Finding Freedom – Memoir Review

Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking Life From Scratch

Author Erin French

Finding Freedom is a memoir by Erin French, owner of the Lost Kitchen restaraunt in rural Maine. She describes herself not as a chef, but as a cook with a passion and her passion shows through these pages. She runs the kind of restaraunt that most of us will never visit. It has become such a popular destination that you can only get a table by lottery. I can’t even imagine what she charges per plate.

Passionate memoirs are a favorite genre of mine.

French describes her life in raw detail, never shying away from the many tough stories that brought her to where she is today. She curses and the language of the memoir is real, relatable, and lovingly descriptive. Her true feelings come through in how she curses about her father and her ex husband but becomes lost in a sense of whimsy when describing food.

It’s easy to see how food saved her. She has such a love of cooking, creating, and eating that it is truly inspiring. Any kind of foodie will likely be able to relate.

She had a challenging life and truly no one could say that anything was ever handed to her. She has an incredible work ethic and seems to do everything with the most elbow grease possible. But she also admits to having weaker times. She admits to attempting suicide and having suicidal thoughts on more than one occasion but she mustered up the strength to continue to another day.

Through all of her hardships she kept going toward what many would call a pipe dream. To own a small restaraunt with a completely locally sourced menu, serving only a handful of people in quiet intimacy, on a seasonal rotation, utilizing a staff of almost all local women without prior experience, and still make enough money to raise her son. But here she is, living her ultra specific dream!

Reading French’s story is inspirational but not in the traditionally sappy ways. She has no tricks, no magic luck, just hard work and dedication. You could call her the American dream. Finding Freedom is a wonderful memoir for anyone who needs to see that sometimes you can just make it happen by never stopping trying.

5/5 edible flowers 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Now, I will take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my own little dream. I’ve been developing recipes and hope to publish my own cookbook soon. I have a new blog set up to start me out, please come visit me at flavorfuleliminationdiet.com I’m so grateful to have you follow me over to my second passion!

in order to keep me up to my ears in books please consider using the following amazon affiliate link to purchase this product. it’s at no extra cost to you and would really help me out, thank you and happy reading!

Buy it here: Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch