Amazing book even as a man I thoroughly enjoyed the book. We need to be reminded that we are on a journey for God and not just ourselves. We are made to please him. Also we need to have family meals together and chores are a way we can serve others to please God.

Tasting Grace by Melissa d'Arabian is a special book. I started reading an early review copy of this book in early June and immediately knew it was something special. I've been waiting for the chance to share it, since I realized that June was a bit early! This is a book with concepts about food that the world has lost, concepts the world desperately needs. Food is not the enemy. Food is meant to be shared and savored. There is so much here in this book. It is full of pearls of wisdom to ponder again and again. Pick up this book and savor it. You won't be disappointed! I highly recommend it. I received a digital copy of this book with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

A good memoir, the author's testimony if you will in sixteen easy chapters. We get to see how the Lord used food and the people associated with it to speak into her life. I watched her season of The Next Food Network Star so I was excited to read this book even though I wasn't sure what exactly it would be about. I wasn't disappointed because I had no expectations.
Each chapter ends with an RSVP which are suggestions for the reader to do. Some I changed for my own personal preference. Food can be a great ministry as well as being important for self-care and healing, this is explored in this book.
I did sometimes that the bible verses were pulled simply because they sort of fit and "should be there", a few of them felt out of place to me.

This book is a memoir, told through stories related to food and Melissa's experiences with food throughout her life. Each chapter is an "invitation" to a difference characteristic (i.e. compassion, grace, humility) and shares a story along with Bible quotes and Melissa's interpretation of the scripture and how it relates to food/eating/family. The book was interesting, but I think I expected something different. This was just about Melissa's life and how she relates to food. Some of the stories seemed to end a bit abruptly, before a totally clear connection was made. A lot of the chapters focused on how flawed American's relationship with food is, from the differences between us and her husband's country of France, to the abundance of processed foods, to the average American's lack of understanding of farming, and how we eat quickly and strive to be thin.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The description of the book says it is "Filled with heart-rending, hilarious, and eye-opening stories and anecdotes" but I have no idea what stories it's referring to. While I was interested in the childhood and young adult stories that d'Arabian shared throughout the book, the book itself doesn't live up to its own description. More memoir than anything else, it often draws from or points back to the titles and success of the author in a strange humble-bragging way.

I loved this book of memoirs and essays by cook and hostess of Ten Dollar Dinners. I love the way her Christian Faith has guided her through her life and Loved the honest way she dealt withe the difficulties of her life, her own failings, and what's it's like to be a regular person in the world of celebrity chefs and foodies.

Unlike so many books from the Christian point of view I never felt beaten over the head with religion, nor did I feel pressured by discussion questions to study the book in a group. Instead at the end of each chapter d'Arabian gives us several easy and practical ideas to bring God and an awareness of His gifts into our lives.

It's a wonderful book.

An interesting take on a 3-times-a-day ritual and how it relates spiritually to the physical act of eating.

I almost did not take the opportunity to do an early review of this book. I knew about the author from her Food Network shows, but I just wasn’t sure that I’d connect with this book at all. I’m so glad that I read this one. I found Melissa d’Arabian to be an author that truly does know how to connect to her readers and she drew me into this book from the very first chapter.

The account of her growing-up years was surprising to me. Realizing that she did not have enough food in her home to have a lunch to take to school or being able to buy lunch at the school cafeteria was truly heart-touching. I appreciated her openness in sharing about those years with us. Her gratitude to those who helped her along the way was obvious, and I loved that she honored them in her book. The section about her mother’s suicide was heartbreaking. She was also very open about how this affected her in a negative way for many years. Her road to recovery was a journey of faith and forms much of the basis of this book.

Her devotional thoughts are good. I might not identify with the faith/food connections as much as some other readers, but she did encourage me all through the different sections in this book. I ended up truly enjoying this one.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I was let down by this book. I thought it would be interesting to delve into the emotional side of cooking and eating, like the book described itself "how food invites us into deeper connection with god, one another, and ourselves." Unfortunately it was none of those things. It was mostly anecdotal, almost a memoir, with mention of her stint as winner of 'The Next Food Network Star' at every and any possible opportunity. Slapping a box of bulleted directional "exercises" after lengthy stories of your life seems a bit misleading for a book that blends itself into the self-help category. Not only that, it was a stretch to connect the "exercises" with the stories told. I also thought/was hoping "god" would be more of an all inclusive term, whoever god is to you/ undefined spiritual entity but I was disappointed to find it very specific to Jesus. Not that I can't apply it to my discretion, it just would've been nice if the author was conscious of a wider audience.

I was attracted to this book because, as a nutritionist and blogger, I think about food a lot. And as a Christian, I was interested to read what d'Arabian's take would be on food and scripture. In this memoir d'Arabian takes us from her childhood where she grew up poor and hungry to her current life as a cookbook author and food blogger.
I enjoyed both learning about d'Arabian's life and faith story and her writing style. I recommend this book to any Christian who wants to go deeper in understanding about God and one of His creations: food. As a wholistic nutritionist I agree with this quote from the book " God has a lot to say through food, and it's not all in line with what society is saying about food."

I thought I was the ideal audience for this book: I've followed d'Arabian since her Next Food Network Star days, and admire her suicide prevention work. I saw that this book was based in faith but I thought there was also food, and food+culture is always fascinating.
If you're a Christian woman who leads your church's youth group, this might be the book for you. It wasn't for me.

Fascinating dive into food and Scripture, as the author steps beyond her Food Network roots and shares her deeply-felt religious beliefs. A food celeb's focus on food in the Bible is an engaging angle, and there is much to like and to absorb from this aspect of the book. It's a unique POV, and d'Arabian adds to this a fine discussion of a sense of fulfillment and nourishment. This is one that can be discussed in a faith-based book club.