What do you think?
Rate this book
The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City
James Beard Award–winning author Kim Foster reveals a new portrait of hunger and humanity in America.
Food is a conduit for connection; we envision smiling families gathered around a table―eating, happy, content. But what happens when poverty, mental illness, homelessness, and addiction claim a seat at that table? In The Meth Lunches , Kim Foster peers behind the polished visions of perfectly curated dinners and charming families to reveal the complex reality when poverty and food intersect.
Whether it’s heirloom vegetables or a block of neon-yellow government cheese, food is both a basic necessity and a nuanced litmus what and how we eat reflects our communities, our cultures, and our place in the world. The Meth Lunches gives a glimpse into the lives of people living in Foster’s Las Vegas community―the grocery store cashier who feels safer surrounded by food after surviving a childhood of hunger; the inmate baking a birthday cake with coffee creamer and Sprite; the unhoused woman growing scallions in the slice of sunlight on her passenger seat. This is what food looks like in the lives of real people.
The Meth Lunches reveals stories of dysfunction intertwined with hope, of the insurmountable obstacles and fierce determination all playing out on the plates of ordinary Americans. It’s a bold invitation to pull up a chair and reconsider our responsibilities to the most vulnerable among us. Welcome to the table.
Food is a conduit for connection; we envision smiling families gathered around a table―eating, happy, content. But what happens when poverty, mental illness, homelessness, and addiction claim a seat at that table? In The Meth Lunches , Kim Foster peers behind the polished visions of perfectly curated dinners and charming families to reveal the complex reality when poverty and food intersect.
Whether it’s heirloom vegetables or a block of neon-yellow government cheese, food is both a basic necessity and a nuanced litmus what and how we eat reflects our communities, our cultures, and our place in the world. The Meth Lunches gives a glimpse into the lives of people living in Foster’s Las Vegas community―the grocery store cashier who feels safer surrounded by food after surviving a childhood of hunger; the inmate baking a birthday cake with coffee creamer and Sprite; the unhoused woman growing scallions in the slice of sunlight on her passenger seat. This is what food looks like in the lives of real people.
The Meth Lunches reveals stories of dysfunction intertwined with hope, of the insurmountable obstacles and fierce determination all playing out on the plates of ordinary Americans. It’s a bold invitation to pull up a chair and reconsider our responsibilities to the most vulnerable among us. Welcome to the table.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2023
178 people are currently reading
6664 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews
October 30, 2023
**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kim Foster for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 10.10!**
"Hunger is not a problem. It is an obscenity. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." - Anne Frank
Kim Foster's Las Vegas community is full of poverty, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. There are neighbors dealing with every struggle under the sun from addiction to homelessness to the cycle of foster care, and Kim and her husband are there to lend a kind ear and more often, to provide a meal. Food is the universal language of love, after all, and when Kim gets the idea to start a community pantry in her front yard, this tiny spark of kindness blossoms into an impassioned flame, growing and expanding its reach ever further during the height of COVID.
But as her tiny yard pantry becomes a true beacon of hope for one of the hardest hit communities in the United States, conflict and trouble also follow, and Kim begins to question the future of the endeavor. Can she truly feed everyone who needs her help? And what about the bigger social issues and systemic issues at play? If she continues to provide a "Band Aid" in her own sense, isn't that just saying to the world that she is okay with picking up the slack in a country that often exploits its poorest, KEEPING them stuck in that strata...literally gridlocked in a cycle of generational poverty with no hope for escape?
I was drawn to this read primarily because of the focus on social issues, and the discussion of wealth and income inequality and how it relates to food (or the lack thereof). While Foster does spend PLENTY of time in the book discussing different aspects of these issues, she spends a lot MORE time with 'case studies' in the form of essays...and long, descriptive passages about some of the recipes she cooks for various people in her life. While the beginning of this book caught my attention (Foster literally details how she found a man working on her house passed out in the backyard from meth---that'll grab you!), the focus doesn't solely stay on this man and his family...and this is where she started to lose me.
It was very unclear (to me at least) what Foster's role even was---was she simply an altruistic foster parent who's also a foodie? Although it wasn't necessarily needed, I think a bit more background on Foster's life and times would have been helpful for context. There are so many different sets of people introduced via their stories throughout the book that by the time I got comfortable reading about a few of them, we were then introduced to someone else. For this reason, I never felt like I got into the 'groove' of the book. It was hard to balance so many individual stories and try to find the through lines, and I didn't get the emotional punch I was hoping to find, with such an inside look at some of the deepest and darkest struggles of those in her community.
The food descriptions were also just OTT for me. I know this is what Foster is known for (to some extent) so I probably should have prepared myself more for this fact, but as much as I love EATING incredible food (and have no doubt of Foster's culinary prowess!) I don't really need to read a page and a half or more each time she mentions a recipe. Again, the writing is probably drool-worthy to foodies and connoisseurs: this just isn't me. Again, I realize food is the driving force behind the entire book so in some respects it makes SENSE for Foster to include them: I just could have lived without it.
There's also a LOT of 'random' research sprinkled in to remind you that Foster's done her homework: some of it impactful, some that seemed sort of sporadically interspersed. In some ways, it made the whole book feel a bit less focused than I would have liked, and took away from the conversation I found more compelling: a look at how the criminal justice system and foster care system have essentially devolved into systems that keep people poor rather than give them a pathway out of poverty. Children sometimes end up with foster parents when their parents can't afford to keep them fed, clothed, or clean...yet in a foster family, the foster parents are given a check to help pay for the child's care. Who's to say if the birth parent received the same funding instead that they COULDN'T provide a suitable living environment?
Foster also brings up how misdemeanors in the criminal justice system were originally invented to 'find reasons' to criminalize people: you roll through a stop sign, get pulled over, end up with a ticket, can't pay the ticket, and now have a warrant for your arrest...and everything spirals from there. These are monumental, systemic problems: some that are being addressed, and many that are yet to be addressed in a meaningful way...and THIS is the book I was hoping to read. The whole premise of this one began as an article and in some respects, I actually preferred reading the brief article to reading this whole book. While I find Foster kind, honest, thoughtful, and inspirational, I believe I grew more enamored with her discussion of how we COULD change the world if everyone got on board rather than the in depth exploration of the various ways she tried to do it personally.
Though the structure and some of the detail in the finished product didn't quite give me the satisfaction I was looking for, this book was far from 'bare bones'...and in terms of the ever evolving discussion on how to truly solve poverty in our world?
It proved MORE than enough to whet my appetite!🍽
3.5 stars
#TheMethLunches #KimFoster #SMPInfluencers #StMartinsPress
"Hunger is not a problem. It is an obscenity. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." - Anne Frank
Kim Foster's Las Vegas community is full of poverty, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. There are neighbors dealing with every struggle under the sun from addiction to homelessness to the cycle of foster care, and Kim and her husband are there to lend a kind ear and more often, to provide a meal. Food is the universal language of love, after all, and when Kim gets the idea to start a community pantry in her front yard, this tiny spark of kindness blossoms into an impassioned flame, growing and expanding its reach ever further during the height of COVID.
But as her tiny yard pantry becomes a true beacon of hope for one of the hardest hit communities in the United States, conflict and trouble also follow, and Kim begins to question the future of the endeavor. Can she truly feed everyone who needs her help? And what about the bigger social issues and systemic issues at play? If she continues to provide a "Band Aid" in her own sense, isn't that just saying to the world that she is okay with picking up the slack in a country that often exploits its poorest, KEEPING them stuck in that strata...literally gridlocked in a cycle of generational poverty with no hope for escape?
I was drawn to this read primarily because of the focus on social issues, and the discussion of wealth and income inequality and how it relates to food (or the lack thereof). While Foster does spend PLENTY of time in the book discussing different aspects of these issues, she spends a lot MORE time with 'case studies' in the form of essays...and long, descriptive passages about some of the recipes she cooks for various people in her life. While the beginning of this book caught my attention (Foster literally details how she found a man working on her house passed out in the backyard from meth---that'll grab you!), the focus doesn't solely stay on this man and his family...and this is where she started to lose me.
