Over the holidays I read Kim Foster’s memoir, The Meth Lunches. Kim is a food writer living in Las Vegas who writes about “people and the intersection of food and mental illness, family separation, poverty, addiction, trauma and incarceration.” Heavy for a holiday. But she also writes about friendship, connection and food in the most refreshingly educational way. The book begins during the pandemic with Kim feeding her meth-addicted handyman lunch on their back patio. It was a steamed pork bun, or something equally effortful and flavourful that made me want to pull up a chair and share in the conversation. This relationship cracked open a larger understanding of who he was, where he came from, and what it meant to live as an addict in Los Vegas. This led to a community fridge in her front garden providing food for anyone who needed it. In the process she met, fed, fostered and adopted children who were born addicted and afflicted by poverty and drug use in her community. Kim didn’t just tell someone’s story, she became the story.
Imagine a world filled with Kims. What a place it would be.
I love this - especially the parts about Rose. Aren't you lucky to have a mother-in-law like this (xox)