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The Heart-Shaped Tin
Fourth Estate The Heart-Shaped Tin ABISBOOK Fourth Estate.
Hardcover
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About the author
Bee Wilson
32 books271 followersBee Wilson is the author of books about food, approaching the subject from a number of different angles.
As well as a cookbook (The Secret of Cooking), she has written books on food and history (Consider the Fork), food and psychology (First Bite), and the emotional life of kitchen objects (The Heart-Shaped Tin: Love, Loss and Kitchen Objects).
Wilson's book The Way We Eat Now was awarded the Fortnum & Mason Food Book of the year in 2020.
Wilson's cookbook The Secret of Cooking was listed as one of The New Yorker's Fifteen Essential Cookbooks as well as a New York Times, WBUR Here & Now, and National Post Best Cookbook of 2023 and one of the Guardian's Five Best Food Books of 2023
In 2025 she was awarded an M.B.E. for services to food writing and food education (the educstion part was for her work in co-founding and creating TastEd, a charity in the U.K. aimed at introducing children to the joys of vegetables and fruits using their senses.
As well as a cookbook (The Secret of Cooking), she has written books on food and history (Consider the Fork), food and psychology (First Bite), and the emotional life of kitchen objects (The Heart-Shaped Tin: Love, Loss and Kitchen Objects).
Wilson's book The Way We Eat Now was awarded the Fortnum & Mason Food Book of the year in 2020.
Wilson's cookbook The Secret of Cooking was listed as one of The New Yorker's Fifteen Essential Cookbooks as well as a New York Times, WBUR Here & Now, and National Post Best Cookbook of 2023 and one of the Guardian's Five Best Food Books of 2023
In 2025 she was awarded an M.B.E. for services to food writing and food education (the educstion part was for her work in co-founding and creating TastEd, a charity in the U.K. aimed at introducing children to the joys of vegetables and fruits using their senses.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 6, 2026
The main themes were around Wilson's recent divorce and the gradual decline and death of her mother from dementia, with many anecdotes about cooking and kitchenware around both events. A lot of highbrow philosophy was discussed too.
I wasn’t so taken with chapters on other people’s kitchen equipment, in part because these seemed to break the flow of the memoir stories. It was interesting to learn that a pressure cooker was first demonstrated in the 1670s by a Frenchman though.
A minor complaint: The chapter on Australian glory boxes mentioned hope chests but not bottom drawers, as us Brits used to have.
3.5 really
I wasn’t so taken with chapters on other people’s kitchen equipment, in part because these seemed to break the flow of the memoir stories. It was interesting to learn that a pressure cooker was first demonstrated in the 1670s by a Frenchman though.
A minor complaint: The chapter on Australian glory boxes mentioned hope chests but not bottom drawers, as us Brits used to have.
3.5 really
April 27, 2026
The reason anything means anything is because of us, huh.
This was a sweet quick read. I’d even say cozy and relaxing in the past busy weeks. I enjoyed all the anecdotes and stories attached to each kitchen item. It’s fun to hear about how something I wouldn’t even bat an eyelash to would be the world to someone else.
We all tend to humanize the small things and use them to keep our memories.
This was a sweet quick read. I’d even say cozy and relaxing in the past busy weeks. I enjoyed all the anecdotes and stories attached to each kitchen item. It’s fun to hear about how something I wouldn’t even bat an eyelash to would be the world to someone else.
We all tend to humanize the small things and use them to keep our memories.
April 8, 2026
Sometimes a bit slow/repetitive but altogether an enjoyable read with plenty of food for thought (sorry about the pun)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews