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 restaurant 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 restaurant 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. (I looked it up, $250 per person not including tax, tips, or dinks. Honestly, better than I thought. I spent about that for my half of my honeymoon dinner).

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.

“Walls had never defined me, like I had once thought. It was what I brought, from my heart, hands, and soul, to the space within that defined me.”

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

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 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

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You can get a peek into what her restaurant looks like and what we’re all missing out on in this little feature by CBS News. I’d love to be able to go to this type of place at least once in my life! They are accepting reservation postcards for the lottery.

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!