It was very unclear (to me at least) what Foster's role even was---was she simply an altruistic foster parent who's also a foodie? Although it wasn't necessarily needed, I think a bit more background on Foster's life and times would have been helpful for context. There are so many different sets of people introduced via their stories throughout the book that by the time I got comfortable reading about a few of them, we were then introduced to someone else. For this reason, I never felt like I got into the 'groove' of the book. It was hard to balance so many individual stories and try to find the through lines, and I didn't get the emotional punch I was hoping to find, with such an inside look at some of the deepest and darkest struggles of those in her community.
The food descriptions were also just OTT for me. I know this is what Foster is known for (to some extent) so I probably should have prepared myself more for this fact, but as much as I love EATING incredible food (and have no doubt of Foster's culinary prowess!) I don't really need to read a page and a half or more each time she mentions a recipe. Again, the writing is probably drool-worthy to foodies and connoisseurs: this just isn't me. Again, I realize food is the driving force behind the entire book so in some respects it makes SENSE for Foster to include them: I just could have lived without it.
There's also a LOT of 'random' research sprinkled in to remind you that Foster's done her homework: some of it impactful, some that seemed sort of sporadically interspersed. In some ways, it made the whole book feel a bit less focused than I would have liked, and took away from the conversation I found more compelling: a look at how the criminal justice system and foster care system have essentially devolved into systems that keep people poor rather than give them a pathway out of poverty. Children sometimes end up with foster parents when their parents can't afford to keep them fed, clothed, or clean...yet in a foster family, the foster parents are given a check to help pay for the child's care. Who's to say if the birth parent received the same funding instead that they COULDN'T provide a suitable living environment?
Foster also brings up how misdemeanors in the criminal justice system were originally invented to 'find reasons' to criminalize people: you roll through a stop sign, get pulled over, end up with a ticket, can't pay the ticket, and now have a warrant for your arrest...and everything spirals from there. These are monumental, systemic problems: some that are being addressed, and many that are yet to be addressed in a meaningful way...and THIS is the book I was hoping to read. The whole premise of this one began as an article and in some respects, I actually preferred reading the brief article to reading this whole book. While I find Foster kind, honest, thoughtful, and inspirational, I believe I grew more enamored with her discussion of how we COULD change the world if everyone got on board rather than the in depth exploration of the various ways she tried to do it personally.
Though the structure and some of the detail in the finished product didn't quite give me the satisfaction I was looking for, this book was far from 'bare bones'...and in terms of the ever evolving discussion on how to truly solve poverty in our world?
It proved MORE than enough to whet my appetite!🍽
3.5 stars
#TheMethLunches #KimFoster #SMPInfluencers #StMartinsPress
January 29, 2024
Thank you to the author Kim Foster, publishers St. Martin's Press, and also to NetGalley, for a digital copy of THE METH LUNCHES. All views are mine.
This is a staggeringly good book. Connecting the issues of homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and child welfare services to food, perhaps our most fundamental instinctive drive, is brilliant form. My heart was broken, reading this book, but I could. Not. Stop. Reading.
Opening Quotes:
The pantry connects us to the outside world. Loc.1966
We aren’t alone. ...We are surrounded. And in hard times, that is exactly the best place to be. Loc.2455
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. At the beginning of the book, the author shares a note about the veracity of the book, which is nonfiction. It's a quite important insight about the nature of nonfiction, whatever the approach or subject: This book is true. ...But as my seventeen-year-old daughter, Lucy, reminds me: “You can write my story, but everyone needs to know it’s your take on my life. It’s not actually my life.” ...She’s spot-on, of course. Loc.10
2. The "food" form invites some beautiful subtle points about some heartbreaking subjects, like addiction, foster care, and the racist origins of policing and prisons. Gorgeous feasts hold mixed appeal to a man whose dopamine has been sapped by a meth addiction. A McDonald's Happy Meal can be the key to building trust with a scared foster child. A steak and baked potato can be a fine food gift from someone who's never known the stability of home, who's spent months eating prison "noodle loaf."
3. I love books that talk about the pandemic like it actually happened. The next two hours are as close to a party as we will have during the pandemic. The weather has cleared. It’s sunny, not warm or cold. We have reached First Spring in Vegas, that lovely temperate period from March to May. Loc.2436
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. I am so jealous of this person's weekly menu lol! But seriously, it's interesting how she kind of identifies how much food punctuated so many of the relationships of abused people.
2. Dang, this author really understands broken people: This is the byproduct of abuse and neglect. Of having a schism in how you attach to people around you. It is the very definition of an insecure attachment. You want them to love you. You need and ache hard for love and attention. But when it comes, it is overwhelming, too intense. Even painful. Loc.1335
3. I don't agree with the author that providing resources to families in the system is the solution. Maybe for cases of child neglect. But upper middle class families, in which there are no addiction problems, can still be characterized by awful abuse and neglect. Sometimes, people just abuse their kids, and kids shouldn't be left with dangerous parents because they possess relatively more wealth.
Rating: 🥗🥪🌮🍗🌯 delicious lunches
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: Oct 15 '23
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
☀️ nonfiction
👨👩👧👦 family stories
💊 mental health and addiction rep
👧🏽 adoption stories
🤝 friendship
This is a staggeringly good book. Connecting the issues of homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and child welfare services to food, perhaps our most fundamental instinctive drive, is brilliant form. My heart was broken, reading this book, but I could. Not. Stop. Reading.
Opening Quotes:
The pantry connects us to the outside world. Loc.1966
We aren’t alone. ...We are surrounded. And in hard times, that is exactly the best place to be. Loc.2455
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. At the beginning of the book, the author shares a note about the veracity of the book, which is nonfiction. It's a quite important insight about the nature of nonfiction, whatever the approach or subject: This book is true. ...But as my seventeen-year-old daughter, Lucy, reminds me: “You can write my story, but everyone needs to know it’s your take on my life. It’s not actually my life.” ...She’s spot-on, of course. Loc.10
2. The "food" form invites some beautiful subtle points about some heartbreaking subjects, like addiction, foster care, and the racist origins of policing and prisons. Gorgeous feasts hold mixed appeal to a man whose dopamine has been sapped by a meth addiction. A McDonald's Happy Meal can be the key to building trust with a scared foster child. A steak and baked potato can be a fine food gift from someone who's never known the stability of home, who's spent months eating prison "noodle loaf."
3. I love books that talk about the pandemic like it actually happened. The next two hours are as close to a party as we will have during the pandemic. The weather has cleared. It’s sunny, not warm or cold. We have reached First Spring in Vegas, that lovely temperate period from March to May. Loc.2436
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. I am so jealous of this person's weekly menu lol! But seriously, it's interesting how she kind of identifies how much food punctuated so many of the relationships of abused people.
2. Dang, this author really understands broken people: This is the byproduct of abuse and neglect. Of having a schism in how you attach to people around you. It is the very definition of an insecure attachment. You want them to love you. You need and ache hard for love and attention. But when it comes, it is overwhelming, too intense. Even painful. Loc.1335
3. I don't agree with the author that providing resources to families in the system is the solution. Maybe for cases of child neglect. But upper middle class families, in which there are no addiction problems, can still be characterized by awful abuse and neglect. Sometimes, people just abuse their kids, and kids shouldn't be left with dangerous parents because they possess relatively more wealth.
Rating: 🥗🥪🌮🍗🌯 delicious lunches
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: Oct 15 '23
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
☀️ nonfiction
👨👩👧👦 family stories
💊 mental health and addiction rep
👧🏽 adoption stories
🤝 friendship
May 3, 2023
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
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
November 20, 2023
This book revolves completely around food. Perhaps much more that I was really prepared for. It’s blips and jumps of scenes from here and there. At times, the writing is too flowery and poetic, at others, it’s very flat. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, which is exactly what it feels like to care for someone that is very much struggling, and learn the lesson that you can’t live someone’s life and make the decisions for them.
