Words/Food With Friends: A Book Review

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately, for my own enjoyment as well as studies. One of those enjoyment books was A Sampling of Life, One Taste at a Time: A Food Memoir, which my college friend Martha Wallace published this year (available on Amazon here!). What a wonderful, and tasty, read! The book focuses on both events from Martha’s life, and the recipes connected to her memories. It spans many locations, from Georgia to Africa and Spain, and memories sweet, salty, and bitter.

Me and Martha outside of Oviedo, 2014

From a technical perspective, one of my favorite things about Martha’s book is its imagery. When she describes her grandfather’s garden, I smell the flowers and taste the vegetables. I can visualize her family barbecue, her and her sons baking in the kitchen. As a writer myself, I know that imagery and description are hard to get right. Just the correct amount of detail is needed: too much, and you lose the reader in the weeds; too little, and no one can picture what you describe. Martha gets it right, a skill I admire.
I also enjoyed the stories on a more personal level. I grew up in rural South Georgia, surrounded by the kinds of foods Martha writes about. Fresh garden veggies, barbecue, fried chicken. We were also Madrid roommates during the Spain trip, in July 2014, and our hosts in Oviedo lived close to one another. Most of my Spain memories have Martha in them: soaking our feet after Toledo’s murderous cobblestones; using the WiFi and having churros con chocolate in our neighborhood; and the Spanish/Asturiano classics she writes about in her book, tortilla española and sídra. (My own host family’s recipe for tortilla is below.) I will always be grateful we shared not just the trip, but time at Agnes Scott College laughing and learning together.

Our ASC in Spain group (Martha in the center front, me front right)

Finally, Martha’s memoir struck me as the perfect read for our current times. Between the pandemic, police brutality, and civil unrest resulting from both, things are not the greatest times we’ve ever had. But in her writing, Martha teaches that food can be one of the best comforts and bonds between people. Her recipes all have a story, connected with both good times and bad. In a deeply divided world, perhaps we could all use a moment to sit down together over some sídra or homemade barbecue. I highly recommend A Sampling of Life, One Taste at a Time to anyone wanting to think about the joys and deep comforts of food we love, and people we love connected to it.

Traditional tortilla (mine is thinner)

Tortilla española: Serves 6

Ingredients:

7 eggs, beaten
1 russet or 2-4 gold potatoes, diced and peeled if you use the russet
1 yellow or white onion, chopped
Olive oil
Salt

Heat up some olive oil in a large pan with a lid, and saute the onion and potatoes to desired softness. My host family preferred the potatoes on the firmer side. Season the mix throughout with salt.
When the onions and potatoes are done, scrape them into the bowl with the eggs and heat a little more oil in the pan. Pour the mixture into the pan, cover with the lid, and cook on low for 12 minutes. A more traditional way is to flip the half-cooked tortilla onto a plate and slide back into the pan, but if you have weaker wrists (like me), this is very tricky!

Possible Variants: Add garlic, Italian spices, pepper, red onions or potatoes...pretty much anything goes. You can also put cooked meat into the tortilla; my host Eloina made a bacalao (cod) tortilla that was to die for.