Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

This author has a unique voice that is lyrical in her explores themes of gender identity, migration, and loss of innocence in both of her books, this one included. This book investigates a bleak context, a post-apocalyptic wasteland in the near future. Land of Milk and Honey presents, ironically, a planet ravaged by climate change and a dwindling food supply, forcing its people to concentrate on survival. A pleasure-seeking chef protagonist signs her autonomy away for the chance to work with long-forgotten delicacies, a decision that proves costly for the chef and everyone in her orbit. The chef takes on strange employment as the French chef for a wealthy research household in Italy. When catastrophe ultimately strikes and we are left with the legacy of the chef and her employers, how their decisions ultimately shape food and consumption around the world dealing with a not-so-far-off reality. The underlying focus on food as pleasure and culture, and not just sustenance. Food for thought.