A Running List of Food and Grief Writing

Where there is grief, there is food.

Writing about food and grief matters.

People’s relationship with food is a major, but under-examined, aspect of grief. The Food + Grief Project wants to remedy that. Our running list of food and grief writing is one way. Interviews and recipes are another.

In addition to our own recipes, essays, and other content exploring the relationship between loss and food, the Food + Grief Project happily celebrates and promotes others’ work on this topic.

To that end, here is:

The Food + Grief Project’s Running List of Food and Grief Writing and Media

• Crying in H Mart, Zauner, M. (Knopf 2021)
• The Storied Recipe podcast: “A Sacred Conversation With Diana Silva (Molé Mama),” Hadeed, Becky.
• “Butter, Sugar, and a Tablespoon of Grief,” Shapland, J., The New York Times (Dec. 24, 2020).
• “With Grief Comes Food,” Rapoport, A., Bon Appetit (Jan. 28, 2020).
• “For Many Widows, the Hardest Part Is Mealtime,” Nierenberg, A., The New York Times (Oct. 29, 2019).
• “To commemorate a loved one’s death, some turn to the comfort and memories of food,” Hartke, K. Washington Post (June 3, 2019).
• “Raw Grief,” Podcast, BBC’s The Food Chain (Sept. 9, 2018).
• “Widowed: Food After Loss,” Podcast, BBC’s The Food Chain (Sept. 9, 2018).
• “Crying in H Mart,” Zauner, M. The New Yorker (Aug. 20, 2018).
• “The Bread I Still Can’t Bear to Bake,” Kolb, L. Modern Loss (April 27, 2018).
• “A Widow’s Food Guide to Grief,” Kolb, L., The Washington Post (Mar. 27, 2018).
• “Turning Down the Nachos (aka Managing Grief and Comfort Eating),” What’s Your Grief? (Mar. 28, 2017).
• Culinary Grief Therapy, Nickrand, H. et al. (2017).
• “Food During Times of Grief,” Rhodes, J. Smithsonian.com (Nov. 1, 2012).
• “When Grief Strikes, Food Can Be a Gift From the Gods,” Ferguson, D., The Guardian (Jul. 16, 2016).
• “The Gift of Food: What to Give to Those Who Have Lost Loved Ones,” McWilliams, S., Cooking Light (Oct. 17, 2015).
• “Love, Loss, and Fruit Salad,” McWilliams, S., Cooking Light (Oct. 16, 2015).
• The Pleasures of Cooking for One, Jones, J. (2009).

Food and Grief Instagram Accounts of Note:

• https://www.instagram.com/griefeats/
• https://www.instagram.com/griefhungry/
• https://www.instagram.com/whatsyourgrief/
• https://www.instagram.com/thedinnerparty/

Additional resources related to food and grief:

• The Dinner Party: A potluck dinner group for 20- and 30-somethings who have experienced close loss.
• Processing: A podcast by chef and Life’s A Banquet podcast host Zahra Tangorra and her mother Bobbie, a bereavement therapist. The podcast explores a diverse set of topics around food and grief in a conversational but insightful way.

These lists are updated as often as possible, so check back now and again.

Do you know of any good writing or resources about food and grief? Tell us in the comments, below.