While I absolutely understand the tracking of time, seasons, and motions through food, the throwaway talk of all the food felt so unnecessary to me, something that about 10% though the book I started to resent seeing and skimming over. It’s just too too much - we get it, you like food, you make food, everyone says it’s great and asks for your recipes - ENOUGH!
She buried the lead - 4 chapters in, she drops the tiniest sentence to share that she was adopted. Such a tiny sentence that I had to google to be sure I didn’t misunderstand. Don’t worry though - it’s never explored again anywhere in the book.
Finally, at about 40% in, she acknowledges facts that don’t make herself and the system as saviors.
As the book progresses, Foster becomes more and more unlikeable to me. It’s like watching someone unravel. Is this “White Savior Complex” her undoing? She’s spending so much time condemning folks for their decisions, and then standing up for why they are doing them.
All in, there are parts of this book that are exceptionally important to share, but the way it’s delivered is so buried in judgement, recipe notes that add nothing to the story, and a flittering of characters that come in and out of nowhere that I can’t really recommend it as one worth spending time with. Trying to parse out what’s happening is like trying to understand a fever dream.
…and don’t get me started on her sharing intimate details of people’s lives and the somewhat predatory nature of her getting consent in exchange for food from folks that in all likelihood not in a position to give consent due to the very detailed inclusion of the mental health battles they are struggling with.
I’m relieved to be ending my time with this title - it’s taking me months to make myself get through it.
Thank you NetGalley for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
While I absolutely understand the tracking of time, seasons, and motions through food, the throwaway talk of all the food felt so unnecessary to me, something that about 10% though the book I started to resent seeing and skimming over. It’s just too too much - we get it, you like food, you make food, everyone says it’s great and asks for your recipes - ENOUGH!
She buried the lead - 4 chapters in, she drops the tiniest sentence to share that she was adopted. Such a tiny sentence that I had to google to be sure I didn’t misunderstand. Don’t worry though - it’s never explored again anywhere in the book.
Finally, at about 40% in, she acknowledges facts that don’t make herself and the system as saviors.
As the book progresses, Foster becomes more and more unlikeable to me. It’s like watching someone unravel. Is this “White Savior Complex” her undoing? She’s spending so much time condemning folks for their decisions, and then standing up for why they are doing them.
All in, there are parts of this book that are exceptionally important to share, but the way it’s delivered is so buried in judgement, recipe notes that add nothing to the story, and a flittering of characters that come in and out of nowhere that I can’t really recommend it as one worth spending time with. Trying to parse out what’s happening is like trying to understand a fever dream.
…and don’t get me started on her sharing intimate details of people’s lives and the somewhat predatory nature of her getting consent in exchange for food from folks that in all likelihood not in a position to give consent due to the very detailed inclusion of the mental health battles they are struggling with.
I’m relieved to be ending my time with this title - it’s taking me months to make myself get through it.
Thank you NetGalley for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
December 24, 2023
I found her writing to border on and occasionally traipse into “privileged white lady coming to save the day” territory. When she describes someone breaking down in tears on her front step and then how she gets up to prepare a Michelin star meal for them it strikes me as flippant and clueless. Sorry - if you want to talk about duck fat or exotic confits you can craft from items you get at ALDI do that but simple civility would suggest that compounding that stuff with the meth head who’s woken you up at 2AM is a little inappropriate.
If you’re bound and determined to talk about the foster care system or drug abuse or homelessness in your new home town by all means go for it but why try and graft the topic of food onto these pressing subjects? The connections she made were tenuous at best and remarkably vapid at worst.
I’ll say it - the pantry debacle would have enraged me if I was her neighbor. For real - you set this up in a residential neighborhood, proceeded to expand it pretty dramatically and didn’t think for a moment that it might somehow spiral out of control? Magical thinking much?
If you’re bound and determined to talk about the foster care system or drug abuse or homelessness in your new home town by all means go for it but why try and graft the topic of food onto these pressing subjects? The connections she made were tenuous at best and remarkably vapid at worst.
I’ll say it - the pantry debacle would have enraged me if I was her neighbor. For real - you set this up in a residential neighborhood, proceeded to expand it pretty dramatically and didn’t think for a moment that it might somehow spiral out of control? Magical thinking much?
February 15, 2023
*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.
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.
Foster wrote this book after an essay (that actually encompasses the first chapter) was published that touched people and garnered interest. In that essay, she details her experience with a hired laborer that is doing house projects, his addiction to meth, her lunches with him talking about his life and struggles, and how the cycle kept going for him in terms of relapses and recoveries. This fully expanded book takes stories much like his, with people the author has met through either her work in foster care or in supporting the community around her.
While this book is definitely about the people she interacts with and their stories, it also is a lens into just how food, poverty, and trauma are all intertwined and what it means to gain either comfort or stress from the act of eating or feeding people. She explores how the 'well' exist in society and don't understand the various hardships or cycles that poverty can exert on a person. How mental health, and the treatment of it can sometimes hinder more than help and is largely viewed from that 'well' lens without establishing what a person truly needs. As stressed before, she touches on community and how social currency and other factors in people's environment and upbringing can how downstream impacts on their lives and choices.
All of this is delivered in a very honest way. She could have come in with a savior complex (and she touches on this herself), but I think she's really good at pulling up and assessing what her true purpose is when talking with people or living in her community. I can definitely say, with my own honesty, that I don't think I have the mental capacity or want at this point in my life, to do some of the work she has done. But at the very least, this book helped me examine some of my biases and formed opinions of situations of poverty and/or drug use, etc. Which makes it a valuable read for anyone who may want to do the same.
I had completely wrote this review and as soon as I finished, realized I didn't even mention the food descriptions in this book. That was an oversight. I should have mentioned them. It's not hard to believe the author has won some awards in food writing. I just want to purchase her cookbook and roll in it.
Review by M. Reynard 2023
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.
Foster wrote this book after an essay (that actually encompasses the first chapter) was published that touched people and garnered interest. In that essay, she details her experience with a hired laborer that is doing house projects, his addiction to meth, her lunches with him talking about his life and struggles, and how the cycle kept going for him in terms of relapses and recoveries. This fully expanded book takes stories much like his, with people the author has met through either her work in foster care or in supporting the community around her.
While this book is definitely about the people she interacts with and their stories, it also is a lens into just how food, poverty, and trauma are all intertwined and what it means to gain either comfort or stress from the act of eating or feeding people. She explores how the 'well' exist in society and don't understand the various hardships or cycles that poverty can exert on a person. How mental health, and the treatment of it can sometimes hinder more than help and is largely viewed from that 'well' lens without establishing what a person truly needs. As stressed before, she touches on community and how social currency and other factors in people's environment and upbringing can how downstream impacts on their lives and choices.
All of this is delivered in a very honest way. She could have come in with a savior complex (and she touches on this herself), but I think she's really good at pulling up and assessing what her true purpose is when talking with people or living in her community. I can definitely say, with my own honesty, that I don't think I have the mental capacity or want at this point in my life, to do some of the work she has done. But at the very least, this book helped me examine some of my biases and formed opinions of situations of poverty and/or drug use, etc. Which makes it a valuable read for anyone who may want to do the same.
I had completely wrote this review and as soon as I finished, realized I didn't even mention the food descriptions in this book. That was an oversight. I should have mentioned them. It's not hard to believe the author has won some awards in food writing. I just want to purchase her cookbook and roll in it.
Review by M. Reynard 2023
February 17, 2023
As a sociologist, writer, and former homeless woman this book gave me all the feelings. It is a wonderful first hand telling of poverty culture. The rules are different for people who have been on the streets. They often team up for a short time to survive. They push boundaries and they act entitled and if you haven't been there you won't understand it, but this author absolutely approaches all of these people with compassion and works to understand them. It is beautiful!
I also love that Kim just feeds everyone. It is her way of building community and I feel like we need more of that. I too love to feed people.
I also learned a lot about meth, something I have personally avoided learning about.
