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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Marie Arendt
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Memoirs

IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT

Geraldine DeRuiter

Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury

From the James Beard Award-winning blogger behind The Everywhereist is a fresh look at food and feminism from one of the culinary world's sharpest voices.

When celebrity chef Mario Batali sent out an apology letter for the sexual harassment allegations made against him, he had the gall to include a recipe - for cinnamon rolls, of all things. Geraldine DeRuiter decided to make the recipe, and she happened to make food journalism history along with it. Her subsequent essay, with its scathing commentary about the pervasiveness of misogyny in the food world, would be read millions of times, lauded by industry luminaries from Martha Stewart to New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells, and would land DeRuiter in the middle of a media firestorm. She found herself on the receiving end of dozens of threats, when all she wanted to do was make something to eat (and, okay fine, maybe take down the patriarchy). In IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT, DeRuiter shares stories about her shockingly true, painfully funny (and sometimes just painful) adventures through gastronomy. We'll learn how she finally got a grip on her debilitating anxiety by emergency meal-planning for the apocalypse ("You are probably deeply worried that in desperate times, I would eat your pets. And yes, I absolutely would."). Or how she learned to embrace her hanger ("Because women can be a lot of things, but we can't be angry. Or President, apparently."). And how she inadvertently caused another international incident with a negative restaurant review (she made the homepage of The New York Times website! And she got more death threats!). Geraldine DeRuiter is an acclaimed author, world-renowned public speaker, and the voice behind the award-winning Everywhereist blog. While ostensibly a travel writer, Geraldine also writes about dessert, feminism, and Jeff Goldblum's entire filmography. TIME Magazine described her work as "consistently clever" and The New York Times said her writing was "dark and hilarious". Her blog has received accolades from The Independent, Forbes Magazine, and The Huffington Post. When not on the road with her long-suffering and infinitely patient husband, Rand, Geraldine can be found in Seattle, usually fighting with people on the internet.

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Book Published 2024-03-12 by Crown

Comments

DeRuiter shares her stories with great candor, while providing important historical and academic research throughout.

Geraldine DeRuiter's particular genius is using a subject such as food to writeand write exceptionally wellabout absolutely everything. Feminism, family, appetites literal and figurative, power dynamics, the search for one's own voiceit's all here, and more. The book is hilarious and haunting by turns, and if the last line doesn't make you cry, your heart is a tiny ugly stone and you probably have no taste buds.

Geraldine DeRuiter is wickedly hilarious and tenderhearted, observant and original, and candidly vocal when she sees an emperor with no clothes.

IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT is hilarious, clever, profound and poignant at the same time, with food as its focus. .Readers will find this witty series of vignettes humerous, comforting, and enlighting.

Food is sustenance and often comfort, and in If You Can't Take the Heat, DeRuiter reminds us that it can be all of that and so much more. Food can be markers of our history, our relationships, and a lesson in what we do and don't want. It's oddly poignant to read this and realize how many memories are tied not just to the smell of food but the desire or aversion to it. Food is the story of our life written in flavors and influences and nostalgia for chain restaurants. With charm and humor, DeRuiter welcomes us into her personal history and thus reconnects us with ourselves.

Witty does not begin to describe the razor sharp takes DeRuiter packs in chapter after chapter of this hilarious, astute, and at times heartbreaking, memoir. DeRuiter somehow manages to raise your hackles over indignities like 'ladies menus' while making you giggle simultaneously, and you'll find yourself wanting to hug, high-five, and cheer for her as she navigates anxieties and adventures full of food and feminist awakenings.

Delightfully salty. DeRuiter seamlessly blends gallows humor and sharp observation. The result is a witty and empowering volume that will satisfy foodies and non-foodies alike.

Whether writing about her affinity for Red Lobster or putting the pieces back together after a terrible kitchen fire, DeRuiter approaches the subject with both wry wit and a sharp tongue. . . . She manages to examine the ways that women are marginalized in the culinary worldand her own anxieties surrounding foodwith refreshing candor and a big pinch of humor.

If You Can't Take the Heat is a hysterical and incisive journey through the world of food and feminism. The essays will cause you to snort with laughter and then make the tender muscle of your heart ache. Whether she's writing about growing green onions during lockdown or the sexism of the restaurant industry, Geraldine is smart, sarcastic, delightful, and sharper than a kitchen knife. This book is an absolute delight!

Zesty food memories from a James Beard Awardwinning blogger...A deft, entertaining collection.

This series of essays.delivers everything the book's subtitle promises: mouthwatering descriptions of marvelous food (and one unforgettably horrific dining experience), stories that will evoke plenty of snorting and laughing our loud, and those that will prompt sympathetic seething over well-documented incidents of food service industry misogyny. A thoroughly enjoyable writer, DeRuiter can be very funny, ...she can also be sweet, reassuringly insecure, and candid...She writes with directness and laser-sharp observations as she documents her research, unafraid to name names...There should be lots of well-deserved publicity for this amiable collection that's likely to appeal to a wide range of readers.