** thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me the digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review **

actual rating: 3.8/5

this is the first time i've ever read about entomology in a fiction book. but it still doesn't make me wanting to eat them insects all of sudden (sorry!)

however, after i read this book, i learned it's important to learn about the culture no matter how bizarre it might sound like before we simply jump into insulting them.

also, my favourite part of this book is the good representations of queer people and how diverse every character is!! love me some gay characters in a really well-written asian rep story!!!

This is perhaps the sweetest graphic novel I have read in quite a while. You instantly fall in love with the characters and begin cheering for them right away. The characters each have their own unique traits and backgrounds and I felt there was a good amount of diverse representation. A feel good piece that makes you happy and takes a unique look at the culinary world. If anything is was too short.! I want to see so much more of this world! I hope there will be a continuation of the series!

Charming story intertwining food (the lesser eaten kind - bugs) and a romantic crush. I would recommend to fans of the book Bloom.

Not quite your typical graphic novel about food/eating...Meal is about entomophagy aka eating insects.

Yarrow moves to Minnesota from California to try to get a job at a new insect-focused restaurant that is on the verge of opening. As she is moving in, she meets a local mural artist Milani, and ends up cooking her a dinner of mealworm curry. Yarrow goes to the restaurant and asks for a job, but is challenged by the owner. Now Yarrow must perfect a recipe to earn her way on to the team.

I knew very little about entomophagy before reading this and I feel like I've learned a little bit more now. The story didn't read as smoothly as I'd hoped and felt a little choppy at times. I liked that the book featured a diverse cast of characters and there was a cute LGBT storyline mixed in as well.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t care for this in the least. In the beginning, the dialogue felt cheesy. I also felt like I was just thrown into a story that had already started. Towards the end, the story began to feel choppy, and it felt as if the story ended pretty much out of nowhere. The premise is interesting for sure, but in the end, it just wasn’t executed to my liking.

*A free copy was given through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
This was one of the rare occasions where I did not read the blurb before picking up the book and I was truly surprised. 

Meal follows the story of Yarrow, a Japanese-American, who moved to a new state in order to interview for her dream job as a chef for Casa Chicatana, a bug restaurant. Despite sharing the same enthusiasm and love for using entomology in cuisine, a miscommunication occurred between Yarrow and Chandra Flores, the executive chef that Yarrow admires. Instead of giving up, Yarrow is determined to show Chandra and fix their miscommunication.

Meal is a diverse graphic novel that includes characters of various races, sexuality and body-sizes. It challenges the reader to ponder about the future of cuisine in this era where global warming is an issue and consumption of meat and animal products. 

I loved how Meal went above and beyond. It wasn't just a graphic novel about entomology in cuisine, it explained entomology in cuisine as a part of life, history and culture, shared meal recipes (absolute bonus!) and felt raw and intimate as the author Soleil Ho wrote something that was close to her heart - food.

Although I grew up in Asia and have family members who had experiences with eating bugs, I guess it's not right up my alley. I don't see myself doing it in the near future but I definitely understand it as an alternative to protein. 

If you'd like to find out more about bugs in cuisines, general knowledge about entomology or maybe even try out some recipes, do check this graphic novel out!

Hmmm… A book I wanted to like more than I ended up doing, I think. It's great to see multi-ethnic people of size bursting out into middle-aged lesbian interest for each other, and it's certainly intriguing to have the other issue in the book the whole ethos of eating insects, but really the whole plot takes too many side-steps away from that for the hackneyed old "let's get this restaurant ready in time!" drama. Yarrow the cook with her own supply of bugs in her fridge chases the dream of working in an insect cuisine restaurant, and immediately becomes friends with a willing taster who helps her move in. But the ethnic Cambodian owner of the new eatery thinks she's just gloating over eating ants and larvae and whatnot because it's a new hipster fad. How can Yarrow equate her new love interest with what insect cuisine – entomophagy – can really come to mean? That's the issue with the book for me – that it tries to balance all those spinning plates and doesn't really make any of them shine. And the preachiness over grub grub, with Yarrow thinking aloud through her recipes just for our benefit, is really cheesy. Still, you could never say you'd read a book wholly like this before! Three and a half stars, slightly generously.

Yarrow is a young and passionate chef who wants to bring her love for insect-based food into people’s lives. Excited about a new insect-based restaurant’s opening, Yarrow is determined to land herself a job there. However, things take an unexpected turn when she irritates the owner, Chandra, rather than wowing her. Issued with a challenge that will make or break her chances at the restaurant, Yarrow takes a step back and remembers that she’s not trying to get Chandra to look past the bugs and give the food a try like she does with most people.