I wish we allowed the unhoused to advocate for themselves but it doesn't work that way. I appreciate when people like Kim speak of their struggles with absolute humanity.
I guess what I want to say here is that I feel seen, in a good way, for what might be one of the first times. People don't see you as worthy of their time even if you escape poverty. There is something they sense in you that makes them "other" you. You can have all the education and skills and job experience but people keep you on the lower rungs because they don't trust you. I could maybe write an entire book about that, as I exist on a borderline between poverty and middle class living. The bridge out of poverty I suppose.
She's spot on with the mental illness things as well. We do want to walk about our suicidal ideation with people who won't have us locked up for something we can't help. And food is a sort of a cure.
My brother is schizophrenic and his entire existence centers on food. He makes new recipes and waits to sample my food daily. We find each other in the kitchen every afternoon when I get home from work. We cook and we eat and we talk. This book opened a new way of thinking about my brother for me. I was annoyed with him for always being there and now I am grateful for it. He does a lot better with these rituals.
And now we have news articles advising us to save money by skipping breakfast, as if starvation is going to be a positive thing.
And yeah our community ways of helping, like the food pantry the author sets up are a way for the government to get out of helping their own people. It is not good for us at all.
Thank you for this. Write more. I will read them.
I also love that Kim just feeds everyone. It is her way of building community and I feel like we need more of that. I too love to feed people.
I also learned a lot about meth, something I have personally avoided learning about.
I wish we allowed the unhoused to advocate for themselves but it doesn't work that way. I appreciate when people like Kim speak of their struggles with absolute humanity.
I guess what I want to say here is that I feel seen, in a good way, for what might be one of the first times. People don't see you as worthy of their time even if you escape poverty. There is something they sense in you that makes them "other" you. You can have all the education and skills and job experience but people keep you on the lower rungs because they don't trust you. I could maybe write an entire book about that, as I exist on a borderline between poverty and middle class living. The bridge out of poverty I suppose.
She's spot on with the mental illness things as well. We do want to walk about our suicidal ideation with people who won't have us locked up for something we can't help. And food is a sort of a cure.
My brother is schizophrenic and his entire existence centers on food. He makes new recipes and waits to sample my food daily. We find each other in the kitchen every afternoon when I get home from work. We cook and we eat and we talk. This book opened a new way of thinking about my brother for me. I was annoyed with him for always being there and now I am grateful for it. He does a lot better with these rituals.
And now we have news articles advising us to save money by skipping breakfast, as if starvation is going to be a positive thing.
And yeah our community ways of helping, like the food pantry the author sets up are a way for the government to get out of helping their own people. It is not good for us at all.
Thank you for this. Write more. I will read them.
February 24, 2023
On rare occasions, a reader will open a book that touches them, educates and makes them think deeply about a subject. The Meth Lunches is just such a book.
I have long been a fan of Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert. My husband and I have been there six times, and I hope to go again and venture further around the state. Yes Las Vegas has that glam factor, with the shows, chef restaurants, gambling and high-end shopping. But beyond that, it has a stunning natural environment which intrigues. I love the landscape and the tenacity of the plants and wildlife. The brilliant sunshine and cool morning air. And underneath all the glamour, there is an ever-present grimy underside to Las Vegas which you can easily see if you open your eyes to it - homelessness, prostitution and exploitation of women, begging, heart-breaking poverty, ramshackle homes and buildings and untreated mental illness.
Kim Foster and her family call Las Vegas home. Her collection of essays tells a story about living in this troubled city, while she and her husband operated a community pantry to feed struggling people, lent a compassionate ear to those struggling with addiction, family trauma and homelessness, and fostered children coming from broken families and broken lives. Her depth of understanding and practice of non-judgement is inspirational. While there is much heart break in these pages, there is also hope and plenty of discussion about the changes required to turn things around. It should be a required read for any city mayor or councilor facing housing shortages, addiction issues and poverty, which is just about everywhere these days. Kim clearly explains that there are no easy fixes or quick solutions for these deep and far-reaching problems, but the solutions lie in empathy, a commitment to community and faith in the human ability to grow and change.
A sincere thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy to read. I plan on purchasing a hard copy when it comes out in October 2023 and rereading it. This is a book that will stay with you for a long time. Highly recommended.
I have long been a fan of Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert. My husband and I have been there six times, and I hope to go again and venture further around the state. Yes Las Vegas has that glam factor, with the shows, chef restaurants, gambling and high-end shopping. But beyond that, it has a stunning natural environment which intrigues. I love the landscape and the tenacity of the plants and wildlife. The brilliant sunshine and cool morning air. And underneath all the glamour, there is an ever-present grimy underside to Las Vegas which you can easily see if you open your eyes to it - homelessness, prostitution and exploitation of women, begging, heart-breaking poverty, ramshackle homes and buildings and untreated mental illness.
Kim Foster and her family call Las Vegas home. Her collection of essays tells a story about living in this troubled city, while she and her husband operated a community pantry to feed struggling people, lent a compassionate ear to those struggling with addiction, family trauma and homelessness, and fostered children coming from broken families and broken lives. Her depth of understanding and practice of non-judgement is inspirational. While there is much heart break in these pages, there is also hope and plenty of discussion about the changes required to turn things around. It should be a required read for any city mayor or councilor facing housing shortages, addiction issues and poverty, which is just about everywhere these days. Kim clearly explains that there are no easy fixes or quick solutions for these deep and far-reaching problems, but the solutions lie in empathy, a commitment to community and faith in the human ability to grow and change.
A sincere thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy to read. I plan on purchasing a hard copy when it comes out in October 2023 and rereading it. This is a book that will stay with you for a long time. Highly recommended.
May 30, 2024
“Food connects us.”
Foster explores the truth and falsities of this statement through the lenses of addiction, mental illness, incarceration, and poverty.
What does a meal look like for those who are in the grips of homelessness, addiction, or mental illness? Where does our food come from? How do we gain access to it when we are at the end of our rope and our resources have been drained? Weaving personal narrative with stories of food, Foster seeks to answer these questions and more. She observes how poverty and hunger affect those close to her in her Las Vegas community.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this book in terms of delivery but some of the essays in here I enjoyed more than others. Each essay ultimately revolves around a different person from her life in regards to the social issues listed above. Because of this, I would often be very drawn in to an essay only to have it abruptly end and move to the next and this made it difficult for me to find my flow while reading.
A couple things were a little off-putting, too.
1. There were a few instances where Foster would reference things being “fucked up”, like a meth addict’s face being “fucked up”.
2. I suppose that I was also hoping this book leaned more in to the social issue of poverty in America (or in Vegas) and how that affects peoples’ access to food and while there is some of that here, I wanted more investigative journalism (because that's how it's advertised) and it became more memoir about people that Foster took under her wing and I sometimes felt like she was giving off a little savior complex.
I’m stuck in the middle with this review because while some things didn’t sit well or come across well, there were other parts that I greatly enjoyed or were particularly interesting. 2.5 stars for now
Foster explores the truth and falsities of this statement through the lenses of addiction, mental illness, incarceration, and poverty.
What does a meal look like for those who are in the grips of homelessness, addiction, or mental illness? Where does our food come from? How do we gain access to it when we are at the end of our rope and our resources have been drained? Weaving personal narrative with stories of food, Foster seeks to answer these questions and more. She observes how poverty and hunger affect those close to her in her Las Vegas community.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this book in terms of delivery but some of the essays in here I enjoyed more than others. Each essay ultimately revolves around a different person from her life in regards to the social issues listed above. Because of this, I would often be very drawn in to an essay only to have it abruptly end and move to the next and this made it difficult for me to find my flow while reading.
A couple things were a little off-putting, too.
1. There were a few instances where Foster would reference things being “fucked up”, like a meth addict’s face being “fucked up”.
2. I suppose that I was also hoping this book leaned more in to the social issue of poverty in America (or in Vegas) and how that affects peoples’ access to food and while there is some of that here, I wanted more investigative journalism (because that's how it's advertised) and it became more memoir about people that Foster took under her wing and I sometimes felt like she was giving off a little savior complex.
