S5 Ep9: Writing About Living with Thea Lenarduzzi

The writer and editor Thea Lenarduzzi talks about her book Dandelions; a family history of migration, cooking, living.

So much of personal writing in food focuses on heritage and family - and rightly so! But - down, no doubt to the very white, middle class status quo - there can be a tendency towards simplification - of dishes, or even a narrative, a family’s history. What Dandelions does so well is capture how much of people’s lives rests in the spaces between, resisting categorisation and definition, and even slipping between fact and fiction, but in a way that remains always true and always significant, even in the so-called mundanity of everyday life.

Dandelions is out now, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

This is the second of three episodes this month about contemporary personal food writing and memoir. The first can be found here.

Ben McDonald creates original illustrations for Lecker - find them on the Lecker Twitter and Instagram.

If you’re in a position to, please considering supporting Lecker. Buy merch here and become a Patron at patreon.com/leckerpodcast. This month's exclusive episode will include more from this conversation with Thea!

You can find out more about how to support Lecker (including one-off donations) at leckerpodcast.com/support.

Music is by Blue Dot Sessions.

Full transcript on the Lecker website.