me going. Regan is a chef, and had owned a Michelin rated restaurant in Chicago. She opened a small bed and breakfast with her wife, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This book alternates between her experience in the Hiawatha forest, and stories about her childhood as the daughter (or maybe son?) of an Indiana steelworker. She deals with issues around gender identity, addiction, connection to the earth, and lots about mushrooms.

My quibbles show more with the book: going back and forth in time was confusing at points, and I felt there were things left out, or not fully explored. Some of that might be clearer if I had read her first memoir [Burn The Place]. But definitely, she leaves a lot unsaid, which has the advantage of leaving the reader to think, but I would have liked a bit more certainty.

Also, she has this writing quirk of writing lists of things. It's OK once in a while, but is pretty much every page or two and got old for me. Example:

"There were lots of squirrels, chipmunks, field mice, porcupine, fox, coyotes, deer and other small creatures that made a surprising amount of noice, considering how small they were, walking around at night. It was probably just that." show less

A very personal and unique memoir about a little girl who wants to be a boy and is obsessed with food. Raised in rural Indiana and taught to live off the land, preserving foraged food and gardening, Iliana would one day grow up to start her own Michelin starred restaurant. Along the way she would battle with her own sexual identity, the expectations of family and strangers, and addiction.

This is her story, told in her own words, of what she suffered, overcame, and learned that made her into show more the person she eventually became. It's her personal journey to happiness and fulfillment, told vulnerably and honestly.

I'm not personally aware of the celebrity chef world, but I love food and I enjoy cooking memoirs. This is a unique one and I enjoyed following Iliana's journey. Her passion and creativity shine through every page. show less

Iliana Regan is the owner of the Michelin Star restaurant “Elizabeth”, named for her sister who died in a jail holding cell. She was exposed to food a lot as a child- they lived on a farm and grew, foraged, baked, and preserved most of their food, but until the point her mother rebelled at having to do all that and they moved to a city. Oh, and they also helped out in Regan’s grandmother’s restaurant, too. Little wonder her mother got exhausted! But Regan loved working with food. show more When she grew up, she worked for other restaurant and worked in every station, learning the ropes inside and out. For a while, she ran a small restaurant out of her home, foraging the daily ingredients right in the city.

But the book isn’t all about her incredible food talent. As a child she struggled with gender identity. She also had a problem with alcoholism and addiction. She could not sustain a relationship. She was working in a male dominated profession. Being a lesbian didn’t make her any more acceptable. She battled all these things and came out a winner. She’s been married to Anna for several years now, and running a restaurant and a Japanese inspired pub.

The book was a little hard to read. While divided into four parts, the story is all over the place, in the present at one point and then skewing into the past. The writing is raw and blunt- descriptions of slaughtering animals, rampant drug taking, and alcohol binges. But it has something that held me. I do wish I’d learned some about her process of recipe creation; one of the most compelling things is that even as a small child she had a connection with food- when it was ripe, how to combine it, how to serve it up. She has an almost mystical connection with the earth and its edibles. Four stars. show less