I’m stuck in the middle with this review because while some things didn’t sit well or come across well, there were other parts that I greatly enjoyed or were particularly interesting. 2.5 stars for now
January 7, 2025
5 Stars
What if a woman with a white savior complex wrote an incredibly powerful book about the cycle of poverty, food, and our relationship with our communities?
I think Foster is a beyond talented researcher and author. I also think she spent a lot of this book trying to remind readers of what SHE did for her community. But tbh, I think 99% of autoethnographic research is written like this so I digress. If you can put that to the side, this book is amazing. I felt myself confronting my personal views of how we view our homeless communities, what comfort and compassion can look like through food, and building relationships within the community around us. Foster brought in case studies that expanded my knowledge on multiple topics and was able to flawlessly bring in research from other works that bolsters her writing. Reading this makes me think of the concept of Maslow Rewired - a restructuring of the hierarchy of needs as a cycle that revolves around connection. Connection is a prerequisite for survival, as is food. This rewired view is also a challenge Foster discusses when talking about the connection of sub-communities attempts to keep food from others or destroy a community.
I feel very strongly about the need for this kind of work in literature, but also in academia. I wish I had found this book while in grad school, as it has shifted my personal outlook on research, interpersonal and intercultural communication, and of course, the use of food as a tool for connection and community. I don’t think this book is totally perfect, but it can’t not get 5 stars for making me think so deeply about this topic.
What if a woman with a white savior complex wrote an incredibly powerful book about the cycle of poverty, food, and our relationship with our communities?
I think Foster is a beyond talented researcher and author. I also think she spent a lot of this book trying to remind readers of what SHE did for her community. But tbh, I think 99% of autoethnographic research is written like this so I digress. If you can put that to the side, this book is amazing. I felt myself confronting my personal views of how we view our homeless communities, what comfort and compassion can look like through food, and building relationships within the community around us. Foster brought in case studies that expanded my knowledge on multiple topics and was able to flawlessly bring in research from other works that bolsters her writing. Reading this makes me think of the concept of Maslow Rewired - a restructuring of the hierarchy of needs as a cycle that revolves around connection. Connection is a prerequisite for survival, as is food. This rewired view is also a challenge Foster discusses when talking about the connection of sub-communities attempts to keep food from others or destroy a community.
I feel very strongly about the need for this kind of work in literature, but also in academia. I wish I had found this book while in grad school, as it has shifted my personal outlook on research, interpersonal and intercultural communication, and of course, the use of food as a tool for connection and community. I don’t think this book is totally perfect, but it can’t not get 5 stars for making me think so deeply about this topic.
December 27, 2024
"Cooking with and eating alongside your community members is still one of the best ways to start the process of making people feel worthy. Of bringing them into the social fabric. Of smelling the water beneath the surface."
Beautiful descriptions of food and of people. I'm glad she acknowledged at several points that she understood the weight of covering people's stories. I'm also glad that she talked about the mental grief she went through trying to dedicate so much of her time towards helping others. It's admirable to dedicate your life to a cause, and you're often looked down on when you mention that you're struggling with helping certain people or that certain situations you struggle to comprehend 'correctly'. Also think it's incredibly important that she mentioned that she both got more help mentally, and that she got over it. It took her a little time to get over certain prejudices and viewpoints - but she got over it and I think that's a very important lesson for people to take away.
Beautiful descriptions of food and of people. I'm glad she acknowledged at several points that she understood the weight of covering people's stories. I'm also glad that she talked about the mental grief she went through trying to dedicate so much of her time towards helping others. It's admirable to dedicate your life to a cause, and you're often looked down on when you mention that you're struggling with helping certain people or that certain situations you struggle to comprehend 'correctly'. Also think it's incredibly important that she mentioned that she both got more help mentally, and that she got over it. It took her a little time to get over certain prejudices and viewpoints - but she got over it and I think that's a very important lesson for people to take away.
September 10, 2024
I don't often write reviews but felt this book deserved some praise. Set in downtown Vegas, mostly pandemic era, the author connects her love of food and cooking with populations that often go hungry. Folks with mental illness, substance users, homeless, foster systems, prisons etc and how our society and system fails them time and again. Just when I thought she was veering into a white savior complex, she rights herself and talks about her own bias. I'd recommend it to anyone curious about social work, working with underserved populations or anyone who can see that food and community can foster change.
January 22, 2024
1.5 stars rounded down.
This book left a bad taste in my mouth (bad pun intended). Something about the writing didn't click with me and most chapters left me feeling either uncomfortable or annoyed. The author makes too many broad statements and generalizations while she preaches about what everyone else is doing wrong. All adoptees are lumped together and assumed to have exactly the same feelings because that's how she felt. Food banks aren't doing enough to address everyone's individual desires. How dare they not cater to every person, every day, every meal, exactly what each person wants right then. She rails against 'the system' for making judgment calls about what is and is not neglect, but in the next chapter she bemoans a situation in which no one stepped in to help a girl who was being neglected. Almost no one in this book is doing something right. No one gives a satisfactory amount.
And honestly, the food stuff was too over the top. In one chapter she talks about meth literally destroying (eating away) a person's brain. But don't worry, it's all good because she fixes him some bo ssam with quick pickles, pickled watermelon rind, homemade radish kimchi, rice ssam sauce, and ginger scallion sauce. Repeatedly she writes detailed lists of the elaborate meals she cooks and drops them in like they are anywhere near as important as the peoples' lives she's dissecting. It was jarring, like someone spliced together the transcript for some self-important foodie reality show with a life on the streets documentary.
I have a feeling the author is a really nice person, but I didn't like this book.
This book left a bad taste in my mouth (bad pun intended). Something about the writing didn't click with me and most chapters left me feeling either uncomfortable or annoyed. The author makes too many broad statements and generalizations while she preaches about what everyone else is doing wrong. All adoptees are lumped together and assumed to have exactly the same feelings because that's how she felt. Food banks aren't doing enough to address everyone's individual desires. How dare they not cater to every person, every day, every meal, exactly what each person wants right then. She rails against 'the system' for making judgment calls about what is and is not neglect, but in the next chapter she bemoans a situation in which no one stepped in to help a girl who was being neglected. Almost no one in this book is doing something right. No one gives a satisfactory amount.
And honestly, the food stuff was too over the top. In one chapter she talks about meth literally destroying (eating away) a person's brain. But don't worry, it's all good because she fixes him some bo ssam with quick pickles, pickled watermelon rind, homemade radish kimchi, rice ssam sauce, and ginger scallion sauce. Repeatedly she writes detailed lists of the elaborate meals she cooks and drops them in like they are anywhere near as important as the peoples' lives she's dissecting. It was jarring, like someone spliced together the transcript for some self-important foodie reality show with a life on the streets documentary.
I have a feeling the author is a really nice person, but I didn't like this book.
July 5, 2025
I went on a real ethical journey with this book, finding the author’s prying into vulnerable neighbors lives to be often distasteful, a kind of nice liberal poverty tourism. I ended up finding the book valuable and insightful in its own way, a genuine love letter to Las Vegas, and the author someone who is thoughtful and transparent about her many, many mistakes. The book is still much better every time she’s able to take herself out of it, for example when she talks about her son’s relationship with Becca.
February 12, 2024
Not a revelatory book, but the author will impress readers with her inexhaustible amount of charity and altruism. She adopts foster kids, feeds drug addicts, starts free food pantries in her neighborhood during the pandemic, and tirelessly advocates for the poor, unhoused, and food insecure. More power to her.
August 3, 2025
I’ve got complex feelings about this book. Parts made me cry, and I learned a lot. Some parts are like we should treat people like people and the system is bad and I’m like yeah totally. But also the kind of giving Kim does and the way she writes about food I think is profound. I think it’s made me kinder. But also…. The white saviorism is kind of crazy. A lot a lot. And it’s like supposed to be okay because she knows it? I’m not sure. I wish I understood more about where her money came from. There’s also just so much intense details about people’s personal life that you can’t help wanting to read- but then you think about it and are like oh okay you’re making money off of their trauma. Cool.
