Knisley, daughter of a chef mother and gourmand father, had the kind of upbringing that would make any foodie salivate, and she's happy to share. In this collection of memories studded with recipes, she explores how food shaped her family life, friendships, travel experiences, and early career as a cartoonist. Loosely connected chapters chart a child- and young adulthood surrounded by cooks and bakers, bouncing between Manhattan kitchens and upstate farmhouses, and through art school and the booming culinary scene in Chicago. Knisley's artwork has a classic, Richard Scarry vibe, and her illustrated recipes om a family-special leg of lamb and huevos rancheros to the trick for perfectly sautéed mushrooms e particularly delightful and inventive. Knisley tempers any navel-gazing impulses with humor, humility, and honesty, noting, for example, that even someone who loves fine food can still put away a truckload of McDonald's fries from time to time. Just about everything in this rambling memoir is handled with good cheer, which hints at the positive energy and personal fulfillment Knisley has wrought from her young life in food.

-When we eat, we take in more than just sustenance,- writes Knisley (French Milk) in this nostalgic and funny food-centric memoir, and it-s a fitting motto for the book and for anyone who takes even the slightest pleasure in cooking and, more importantly, eating. Having grown up surrounded by delicious food, thanks to her gourmand father and earthy superchef mother, Knisley looks back on her childhood and adolescence through her roving palette and voracious appetite for new tastes and experiences. With each memory Knisley shares, she shows that life, like a good meal, should be savored and that all food-even junk food-is more than -just fuel.- For those uninitiated in the mysterious art of pickling, the nuance of cheese, or making sangria (yes, a couple cocktail recipes appear), Knisley-s candid storytelling, deadpan humor, and clear-line cartooning make the book entirely accessible, extinguishing the pretensions that sometimes predominate the culinary world. Like a giant bowl of spaghetti carbonara or tower of huevos rancheros (recipes included), this is a book that teenagers and parents will savor in equal measure. Ages 15-up. Agent: Holly Bemiss, Susan Rabiner Literary Agency. (Apr.) -