I received a advanced copy of this book that discusses poverty and addiction and how her providing food was how she got to know people and their stories her essays tell the story of a troubled city and her compassion for homeless and addicts and those with mental illness she tried to look for the good in people the book did jump around at times im glad she provided an update on people at the end instead of letting the reader wander how things turned out

THE METH LUNCHES looks at how food intersects with community and provides comfort even when people are addicted to drugs, incarcerated, unhoused, in the foster care system, and/or dealing with trauma, health problems, or mental illness.

Foster shares stories of people in her Las Vegas community who she fed via the food pantry she set up in her front yard during the early days of the pandemic, by cooking delicious meals, or with food from places like McDonalds. Whether it’s her drug-addicted handyman, the mothers of her foster children, the traumatized cashier at the local grocery store, or the unhomed people who seek her help, Foster emphasizes with their situations and how the system keeps people in poverty and how drugs become an escape. She explores how food becomes a comfort whether what’s being consumed is a happy meal, something cobbled together from prison food, or a dish she’s lovingly concocted in her kitchen.

This kind of book could be a big downer, but Foster infuses the stories with hope and descriptions of the magnificent meals she makes. She inspires the readers to have compassion for the people she writes about as she welcomes them to her table and into her heart.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

I was interested in this book after reading Benjamin Lorr's "The Secret Life of Groceries." I was hooked on the style of investigative journalism focused on food and supply chains. When scrolling through NetGalley, "The Meth Lunches" caught my eye.

The first chapter was great -- it's an essay the author had previously submitted and as she explains, it gave her her start as an essayist. I hadn't read it before, so it caught my attention, making me glad to have picked up this read.

Overall, Foster does an amazing job giving context and color to the lives of those struggling with poverty, addiction, and being unhoused. She gives us insight into the lives of her community members-turned-friends. I admire her passion and compassion for people. I think we all want to be a bit of Kim Foster. Or to at least eat something delicious from her kitchen.

But there were some parts of the book I struggled with. Chapters 2-4 were a struggle-- I was tempted to put the book down for good in places because the pacing lagged and pulled focus from the book's initial premise.

But I'm glad I stuck with it. The pacing returned by Chapter 5 onward, with the most compelling plot line of the book: the free food pantry Foster, her family, and community operated out of her front yard during COVID.

Overall three stars for me, and a huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for early access to this title. The author explores the personal side of poverty in Las Vegas, with food as a lens for a series of vignettes. Very well written, puts a human touch on challenges in a city we often only think of in terms of "excesses".

A beautifully written and important, albeit depressing, series of essays about those who live along the poverty line in Las Vegas. Foster didn't expect what she found when she moved to the city but she set out to help individuals. And then she began to rail a bit against the system- or more accurately, systems. All of this is centered around food and how we as a society feed ourselves and others, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Foster writes with an urgency that will have you turning the pages even as you might want to turn away.

I’ve been an ER nurse for 16 years. I’ve witnessed first hand how meth has changed over the years and how it has negatively affected people’s lives. The people in Portland, Oregon where I live, are suffering the same way the people in Las Vegas are. It’s an epidemic! It’s very, very sad.

This is a very thought provoking read. The author’s use of food as a way to discuss social issues was interesting. It was somewhat repetitive in parts, but still kept me engaged. I did think it was a bit strange how the author talks about many, many different fancy meals and things she likes to cook. It seemed odd in a book about people living in poverty. I also think the title was picked for shock value, but is a bit misleading. The author tells stories, but does not offer much in the way of how to truly help those suffering.

Overall, this book will have you feeling all sorts of emotions. It’s dark and sad and deeply personal. It will definitely help me look at my patients differently.

I just finished The Meth Lunches by Kim Foster and it's s story that needs to be heard and read!
It's a compelling and thought-provoking story.
And Foster's writing is phenomenal here and she touches on subjects that needs to be heard.
I thought it was an incredible and poignant non-fiction book.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and St. Martin's Press
for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I'm going to be real honest. I wanted to DNF this book so many times. The first two chapters were slow going for me, and I thought to myself, "This is not at all what I thought it was," yet I kept going, something kept urging me to read on. Somewhere in the middle of chapter two or chapter three, and I started getting into it more, then I wanted to DNF because the rawness and truly devastating and gut-wrenching stories will just shatter your heart. I got to the chapter where Kim and her family became foster parents, and being a former foster/adoptive parent myself, I could relate to so many of those stories. I pushed through, and I don't regret it.

