Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Review: Hungry a (re)collection of memorable meals & disordered eating


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I picked up this zine, “hungry a (re)collection of memorable meals & disordered eating” at Canzine this fall. This zine was completed in two weeks at the zine residency at Roberts Street Social Centre in Halifax in September 2010. It was written by clara bee lavery.
 
The short essays are full of adverbs but this manages to give the writing a sort of lazy, poignant charm. My favourite essay is “vi: smoothies standing up” because the author describes, with exacting detail, the fear that is entombed in any relationship. The fear of both acceptance and rejection. She made smoothies standing up with Paul. Consuming food standing up is counter to the doctrine of healthy eating but it helped her heal as she felt cared for in that moment.
 
I really enjoyed this little zine. The major problem I had with it is that in her introduction that everyone suffers from some type of anxiety regarding food. This is simply not true as I have no food related anxiety. I usually eat very healthy food but I have no qualms about eating like a six year old on occasion. Yesterday I had a bag of popcorn and cheerios for supper but usually I eat healthy, homemade, vegan food. Assuming everyone has food related anxiety actually furthers the notion that all women should have food related anxiety. Disordered eating is a major problem in our society, especially for women, but I think it can be reduced if we acknowledge that some people have issues with food, and some do not. I wouldn't want my notional children to acquire food issues because they think it's normal for every teenage/woman/person to have such issues.

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