Review: The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image, and Guilt in America by Virginia Sole-Smith

Synopsis: Food is supposed to sustain and nourish us. Eating well, any doctor will tell you, is the best way to take care of yourself. Feeding well, any human will tell you, is the most important job a mother has. But for too many of us, food now feels dangerous. We parse every bite we eat as good or bad, and judge our own worth accordingly. When her newborn daughter stopped eating after a medical crisis, Virginia Sole-Smith spent two years teaching her how to feel safe around food again ― and in the process, realized just how many of us are struggling to do the same thing.

The Eating Instinct visits kitchen tables around America to tell Sole-Smith’s own story, as well as the stories of women recovering from weight loss surgery, of people who eat only nine foods, of families with unlimited grocery budgets and those on food stamps. Every struggle is unique. But Sole-Smith shows how they’re also all products of our modern food culture. And they’re all asking the same questions: How did we learn to eat this way? Why is it so hard to feel good about food? And how can we make it better? (from the online description)

Review: Sole-Smith’s question is simple – how do women relate to food – but the answer is complex and as far reaching as one can imagine. Through interviews with women across the socio-economic and health lines she explores this question. Interwoven is the narrative of where this question came from – her own experience with her daughter’s inability to eat.

Sole-Smith is a writer by trade, not a scientist, so that must be first understood when reading this book. While she includes some science, it is important to note that this is not a book about the science of eating – but about the social and cultural challenges and connections.

Pros: Sole-Smith included women from a wide range of backgrounds and made a particular point of including low-income women, whose challenges with food are unique and not often understood by the intended audience of her work. Her writing is technical enough to be fulfilling but not so dense that is reads like a textbook. By including stories and first-hand experience, she created a personal narrative that drew the reader in.

Cons: Not enough science to prove her points, and she didn’t include the issue of where the diet advice women get from doctors and foundation is even correct. This seems particularly important for this subject, to me, and I found the lack of it a bit conspicuous.

This book, although not perfect, was informative and sparked a few good discussions when I brought it up to friends. I would recommend this as an excellent non-fiction selection for Women’s Book Clubs – it’s a topic we all deal with and might open up good avenues of discussion and support. 

Note: I received this book free through LibraryThing's Early Review Program in exchange for my fair and honest opinion

Bookmarks: 3.5 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 978-1-250-295378
Year Published: Nov. 2018
Date Finished: 2-12-2019
Pages: 274