I saw this graphic novel and thought it sounded cute and interesting, so I knew I had to read it. Yarrow is a sweet woman who just wants to bring her passion for insects and their role in the culinary world to people who would normally turn their nose up at the idea. Along the way, we learn about how she began raising her own insects and cooking them as well as the cultural ties that insects in the culinary world has. I thought it was quite interesting, especially as someone who would normally turn my nose up to knowingly eating insects. I’m not sure that I would run out and try something right now, but it has opened my eyes to the idea that it might be something I’m willing to give a try at some point in the future.

I loved the characters that we meet and how we learn why they want to bring insect-based food to American culture as the story continues. It’s also fun because Yarrow makes a friend, Milani, at the beginning of the story and we watch her try Yarrow’s food and really get into eating food that she herself would normally have turned her nose up to. Plus, their friendship slowly turns into romance and we watch Milani blossom in her own world as an artist.

At the end of the story, the book continues and we learn more about insects and how people view various foods as good or gross depending on the culture. There’s also some recipes and tips on dipping your toes into raising and cooking insects yourself. There are also character sketches at the very end, which I loved looking at because I loved the style and I love seeing artist’s sketches.

A wonderful graphic novel that manages to combine a compelling narrative and illustrations to create a wonderful experience for the reader.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy!

I recommend checking out this unique graphic novel. I found the subject matter so interesting. it was something I have not read about before. The pacing was a bit slow but overall it was a good read.

This is my first time reading a graphic novel focusing on food and restaurant industry. I really enjoyed learning about the recipes. The characters were diverse and interesting. Thanks Letter Better Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this title.

This book was terrific. It’s rich with history and culture. I love the diverse characters who bring a different perspective to the table. These people are in it for the love of food and are bucking trends but remaining true to their traditions despite how off-beat it may seem. I learned a lot from reading this book especially about the care, prep, and how important food pairing can be. We see how these meal evoke memories of those of the past and present.

An interesting comic about a young woman who moves to a new town so that she can work at an insect restaurant. Entomophagy is the word for insect cuisine and the restaurant is set up with the aim of championing and promoting insect cuisine.

I thought this was interesting because it introduces us to insect cuisine but I also thought it was a bit boring. The artwork is fab but the story is basically pushing information about Entomophagy and this has a way of smothering the story. After a while I got a bit tired of reading about all the different insect recipes and meal worm recipes but for fans of entomophagy this might be a great comic.

Just not for me!

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review

A great read! I find the information about entomophagy very fascinating. I love how the main character's interest in entomophagy is connected to her family's background. I wish we could have explored that a bit further!

Have you ever eaten bugs? Not by accident, but on purpose? Bug eating, as this graphic novel points out, is practiced all over the world.

And while this is really a story about Yarrow who wants to cook with bugs, it is also about how to cook with bugs, and wht can be done with them, and how to prepare them.

And it is also a love story of Yarrow who is falling in love with her artist neighbor, Milani.

And it is a story bout how to open a restaurant.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Screen-Shot-2019-04-25-at-1.48.10-PM.png" alt="food or mean or something" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5115" />

And once you read this charming graphic novel, there are recipes in the back, where you can try to make some of the dishes yourself.

A lot of fun. Highly recommend it to people who are curious about eating insets. Plus it is a cool love story.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Interesting and enjoyable graphic novel about young chef Yarrow who has upended her life and moved across the country in hopes of working at a new restaurant with an insect-based menu. Her initial efforts to impress the head chef fall flat however, forcing Yarrow to refine her approach and reflect on her real reasons for embracing insects in the kitchen. A subplot focuses on a growing romance as well.

Meal is a charming comic focusing on entomophagy (cooking and eating insects). I've heard about it briefly in travel and cooking shows but this comic was very educational. I really liked how it focuses on the history of eating insects in countries all over the world as well how they are raised. The characters are all very diverse and interesting in their own way, many with personal histories and memories linked to eating insects. Admittedly the jokes fell a bit flat at times and the art took some getting used to.

I'm probably biased since I love food and comics about cooking (Delicious in Dungeon is one of my favorites) but I really loved Meal. It's very light on plot, focusing mostly on the cooking and the characters. There are a lot of side characters for such a short book and honestly I got confused and couldn't keep track of half of their names.

I requested this on Netgalley before even reading the description fully (oops) I got really excited about reading a comic about cooking with bug. Much to my surprise I found out the main character has a crush on her neighbor Milani (an artist who likes so-bad-they-are-good movies). The relationship between Milani and Yarrow was really cute.

I'd recommend this if you are interested in entomophagy, like graphic novels about food and aren't squeamish about bugs. The end of the comic has an essay by the author on entomophagy as well as some recipes (in case you want to cook some of the food mentioned in the comic)