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A review by 3rdpandora
Good Food for Bad Days: What to Make When You're Feeling Blue by Jack Monroe
As a long time fan of Jack Monroe's (I already own 4 of their previous books) and as someone with a history of mental illness, I was thrilled to find a new book filled with 'depressipes'. I quickly ordered it and evangelised to those around me how excited I was to read it. However, I found myself disappointed.
Many of the recipes have long lists of ingredients and steps that would seem overwhelming whilst in the grips of depression, while the chapter around making food in advance seemed to require a great deal of forethought (something I tend to lack whilst under the dark cloud). I was hoping for recipes that could be made for the days where boiling a kettle seems a huge effort, but the chapter on quick meals felt especially sparse.
I did appreciate the chapter on slow cooking to heal the mind, and found the introduction to that chapter inspiring. There can be a great deal of comfort and solace felt in chopping vegetables and letting a pan bubble, but generally I find that in my worst days these recipes can just be too overwhelming.
Perhaps the issue is my own high expectations, and a genuine hope for low effort food to make in 5 minutes on my worst days. But I do question the judgement of including a recipe for grapefruit cake in a book targeted at people with mental illnesses, knowing that grapefruit is the only food many people taking antidepressants should not eat. Many of the recipes do sound delicious, and I'll be sure to make them, but I don't think this book was the home for them. I hoped for more from Jack Monroe, and couldn't help but feel let down.
Many of the recipes have long lists of ingredients and steps that would seem overwhelming whilst in the grips of depression, while the chapter around making food in advance seemed to require a great deal of forethought (something I tend to lack whilst under the dark cloud). I was hoping for recipes that could be made for the days where boiling a kettle seems a huge effort, but the chapter on quick meals felt especially sparse.
I did appreciate the chapter on slow cooking to heal the mind, and found the introduction to that chapter inspiring. There can be a great deal of comfort and solace felt in chopping vegetables and letting a pan bubble, but generally I find that in my worst days these recipes can just be too overwhelming.
Perhaps the issue is my own high expectations, and a genuine hope for low effort food to make in 5 minutes on my worst days. But I do question the judgement of including a recipe for grapefruit cake in a book targeted at people with mental illnesses, knowing that grapefruit is the only food many people taking antidepressants should not eat. Many of the recipes do sound delicious, and I'll be sure to make them, but I don't think this book was the home for them. I hoped for more from Jack Monroe, and couldn't help but feel let down.