Learned a lot about meth in particular and the foster system and what it’s really like the process of getting your kids back. It’s a lot. Overall I did really like it and I couldn’t stop listening to it (I did the audiobook). It also brought out a lot of feeling about my childhood which I simply did not expect.
Learned a lot about meth in particular and the foster system and what it’s really like the process of getting your kids back. It’s a lot. Overall I did really like it and I couldn’t stop listening to it (I did the audiobook). It also brought out a lot of feeling about my childhood which I simply did not expect.
January 9, 2024
Kim Foster is an excellent writer and generous person. Her book educated me about poverty and the foster care system. It was also filled with interesting stories about the people she met operating a food pantry in front of her home. I never really thought twice about two-day Amazon delivery and the driver who has to work Sundays or whether I really need certain conveniences at the expense of others. Now I do. She did a great job integrating research and data into her story to explain social issues. It was hard to put down.
June 2, 2024
An unflinching look at the reality of not just Las Vegas, but our nation's attitude towards our relationships with ourselves, our community, and our food. It's not often that I find a book I can't put down. Maybe it's because I love my home town so much and can distinctly remember the pandemic days and what it brought to our town. Maybe because Foster's description of people is as mesmerizing as her descriptions of food. Either way, 10/10.
March 18, 2024
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this book but it definitely delved into some things I wasn't expecting. The book starts out (and gets the title) when Foster's family moves from NYC to Las Vegas, Nevada and need some work done on their house. They go through an agency that matches out of work laborers with homeowners who need work done. The family meets Charlie who is semi-homeless due to his meth addiction. As his addiction progresses Foster starts referring to their meals with Charlie as The Meth Lunches. Next we get into the Foster family becoming foster parents and some of the CRAZY things that come along with that - including Foster finding the mother of one of their foster children in jail and bringing the kid to her for visits (I'm pretty sure she was NOT supposed to do that) and overall getting overly involved with the families of some of their foster kids. Then COVID hits and Foster starts up a food pantry to replace a little free library in their yard - this also devolves into craziness and drug addicts routinely stealing meat to sell for drugs and showing up at all hours demanding food supposedly for "several" families but again likely taking it to resell for drug money.
In all of these instances Foster seems to get WAY overly involved with all of these people. I think her intentions were good but I worried for her family and the amount of potential danger she was exposing them to every day. Her food pantry eventually gets shut down when it's reported by another food pantry operator (apparently there is a lot of rivalry and competition between food pantry operators - who knew?!). While there was a lot of interesting information, a lot of the stories seemed pretty far out there. It seemed like she was addicted to chaos and got very quickly invested in all these people's lives more than she should have possibly. It seemed a little over the top to me. There was also a weird dichotomy between her vivid descriptions of all the ethnic food she made her family and the homeless or poverty-level people she was interacting with throughout the book. Overall, it was interesting but definitely a wild ride I wasn't totally expecting.
Some quotes I liked:
"Food can be a weapon. Food can be a way to control. And punish. And abuse. And force people to conform. The Meth Lunches with Charlie get me thinking about the severely wounded people in our new community and what food means and doesn't mean to them. I think about hoarding food. And giving food. And accepting food. And having no food at all. Food is a litmus test, I think. It must be. What we are eating and how we are eating tells us something integral about how we are doing, what our lives are like." (p. 29-30)
"Because humans need food, consistently, multiple times a day, food is one of the first ways children gauge how safe they are. Food, how much they get, when they get it, and how their caregiver provides for them when they cry out, sends a fundamental message about their worth in the world. That message is hardwired into their brain's pathways. It stays with them, always. Being fed consistently is safety." (p. 74)
"McDonald's offers something substantial to the communities it inhabits. For my son and many kids in the system, fast-food restaurants offer comfort. They provide consistency and permanence in their unpredictable lives. The burger always tastes the same. The nuggets. The fries. They never change. And wherever you go, whatever family takes you in this time, no matter how many times you move, the Play Place rocks the same colors. The same netting. The same slides and tunnels...Starbucks calls itself 'the third place,' the space we inhabit outside of home, work, school. But McDonald's is American's third place for a much larger, if less privileged, population...For the unhoused, addicted, and the hardest-struggling people in our communities, McDonald's offers luxuries, like Wi-Fi. Cheap food. Bathrooms. Outlets for phone charging. And a lenient staff who often allow people to hang out in booths, sipping coffee. It's a place to connect with other people, where no one will shoo you away." (p. 102-3)
In all of these instances Foster seems to get WAY overly involved with all of these people. I think her intentions were good but I worried for her family and the amount of potential danger she was exposing them to every day. Her food pantry eventually gets shut down when it's reported by another food pantry operator (apparently there is a lot of rivalry and competition between food pantry operators - who knew?!). While there was a lot of interesting information, a lot of the stories seemed pretty far out there. It seemed like she was addicted to chaos and got very quickly invested in all these people's lives more than she should have possibly. It seemed a little over the top to me. There was also a weird dichotomy between her vivid descriptions of all the ethnic food she made her family and the homeless or poverty-level people she was interacting with throughout the book. Overall, it was interesting but definitely a wild ride I wasn't totally expecting.
Some quotes I liked:
"Food can be a weapon. Food can be a way to control. And punish. And abuse. And force people to conform. The Meth Lunches with Charlie get me thinking about the severely wounded people in our new community and what food means and doesn't mean to them. I think about hoarding food. And giving food. And accepting food. And having no food at all. Food is a litmus test, I think. It must be. What we are eating and how we are eating tells us something integral about how we are doing, what our lives are like." (p. 29-30)
"Because humans need food, consistently, multiple times a day, food is one of the first ways children gauge how safe they are. Food, how much they get, when they get it, and how their caregiver provides for them when they cry out, sends a fundamental message about their worth in the world. That message is hardwired into their brain's pathways. It stays with them, always. Being fed consistently is safety." (p. 74)
"McDonald's offers something substantial to the communities it inhabits. For my son and many kids in the system, fast-food restaurants offer comfort. They provide consistency and permanence in their unpredictable lives. The burger always tastes the same. The nuggets. The fries. They never change. And wherever you go, whatever family takes you in this time, no matter how many times you move, the Play Place rocks the same colors. The same netting. The same slides and tunnels...Starbucks calls itself 'the third place,' the space we inhabit outside of home, work, school. But McDonald's is American's third place for a much larger, if less privileged, population...For the unhoused, addicted, and the hardest-struggling people in our communities, McDonald's offers luxuries, like Wi-Fi. Cheap food. Bathrooms. Outlets for phone charging. And a lenient staff who often allow people to hang out in booths, sipping coffee. It's a place to connect with other people, where no one will shoo you away." (p. 102-3)
February 11, 2024
The Meth Lunches is a beautifully-written, thought-provoking series of essays that center around the author's experiences living in Las Vegas and interacting with marginalized communities and individuals. In my opinion, the question at the center of all these stories is "what is the role of people with privilege and resources in helping those with less?"
Foster's answer to this question, as demonstrated through the many anecdotes in this book, is to take a very direct role in helping. The opening vignette is about a man who is addicted to meth and struggling to get clean who she and her husband help out by employing as a day laborer at their house, which works until it doesn't (she later reconnects with this man years later, where he admits that he used the money her family paid him to buy meth). The next few vignettes are about the Fosters' admirable decision to foster children, where they encounter the good, bad, and ugly of the social service system. Foster makes every effort to make sure the children she is fostering have connections with their biological families, going above and beyond to even arrange visits in jail. But it's a double-edged sword -- having witnessed domestic violence between the mother of one of her foster kids and this woman's partner during one of these visits, Foster is distraught to realize that she is legally required to report what she saw (being a mandated reporter), which results in negative repercussions for this mother and a bitter severing of their fledgling relationship. Later, Foster takes in two new foster kids from a drug-addicted young woman, whose parental rights are terminated as this woman continues to battle her addiction and who tragically passes away at the age of 26 from an overdose. Foster and her husband ultimately adopted these two kids. We learn during this part of the book that Foster herself is an adoptee from a 1960s/70s era closed adoption, though whether her personal history has motivated her personal fostering/adoption journey isn't elaborated upon.
