Hannah Hart - My Drunk Kitchen A Guide to Eating, Drinking, and Going with Your Gut

BY JOHN GREEN

All the great food writersfrom MFK Fisher to Julia Childhave understood that cooking and eating are not just about sustenance. We bring to our food all that is inside of usthe joy and the grief, and at times the intoxicationand the food is changed by the spirit in which we prepare it. I still remember the saddest peanut butter and jelly sandwich I ever made: I was twenty-two. My longtime girlfriend had dumped me. I had no career prospects and no money. I was living in a walk-in closet in a basement apartment in Chicago. A few days earlier, Id reached for my box of Cheerios and the box jumped, because it contained a mouse.

I also remember the happiest PBJ of my life: Days after getting engaged, my now wife and I were in her apartment, drinking way too much wine, looking through her fridge for something we could make together.

Precisely the same ingredients resulted, of course, in vastly different sandwiches. The saddest PBJ superglued my tongue to the roof of my mouth with peanut butter, and the bread had all the flavor of construction paper. The happiest PBJ tasted like rainbows and roses. And this is the wonder of Hannah Harts drunk kitchen: Whether you are deep in sadness or the happiest youve ever been, Hannah Hart knows how to make it better. She makes you feel less alone in the dark night of the soul, and even more joyful in the good times.

Hannahs YouTube channel rocketed to popularity not merely because she is punnily hilarious and knows how to make a fine drunken meal, but because like all the best food writers, in the process of teaching us how to cook she teaches us something about how to live. Hannahs fans are motivated by their love for her and for each other to raise money for charity and to volunteer in food kitchens around the world. We feel better about being ourselves because of her.

Food, when wielded properly, can make us more caring and generous. And no one understands this better than Hannah Hart. So yes, this book is hilarious, and you will enjoy every page of it. But make no mistake: Beneath it all lies the message that we must love ourselves and one another, and that together we can make it through.

Youre a narcissist, right?

Good. Because this book is about you.

Well, its really about me. But its about me and you. So does that work the same way? I hope so, because this book is about self-improvement and maybe it can improve itself as it goes along. Has a cookbook ever been self-aware? If not, this may be one of the first occasions for it.

This book is also about self-preservation. Or self-preservatives. Or preservatives. Like jam. You think that a delicious jelly snack is ever crippled by self-doubt? Nope. And you shouldnt be either.

But defeating self-doubt isnt the only thing youll learn in this catalog of delights! Here you will find out how to encourage your guests to get creative with their libations ().

This book will open up your eyes to strengths within you and around you that you may have never seen. For example, have you ever really thought about the structural integrity of a sandwich?

You see, a sandwich has the ability to combine all these varying elements of life to manifest a singular creation. The sandwich is composed of many seemingly opposing parts. Youve got the lettuce and tomato (which is the smarts), the cheese (which is the sexually arousing part), the butter (lube), and the bread (thats like our skin, it keeps our insides from ending up in a big sloppy mess on the floor... though if your sandwich is already on the floor, then you should probably eat that. Like right now. Thats the safest thing that you can do. Too much time has passed already to think about making another. Everyone is looking. Wait. Okay go now.). A sandwich comes into being and exists with you without judgment. Its presence in your life is only to coat the stomach lining of your soul so that the harsh spices of reality dont make your heart burn. And we musnt judge each others sandwiches. Or anything that we create. And frankly, as long as the sandwich of my life isnt fucking your wife or punching you in the face, I think that youve got nothing bad to say about the things that I do. (P.S. If Ive done either of those things, then consider this my formal apology, Tim. I mean, nobody.)

So, as is clearly stated with my flawless sandwich analogy, this book is going to show you a different way of looking at things. Cookbooks especially.

And ultimately, my goal is that by the end of reading this book you will have learned a thing or two about how to follow your heart.

But first youll have to trust your gut.