multigenerational

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal centers around the life of a young chef, Eva Thorvald. Through shifting narratives we follow Eva as a young girl growing exotic habaneros, see her struggle to support her father while interning at a restaurant, fall foolishly in love and finally start her own exclusive dinner club. The story weaves around her, told by: her father, a culinary rival, a cousin and other acquaintances, each perspective adding a bit of color to her portrait.

Stradal's first novel reads like a love letter to the Midwest, specifically Minnesota where he grew up