This is not a comfortable book to read. And it is also difficult to categorise. Is it a memoir; a loving awareness of how important food is for a family dynamic; or an impassioned account of body insecurity? It is all that, and more, as van Zweden explores her relationship with her own large body and how society views it; as well as with her parents; and with that life-giving occupation, eating. Her father was a chef for 25 years, her mother is morbidly obese. Those facts are probably important on their own, but woven into the fabric of this book, they take a back seat to the loving description of food and the role it plays in her family.

By making peace with her body, she recognises that it is HER body, not that of her mother or her father. Neither is it the body she is encouraged to have by the media. She has learned to listen to it, despite the way she has punished it.

She quotes author Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food) who believes that many people have lost touch with the way they eat, letting scientists and food industries drive what is believed to be good, instead of letting our bodies tell us what they need. On the positive side, van Zweden found hope and assurance in a plus-size Melbourne market, finding clothes she liked that also fitted. She likes the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement which champions that a body’s size is determined genetically, and it will find that point naturally if only we stop interfering.

There is much to consider in this book. Sometimes sad, beautifully written, it is uplifting to follow one woman’s body struggles. It’s definitely food for thought.

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville