Overview

A singular, powerfully expressive debut memoir that traces one chef's struggle to find her place and what happens once she does Burn the Place is a galvanizing culinary memoir that chronicles Iliana Regan's journey from foraging on the family farm to opening her Michelin-starred restaurant, Elizabeth. Her story is alive with startling imagery, raw like that first bite of wild onion, and told with uncommon emotional power. It's a sure bet to be one of the most important new memoirs of 2019. Regan grew up the youngest of four headstrong girls on a small farm in Northwest Indiana. Even when she was picking raspberries as a toddler still in diapers, Regan understood to pick only the ripe fruit and leave the rest for another day. In the family's leaf-strewn fields, the orange flutes of chanterelles seemed to beckon her, while they eluded others. Regan has always had an intense, almost otherworldly connection with food and earth. Connecting with people, however, has always been harder. As she learned to cook in the farmhouse, got her first job in a professional kitchen at age fifteen, taught herself cutting-edge cuisine while running her ""new forager"" underground supper club, and worked her way from front-of-house staff to running her own kitchen, Regan often felt that she ""wasn't made for this world."" She was a little girl who longed to be a boy, gay in an intolerant community, an alcoholic before she turned twenty, a woman in an industry dominated by men. Burn the Place will introduce listeners to an important new voice from the American culinary scene, an underrepresented perspective from the professional kitchen, and a young star chef whose prose is as memorable and deserving of praise as her food.

Full Product Details

9781982647742

Table of Contents

Reviews

A chef-savant unlike any other. -- Eater

With this deeply personal work, Iliana reminds us that there is great strength in vulnerability. Her story is one of resilience, determination, and vision. -- Rene Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark Regan is out to shake up the literary world in the same ways she's shaken the culinary world. Unexpected, flavorful, and distinctive, Burn the Place is a debut to savor. -- Beth Ann Fennelly, author of Heating & Cooling Regan's wild rags-to-Michelin story has appeal far beyond the 'foodie' market, particularly among those hungry for tales of unapologetic women who have made it entirely on their own terms. -- Gina Frangello, author of Every Kind of Wanting Iliana Regan writes the way she cooks: with a voice that's bold and soulful, tender and tough, impossible to ignore, and utterly her own. -- Jeff Gordinier, author of Hungry Foodies will appreciate this blistering yet tender story of a woman transforming Midwestern cooking, in a fresh voice all her own. -- Publishers Weekly

Author Information

Iliana Regan is a self-taught chef and the founder and owner of the Michelin-starred restaurant Elizabeth in Chicago. A James Beard Award and Jean Banchet Award nominee, Regan was named one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs of 2016. Eileen Stevens is a voice-over actress living and working in New York City whose voice can be heard on cartoons, promos, programs for English-language learners, and audiobooks. She has voiced Iris on Pokémon. An Earphones Award-winning narrator, she has also directed and produced audiobooks for over six years.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available