Hungry Eyes

What happens at your kitchen table can become the blueprint for everything you are. Did you sit alone or with people you loved? Was it fun or tense? Was someone working hard to stop you noticing someone else's mood?

Did you take it for granted, or know someone had busted their balls to make it happen? Was the food thoughtful and delicious, or bland and functional? Was the plate laid down with love or anger?

It all matters. It all stays with us.

I think about this every single day.

For years, Dawn O’Porter thought that fulfilment lived somewhere glamorous: in success, recognition, and a life turned up to full volume. Somewhere between grieving loss, learning to cook something vaguely nutritious, Hollywood dreams, raising children, writing bestselling fiction – and occasionally eating Wotsits for dinner – Dawn discovered that the real spotlight wasn’t out there.

It was actually here, in her kitchen, where daily rhythms and chaos, small disappointments and big wins played out, often erupting into a raucous party. Through the meals that nourished, impressed or perhaps sometimes barely registered, food became her stage, where she made sense of life and discovered her love language.

Hungry Eyes is a memoir of identity, tracing a path through the moments and meals that shape who we become, and the ingredients we use to gradually build a life. Dawn explores the lifelong pressure to ‘bring something to the table’, and how it determines who we think we are.

What happens when we finally take our seat at our own table – and what if the thing you’ve been chasing your whole life was already sitting right there?

Reviews

'Absolutely gorgeous. A book that will both make you want to cook, and be Dawn O'Porter's friend' CAITLYN MORAN

‘Dawn O'Porter knows it's never just dinner. It's memory, celebration and care, all piled on the same plate. Having watched Dawn cook, she serves her story exactly the same way: vividly and with just enough chaos to make it delicious' GRACE DENT

‘An intimate look back at the life and (ahem) thymes of one of our most gifted writer/ cooks. What Marcel Proust did for the madeleine, Dawn has done for macaroni cheese (and a few other dishes) – using them to conjure into life her loves and her heartbreaks. Dawn writes like she cooks – with love. Indecently moreish’ LOUIS THEROUX

'Compulsively readable – like Wotsits, I just couldn’t put it down…' FELICITY CLOAKE

‘For anyone who knows there is a sixth, unspoken love language – food and feeding people – this is for you. For us, food is love, something Dawn O’Porter inherently understands. This book and its recipes are heartfelt, heart-filled, and delicious in every way’ JANE GREEN

About the author

DAWN O’PORTER is the Sunday Times, million-copy-bestselling author of books including; Paper Aeroplanes, Goose, The Cows, So Lucky, Life in Pieces, Cat Lady and Honeybee. A full-time writer, Dawn is also well known for her TV work, journalism, podcasting, designs for Joanie Clothing, and as the co-founder of Choose Love. After years living in LA, Dawn recently resettled in the UK with her husband Chris, her two boys Art and Valentine, and a whole menagerie of animals.

Instagram @hotpatooties