The Meth Lunches will make you feel some type of way and will certainly have you all up in your feels. Just know that going in.

My husband and I have lost four family members in the last year to overdose between our two families. It's been a rough year, and we still have family members fighting the daily battle. Our family knows all too well the impact drugs, especially meth, fentanyl, & heroin can have on addicts and their families. This was one of the reasons I was unsure if I would be able to finish this book. Love can not and will not save addicts. It's been a hard lesson to learn and even harder to accept.

This book is about so much more than that, though. You get an inside look at poverty, homelessness, people needing food, etc. You see how quickly someone's life can lead them down this really dark path for a multitude of reasons. It's excruciatingly painful to read about, and I can't imagine having the front row seat to this daily. I'm so thankful that Kim and her family have hearts for their community, even in the midst of her own families' battles, because without them, these families in this book would have had no one.

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is the author’s story of living in Las Vegas, in a neighborhood with hunger and drugs. I thought this was going to be a lot more analytical/or at least somewhat analytical. But it was pretty much just a memoir. I think that should be in the subtitle to make it clear this is just Foster’s story.

Within the first half of the first chapter, I was convinced I was going to dislike this book. I had an inward groan as I thought it was going to be centered around performative altruism and inauthentic. I am ever so glad that it came around, slapped me in the face, and ended up being one of the more heartfelt and incredible books that I've read in a while.

Love is the act of feeding someone.
from The Meth Lunches by Kim Foster

“Poverty is a policy choice. We have poverty because we choose to have it.” Kim Foster bluntly attacks the status quo of how society deals with critical issues–homelessness, hunger, addiction, and mental illness.

Her book is engaging and enraging, compassionate and frank.

Foster and her family moved from New York City to a handyman special bungalow in Las Vegas. She tells the stories of people she befriended. The handyman meth addict living in the desert. Meth-addicted parents who lose custody of their children. The homeless. Families struggling to find food during the Covid pandemic. Traumatized foster children.

Food is at the center of the book.

If you don’t have a home, you can’t cook. If you have no income, you receive generic food boxes that rarely satisfy your needs or reflect your cultural tastes. School lunches are sadly deficient in quality and nutrition, like a breakfast of graham crackers and raisins covered in flavored sugar dust. Prison food may be spoiled and often lacking in calories and nutrition.

Feeding the hungry is an act of compassionate love. Foster fed the handyman lunch. She fostered a child with trauma from food insecurity. During the early Covid pandemic, she organized a free community food pantry, filling it with healthy food.

Her descriptions of the dishes she prepares and shares which will make your mouth water. The spices and sauces, the thick soups and crispy chicken. These are meals I would expect to be served in the finest restaurants.

Foster attacks the misdemeanor system that allows police to arrest people for vagrancy and small infarctions like rolling through a stop sign. People don’t have the money for bail. Jailed, they can’t get to their jobs. They lose their job, then they lose their home, then they lose their car, and last they lose their children—caught in a no-win cycle. This, Foster contends, is how people stay poor.

Then there is the foster care system. Parents who can’t house or feed their children lose them. The foster parents get financial and social support for the children, and the kids get health care and clothes and toys.

What if, Foster challenges, what if we gave this support to the parents so they could keep their children? “What if the goal isn’t to save the children but to save the family?” “What if free day care was available for every family, particularly struggling ones?” We need a new paradigm to solve these problems.

Another way we fail people in need is how we deal with the mentally ill. We fills the jails with them. Foster shares that WHO has called for a radical shift in how we deal with mental illness. New studies are revealing a connection between gut health and autoimmune disease and illness–once again, highlighting the importance of food.

A few years ago, an elderly woman whispered to me that “those people” were behind 90% of crime. Too many of us believe that poverty and race and criminality are connected, that “those people” don’t take care of things, that “those people” soak the government for handouts when they could get a job, that “those people” choose to be poor. We have diluted and curtailed the programs created to address poverty because we don’t trust the poor. What we have been doing doesn’t work. We ignore the problem.

Foster’s book challenges us to think of new ways to address these issues. After all, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insanity.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

Not exactly what I was expecting but enjoyed it! A very heavy read, so go into it with that in mind. Thank you St Martins Press, Kim Foster and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read The Mets Lunches before its release!

Thank you @stmartinspress for the #gifted copy of this e-arc.

