‘What a beautiful, rich, poetic memoir this is. Phyllis writes of longing, suffering, family, and food with such delicate power. Like the best chefs, she knows how to make a masterpiece from a few simple ingredients: truth, poignancy, and love. A wonderful book.’ Elizabeth Gilbert, author of 10 million copy bestseller Eat, Pray, Love
Bake. I bake for others. Belgian waffles, French toast, crêpes, chocolate chip cookies. When I cook, I am calm, I am confident. There is comfort in the logic.
Chef and award-winning writer Phyllis Grant’s life has been defined by food.
First, as a dancer struggling to find her place at Julliard, when banana muffins with inch-thick streusel are the fuel for another day of training. Then, a lowly junior chef in high-pressure NYC four-star kitchens, as she masters the tarte Tatin and ice cream custard.
Falling in love with her future husband and the garlicky tomato sauce he makes in his bare apartment.
The quesadillas she can’t stop eating in LA before she realises she’s pregnant.
These are the recipes that have accompanied Phyllis throughout the smooth and jagged stages of her life as she navigates the highs and lows of young adulthood, being a mother, and a career in the kitchen.
Written with the transparency of a diarist and including tried-and-true recipes from her chef’s table, Everything Is Under Control is a raw and riveting story about food, family, love and loss.
Review
‘What a beautiful, rich, and poetic memoir this is. Phyllis Grant writes of longing, suffering, celebration, family, and food with such delicate power. Like the best chefs, she knows how to make a masterpiece from a few simple ingredients: truth, taste, poignancy, and love. This is a wonderful book.’ Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
‘Grant whips up moments of intense emotion and life with the briefest of words and images. Throughout it all, food is the life source, comfort, energiser and inspiration bursting from the pages a la Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.’ Stylist
'Almost more poetry than prose . . . At times breathtakingly painful and suffused with sadness, it's always fueled by food.'
Independent
‘In epigrammatic, nearly poetic diction, Grant, a ballet dancer turned pastry chef turned damn fine writer, reminds us of how transformative the junctures where food and life collide can be … [She has a] keen attention to the sublime detail and a voice as eviscerating as it is lyrical.’
The New York Times
‘Phyllis Grant writes sentences that send jolts through your body. This book is poetry. This book is truth. In structure and tone it's like nothing I have ever encountered. Every woman should read it and every man should read it, too, because it's about the reality of how we live our lives. I devoured it in a few hours and when I was done, I was crying on the train home.’ Jeff Gordinier, author of Hungry
‘Phyllis Grant has the voice of a poet and the sensuality of a cook. This very brave book makes you want to experience the world with equal intensity. As for the recipes…. completely irresistible.’ Ruth Reichl, author of Garlic and Sapphires and Comfort Me with Apples
About the Author
Phyllis Grant is an IACP finalist for Personal Essays/Memoir Writing and a 3-time Saveur Food Blog Awards finalist for her blog, Dash and Bella. She has cooked in world-renowned restaurants, including Nobu, Michael’s, and Bouley. Her writing has been featured both in print and online for various outlets, including Oprah, The New York Times, Saveur, The Huffington Post, Time Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, Tasting Table and Salon. She lives in Berkeley, California with her husband and two children.
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