The second half of the book centers around the food pantry that Foster set up in her front yard following the COVID lockdown. It started out with noble intentions, brought a community together, and helped feed many people in need, but like many good things, it evolved into a much more complicated situation. Foster realized as the pantry efforts continued that some people were taking food and selling it for drug money, and many others took advantage of her generosity by disrespecting her time, space, and boundaries. Ultimately the pantry was getting trashed nightly, neighbors expressed concern about how the neighborhood was negatively changing, and an anonymous caller notified the city of the pantry, which resulted in a shutdown order.
Foster doesn't offer blanket solutions to addressing poverty, addiction, homelessness, and mental health issues, because there aren't any. What she does offer is a complex, nuanced look at different factors -- historical, cultural, societal, pervasive-- that all combine to form the current landscape.
Further reading:
Bedlam: An Intimate Journey Into America's Mental Health Crisis
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
Foster's answer to this question, as demonstrated through the many anecdotes in this book, is to take a very direct role in helping. The opening vignette is about a man who is addicted to meth and struggling to get clean who she and her husband help out by employing as a day laborer at their house, which works until it doesn't (she later reconnects with this man years later, where he admits that he used the money her family paid him to buy meth). The next few vignettes are about the Fosters' admirable decision to foster children, where they encounter the good, bad, and ugly of the social service system. Foster makes every effort to make sure the children she is fostering have connections with their biological families, going above and beyond to even arrange visits in jail. But it's a double-edged sword -- having witnessed domestic violence between the mother of one of her foster kids and this woman's partner during one of these visits, Foster is distraught to realize that she is legally required to report what she saw (being a mandated reporter), which results in negative repercussions for this mother and a bitter severing of their fledgling relationship. Later, Foster takes in two new foster kids from a drug-addicted young woman, whose parental rights are terminated as this woman continues to battle her addiction and who tragically passes away at the age of 26 from an overdose. Foster and her husband ultimately adopted these two kids. We learn during this part of the book that Foster herself is an adoptee from a 1960s/70s era closed adoption, though whether her personal history has motivated her personal fostering/adoption journey isn't elaborated upon.
The second half of the book centers around the food pantry that Foster set up in her front yard following the COVID lockdown. It started out with noble intentions, brought a community together, and helped feed many people in need, but like many good things, it evolved into a much more complicated situation. Foster realized as the pantry efforts continued that some people were taking food and selling it for drug money, and many others took advantage of her generosity by disrespecting her time, space, and boundaries. Ultimately the pantry was getting trashed nightly, neighbors expressed concern about how the neighborhood was negatively changing, and an anonymous caller notified the city of the pantry, which resulted in a shutdown order.
Foster doesn't offer blanket solutions to addressing poverty, addiction, homelessness, and mental health issues, because there aren't any. What she does offer is a complex, nuanced look at different factors -- historical, cultural, societal, pervasive-- that all combine to form the current landscape.
Further reading:
Bedlam: An Intimate Journey Into America's Mental Health Crisis
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
September 2, 2023
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.
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.
March 8, 2023
I admit that I was attracted to this book by both the title and the cover. I think it is one of the best titles I've seen. But it really doesn't give you much of a clue on what the book is about. That might just be masterful because it is difficult to sum it up. These are not complaints; this is already a strong candidate for my favorite book of the year!
My daughter lived in Las Vegas for a few years, but Foster presents a totally different Las Vegas from the one we normally "see." Her life is a bit of a circus itself and there are vivid descriptions of the people she meets and the food she cooks. Yet, it is also a deep dive into the problems our society faces with the folks that are not Well. She adeptly tackles some of these issues by providing a food pantry in front of her house during the pandemic. There are successes and there are challenges--and there are failures. Foster shares them all. Her energy for all of it is astounding.
This book is an eye opener. Every American needs to read it for themselves and think about how they can be part of the solution.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's a significant read and I hope it shoots to the top of the best sellers' lists.
My daughter lived in Las Vegas for a few years, but Foster presents a totally different Las Vegas from the one we normally "see." Her life is a bit of a circus itself and there are vivid descriptions of the people she meets and the food she cooks. Yet, it is also a deep dive into the problems our society faces with the folks that are not Well. She adeptly tackles some of these issues by providing a food pantry in front of her house during the pandemic. There are successes and there are challenges--and there are failures. Foster shares them all. Her energy for all of it is astounding.
This book is an eye opener. Every American needs to read it for themselves and think about how they can be part of the solution.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's a significant read and I hope it shoots to the top of the best sellers' lists.
January 1, 2024
2/5 stars. Ebook. This book popped up on the cloudLibrary app and I decided to give it a try. This book is not all that it seems. It is called The Meth Lunches, but that subject does not really encompass the whole book. It is more about the author, her adopted kids, cherry picked quotes, and the people she has met living in Las Vegas. I’m sure the author writes better about food, considering she has won a James Beard award, but this book made me feel like she has white savior complex. She wants to come across as caring and understanding to those in need, but the book makes it seem as though she is just collecting these people for their stories.
I’m not entirely sure a lot of the stories told actually happened. She also inserts all the food she prepares, making sure the reader understands that she is well-versed in cultural foods. It has a detached feeling throughout. The quotes chosen only show what she wants the reader to see. I enjoyed very few parts of the book, but overall I would not recommend. It is a rambling book that makes no real point, in my opinion. It’s just a bored white lady in the desert trying to hide her very obvious privilege.
I’m not entirely sure a lot of the stories told actually happened. She also inserts all the food she prepares, making sure the reader understands that she is well-versed in cultural foods. It has a detached feeling throughout. The quotes chosen only show what she wants the reader to see. I enjoyed very few parts of the book, but overall I would not recommend. It is a rambling book that makes no real point, in my opinion. It’s just a bored white lady in the desert trying to hide her very obvious privilege.
May 5, 2024
I’m not sure this book’s title does justice to the content.
This is a hard read. An important read. A tragic, beautiful, hopeful, heartfelt read.
Throughout this book, we look at generational abuse, trauma, the effects of hunger and starvation, foster children, and adoption. Within all that is one woman’s mission to help her community by supplying food and restoring dignity to those in need.
If we all cared about our communities a fraction as much as Kim Foster, the world would be a much kinder place.
I alternated between reading the ebook and listening to the audiobook. The audio production is extremely well done.
*I received an eARC (which I’m inexcusably late getting to) from St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley.*
This is a hard read. An important read. A tragic, beautiful, hopeful, heartfelt read.
Throughout this book, we look at generational abuse, trauma, the effects of hunger and starvation, foster children, and adoption. Within all that is one woman’s mission to help her community by supplying food and restoring dignity to those in need.
If we all cared about our communities a fraction as much as Kim Foster, the world would be a much kinder place.
I alternated between reading the ebook and listening to the audiobook. The audio production is extremely well done.
*I received an eARC (which I’m inexcusably late getting to) from St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley.*
September 6, 2024
Very torn between “this lady is insane / privileged / insane” and “wow I wish I had her courage / energy / vitality” to reach out to the unhoused / mentally ill / struggling the way she does — I THINK she is well informed (did not check her sources myself) and the anecdotal pieces ring true.
I also feel bad for her kids? I don’t know, seems like they would necessarily bear the brunt of her crusades…
I DO think this could have benefited from ONE MORE round of editing for repetition.
I also feel bad for her kids? I don’t know, seems like they would necessarily bear the brunt of her crusades…
I DO think this could have benefited from ONE MORE round of editing for repetition.
February 4, 2024
If you’re going to read one NF book this year, make it this one.
A look at addiction, incarceration, adoption & fostering, homelessness, and mental health through the lens of food.
“Turns out that feeding people is love. Not the food itself. Love is the act of feeding someone.”
