This post (and I post I wrote way back when, about my mom and her dad's goulash) came to mind when I read about a Simon and Schuster novel coming out soon:
Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle
Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. He thinks his life’s purpose might be to offer closure to grieving strangers, and sets out to learn all he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him. Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, Aftertaste is a whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching look at love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger—and how far we’d go to find satisfaction.
He lost his dear father and discovered his superpower after tasting a meal his father had as a boy in Kyiv Ukraine. It takes you down the path of several departed people and their unfinished business. Read if you like
-stories about Ukrainian immigrants
-culinary business, running a restaurant and chef language, like The Bear
-Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Do you listen to audiobooks?
https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Aftertaste/dp/B0DJRQ93M3?_encoding=UTF8&sr=
No I'd rather read it in hardcopy! It sounds great! I'm thinking about starting a book group. This might be a good first book for us.
I just finished reading the ebook (ARC, Advance Reader Copy), and I gotta warn, the ending is unexpected ... I was not ok with it.... and for me there was way too much detail about gourmet cooking. Expensive chefs. Exotic dishes. I'm all about my mom's garden tomatoes and her 3-ingredient tomato soup (condensed milk, butter, her garden tomatoes).
I'd like to see YOUR book of favorite recipes - things YOU cook well, and everyone loves ...