Come take a seat at the table with Ms. Foster! Food! Who doesn’t love a nice meal? Kim Foster explores how food in America affects the homeless, mentally ill, or poverty stricken. Everyone needs food to survive but who is to decide just how nutritious the meal should really be? This book is all about the people in Kim’s community in Las Vegas and just how she became so involved. It ranged from the handyman and his meth addiction all the way to an inmate baking a birthday cake with coffee creamer. This story shows just how deep the dysfunction in America really is but also gives hope for a brighter future.

Thoughts: I don’t read a ton of nonfiction however this title caught my eye! Although this book was very sad at times I also found it to be very inspiring. Kim really dives deep and made me think about just how much food is a part of feeling safe and loved in this world. It starts as an infant and if you don’t have it…well things go south quick! I loved how she weaves in so many stories and giving the background of how she became so involved in trying to help her community. She is a very strong inspiring woman that has made me take a step back and view not only food but people and this world differently. Thank you for the new perspective Kim!

Gosh, this one was so messed up, but I'm so glad that there is literature being published and talked about to force these conversations on people on why we need reform in these areas that are expected to be basic human rights. I am so thankful to St. Martin's Press, Kim Foster, and Netgalley for granting me advanced digital and physical access to The Meth Lunches before its publication date October 10, 2023.

WOWWWW what a compelling read. I love the way Foster toggled back and forth between facts and research with her own anecdotal stories and experiences. Getting to know her children through a clinical lens (also thank you for the epilogue at the end), and letting us truly walk by her side through the pandemic made this really poignant read so easy to devour. The topic is tough, the research is depressing…but Foster was able to give us hope in our future and in others. I desperately want to know what happened to Becca, where she is now, and the ending with destiny was quite touching. This was so well done, and I think there’s so much to say about an author that will admit fault all while campaigning for a better tomorrow. We can all learn a thing or two from Foster. Highly recommend this read.

I absolutely loved this book!! I couldn’t put it down.
I just loved all the characters. I highly recommend this book.

It took me some time to read The Meth Lunches, and I slowly took it in all month. The topics are heavy, and there is a lot to absorb. It is a non fiction book written in a narrative style, that tackles addiction, poverty, foster care, mental health, and hunger and how they are all so intertwined. She has welcomed not only foster children into her home, but their families as well because she knows that children deserve a connection with their bio family no matter the situation. She connects with the meth addicted, the unhoused, those struggling with mental illness, and those enduring the pandemic with food. Food is a love language. Foster writes with compassion, empathy, and respect; qualities society is desperately in need of.

This book is heartbreaking and got me thinking and questioning the system in place and what we can do to fix what is broken... It is making me all too aware of my own privilege.

If you're looking for a non fiction book to read this year, keep an eye out for this. It'll be out in October!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kim Foster for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded down.

This book was really human and really thoughtful and just that perfect balance of journalistic non-fiction that keeps you reading almost like a novel would. The writing is great (i see why she won a James Beard award) and there are no pat answers in this. She acknowledges her own failures and limitations openly which really keeps this from the white saviorism i worried about in the first few pages.

I have thought about this book every day since i finished it.

NetGalley ARC.

This is now an all time favorite, and maybe a book that might change the trajectory of my life - it is THAT good.

In The Meth Lunches, Kim Foster pulls back the facade to reveal contemporary hunger in America. Foster is known as the Las Vegas-based writer who won the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for her essay, “The Dysfunction of Food.” The essay is part of this collection that reads more like a thrilling novel of her life in Las Vegas.

The book is a series of stories set against the backdrop of the sad, scorching urban sprawled Las Vegas. Kim has moved there with her family and slowly begins addressing the hunger issue in her local community. Drugs sweep in frequently to flush away any goodwill Kim has built or any success under resourced individuals have created for themselves. Kim however, is always hopeful and beats a drum regarding human rights - all humans have a right to food and the dignity. Foster covers legislation, drug issues and the complications caused by generational trauma. She and her family foster and adopt and we are there with them triumphs and failures of the traumatized children - sometimes both happening in one day.

One of Kim's most powerful thesis is that food can be the glue for a community and without a community no one can be successful - especially the impoverished, but truly all of us. Her writing is light, not preachy, complex, but not complicated and instills the hope we all need to keep fighting the good fight for all of our friends and neighbors. This is a book I will share with many and hope to build a few classroom lessons around. Thank you Kim!
#STMartins #KimFoster #TheMethLunches

Great book. So well rounded.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.