A look at addiction, incarceration, adoption & fostering, homelessness, and mental health through the lens of food.
“Turns out that feeding people is love. Not the food itself. Love is the act of feeding someone.”
April 11, 2024
I absolutely loved this book.
I honestly feel it should be required reading.
The beauty of nonfiction is that it takes our realities and forces us into new perspectives and perceptions we may never have otherwise had.
The Meth Lunches is the pinnacle of this idea, especially for those who live in the U.S.
Kim Foster compiles anecdotal essays of her life living in Las Vegas, Nevada before and throughout the pandemic.
Her stories, experiences, & relationships span arrays of addiction, mental illness, homelessness, foster care, trauma of all types, prison problems, & the ways in which food is visceral and vital to the wellness of these vulnerable populations, and to all people.
Food is connection. Connection to survival, security, freedom, dignity, & worthiness. It is something nobody should have to beg for or be turned away from. It is a human right.
Foster is a grade A exemplary human being who embraces humanity, consistently challenges and evolves her mindset. Wearing her heart on her sleeve with willingness to learn, offer and give, & also to set healthy boundaries, she is a humble and strong ideal of what we all should strive for. Her experiences are her own, but they also offer such a vast plethora of takeaways and lessons— Foster tells her stories with ease and palatable flow. She does not share her thoughts with any hint of sitting on a pedestal, but very much from that of an honest & empathetic peer.
I have so much introspection to conduct on some of these topics brought up in this book, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity for my frame of mind to be both challenged and broadened.
At its core, this book is a beautiful commentary on the power of community, care, & compassion towards our most vulnerable human neighbors: the ways in which food is universal and vital to the wellbeing, healing, and thriving of a person. It is a book of bumpy roads, imperfections, relapses, rock bottoms, unconditional and unbiased care, and of fighting against all odds, and sometimes beating them. I loved everything about this book, and I think absolutely everyone should read it.
I honestly feel it should be required reading.
The beauty of nonfiction is that it takes our realities and forces us into new perspectives and perceptions we may never have otherwise had.
The Meth Lunches is the pinnacle of this idea, especially for those who live in the U.S.
Kim Foster compiles anecdotal essays of her life living in Las Vegas, Nevada before and throughout the pandemic.
Her stories, experiences, & relationships span arrays of addiction, mental illness, homelessness, foster care, trauma of all types, prison problems, & the ways in which food is visceral and vital to the wellness of these vulnerable populations, and to all people.
Food is connection. Connection to survival, security, freedom, dignity, & worthiness. It is something nobody should have to beg for or be turned away from. It is a human right.
Foster is a grade A exemplary human being who embraces humanity, consistently challenges and evolves her mindset. Wearing her heart on her sleeve with willingness to learn, offer and give, & also to set healthy boundaries, she is a humble and strong ideal of what we all should strive for. Her experiences are her own, but they also offer such a vast plethora of takeaways and lessons— Foster tells her stories with ease and palatable flow. She does not share her thoughts with any hint of sitting on a pedestal, but very much from that of an honest & empathetic peer.
I have so much introspection to conduct on some of these topics brought up in this book, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity for my frame of mind to be both challenged and broadened.
At its core, this book is a beautiful commentary on the power of community, care, & compassion towards our most vulnerable human neighbors: the ways in which food is universal and vital to the wellbeing, healing, and thriving of a person. It is a book of bumpy roads, imperfections, relapses, rock bottoms, unconditional and unbiased care, and of fighting against all odds, and sometimes beating them. I loved everything about this book, and I think absolutely everyone should read it.
January 28, 2024
This is a remarkable book by a remarkable person. I'm someone who's philanthropic, but I live in a bubble of privilege, in a remote area far from urban issues of homelessness and addiction, although my community confronts income inequality and food insecurity. This book is a must-read wakeup for healthy, financially secure people like me. We can't all be like Kim Foster (is it just coincidence her last name is "Foster"?); we can't all adopt foster children and set up food pantries on our front yard to feed addicts, mentally ill, and homeless people. But we can try to be a little more like her. These sentences from her final chapter hit me: "People who are doing okay need to get out into our communities and be there for people who are in crisis, even if those relationships are uncomfortable, messy, and difficult. How? Food is always a solid gateway to making this connection happen."
Her chapters spotlight and humanize people we'd rather not see—the addicts, the traumatized abusers and abused, the street people, the schizophrenics and other mentally ill (most people fall into several of these categories, and she shows how their issues and circumstances are related). She puts herself out there in a big way. But this is not her story; she doesn't turn it into a memoir. We only get hints at her background; e.g. she was adopted. And she is self-reflective, catching herself falling into "saviorism" and thoughtfully questioning her motives in taking in and helping all these people, and struggling to set boundaries with them. While this may sound like an overwhelmingly heavy book, it ends with a story of hope, and it's a compelling quick read due to her blunt writing style (short paragraphs made of short sentences, often structured as litanies of details). I've barely said anything about her food writing, but the food carries the book—the inspiring details of all the ethnic dishes she cooks and describes. Also, I soaked up her descriptions of living in the desert and shining a light on the undersides of glitzy Vegas. I'm grateful to Kim Foster and glad I found this book.
Her chapters spotlight and humanize people we'd rather not see—the addicts, the traumatized abusers and abused, the street people, the schizophrenics and other mentally ill (most people fall into several of these categories, and she shows how their issues and circumstances are related). She puts herself out there in a big way. But this is not her story; she doesn't turn it into a memoir. We only get hints at her background; e.g. she was adopted. And she is self-reflective, catching herself falling into "saviorism" and thoughtfully questioning her motives in taking in and helping all these people, and struggling to set boundaries with them. While this may sound like an overwhelmingly heavy book, it ends with a story of hope, and it's a compelling quick read due to her blunt writing style (short paragraphs made of short sentences, often structured as litanies of details). I've barely said anything about her food writing, but the food carries the book—the inspiring details of all the ethnic dishes she cooks and describes. Also, I soaked up her descriptions of living in the desert and shining a light on the undersides of glitzy Vegas. I'm grateful to Kim Foster and glad I found this book.
June 15, 2025
Even without knowing the author's background, I could tell she was a food writer because of the loving, detailed way she describes food. There were some times where it felt a little tone deaf for her to be describing in detail the lavish food she was going to cook while talking about people who had no access to such things. But overall, I found the author to have a compassionate viewpoint, and I liked the way that she pointed out structural issues and biases that lead into the homelessness and addiction crisis. I appreciated her own experiences and how she backed up her beliefs with actions when it came to the people in her community. She pointed out the benefits as well as challenges of having a community that cares for everyone. I feel like I got a lot of insight into how systems of oppression work (especially in Vegas), and I learned some new things about food culture in prisons and mental institutions. The audiobook is well read too. If you can get around a few tone-deaf moments (especially if you yourself have experienced food insecurity or poverty), I think it's worth reading if you have an interest in the topic.
November 12, 2023
Wow, this beautiful book packs a punch while discussing the complex issues facing this country from homelessness, food insecurity, and drug addiction. Kim breaks it down from her perspective as a mother with a big heart in a city with so many open wounds. She is both an outsider and an insider as she navigates the world of Vegas as a newcomer and resident. She moves into spaces where the working poor mingle with drug addiction and chronic health issues. Many do not gain access to these places and Kim reports on them with care and caution. Her writing has many citations to back up what she describes in her world.
Some of the stories she shares are painful to read about, but hard to put down. There are moments of levity mixed in too (like her cookbook club 'Please Send Noodles' and when he son made a bed out of bags of surplus beans, I laughed!).
Riveting book that I highly recommend. Should be required reading for Congress because they are the ones who could make change for people who need it.
Some of the stories she shares are painful to read about, but hard to put down. There are moments of levity mixed in too (like her cookbook club 'Please Send Noodles' and when he son made a bed out of bags of surplus beans, I laughed!).
Riveting book that I highly recommend. Should be required reading for Congress because they are the ones who could make change for people who need it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews