Kitchens of the Great Midwest

in and carry on the brutal Scandinavian tradition for the benefit of the entire Twin Ports region.

Never mind that neither Gustaf, his wife, Elin, nor his children had ever even seen a live whitefish before, much less caught one, pounded it, dried it, soaked it in lye, resoaked it in cold water, or done the careful cooking required to make something that, when perfectly prepared, looked like jellied smog and smelled like boiled aquarium water. Since everyone in the house was equally unqualified for the job, the work fell to Lars, age twelve, and his younger brother Jarl, age ten, sparing the youngest sibling, nine-year-old Sigmund, but only because he actually liked the stuff.

If Lars and Jarl don t like it, Gustaf told Elin, I can count on them not to eat any. It ll eliminate loss and breakage.

Gustaf was satisfied with this reasoning, and while Elin still thought it was a mean thing to do to their young sons, she said nothing. Theirs was a mixed-race marriage between a Norwegian and a Dane and thus all things culturally important to one but not the other were given a free pass and critiqued only in unmixed company.

       

Yearly intimate contact with their cultural heritage failed to evolve the Thorvald boys sensibilities. Jarl, who still ate his own snot, much preferred the taste of boogers to lutefisk, given that the consistency and color were the same. Lars, meanwhile, was stumped by the old Scandinavian women who walked up to him in church and said, Any young man who makes lutefisk like you do is going to be quite popular with the ladies. In Lars s experience, lutefisk skills usually inspired revulsion or, at best, indifference among prospective dates. Even the girls who claimed they liked lutefisk

Tampa Bay Times

Foodies and those who love contemporary literature will devour this novel that is being compared to Elizabeth Strout s Olive Kitteridge. A standout. Library Journal (starred review)

[Kitchens of the Great Midwest is] the first novel about the emergence and current state of foodie culture Fundamentally, [it s] about what happens when opposing personalities coexist: those who bake with real butter versus those who don t, those who obsess over heirloom tomatoes alongside those who don t even know what they are. It uses these categories as a way to look at one of the most confusing, liberating truths there is, which is that often the people we think we re the least like are the ones we end up needing the most. Book Forum

[A] delicious debut from Stradal.. . Food and family intertwine in this promising debut that features triumph, heartbreak, and even recipes. Kirkus

Stradal s first novel is a refreshing and brisk read, with a sophisticated sense of such glories of foodie culture as open-pollinated heirloom corn, pan-seared Walleye and Caesar Cardini s original Caesar Salad. BBC.com


Stradal s debut is charming, rife with hardy, self-deprecating humor, but in Kitchens of the Great Midwest [Stradal] really proves his mettle as a novelist to look out for. Bustle.com 

Kitchens of the Great Midwest is a big-hearted, funny, and class-transcending pleasure. It s also both a structural and empathetic tour de force, stepping across worlds in the American midwest, and demonstrating with an enviable tenderness and ingenuity the tug of war between our freedom to pursue our passions and our obligations to those we love. Jim Shepard, author of Project X and National Book Award finalist Like You d Understand, Anyway

Tender, funny, and moving, J. Ryan Stradal's debut novel made me crave my mother's magic cookie bars...and every good tomato I've ever had the privilege of eating. Kitchens of the Great Midwest manages to be at once sincere yet sharply observed, thoughtful yet swiftly paced, and the lives of its fallible, realistic, and complicated characters mattered to me deeply. It's a fantastic book. Edan Lepucki, bestselling author of California
 
In Kitchens of the Great Midwest, a charming, fast-moving round robin tale of food, sensuality and Midwestern culture, Mr. Stradal has delivered one extremely tasty, well-seasoned debut in what is sure to be a long and savory career. Janet Fitch, author White Oleander
 
From the quite literally burning passions of a lonely eleven-year-old girl with an exceptional palate, to the ethical dilemmas behind a batch of Blue Ribbon Peanut Butter Bars, J. Ryan Stradal writes with a special kind of meticulous tenderness missing nothing and accepting everything. A superbly gratifying debut. Meg Howrey, author of The Crane s Dance
 
"An impossible-to-put-down, one-of-a-kind novel. The prose is beautiful, the characters memorable, and the plot is surprising at every turn. I have never read a book quite like this and neither, I'll bet, have you. This stunning debut announces J. Ryan Stradal as a first-rate voice in American fiction. This is a wildly creative, stunningly original, and very moving novel. I can't wait to see what Stradal does next." Rob Roberge, author of The Cost of Living
 
"A Great American Novel in the fullest sense of the term. Everything you want a book to be." Ben Loory, author of Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day