Assessment:
Plot/Idea: This is a wonderfully clever work that offers a mix of Top Chef meets Survivor. Mace Walston provides rich insights into culinary competition, resulting in a fun and captivating story.
Prose: The rotating narratives will stick in the reader's mind as each character offers up his/her own interpretations and perspectives. The competition element just adds to the overall spiciness of the story.
Originality: The Forager Chef Clubs is riveting, smart, and in a class all its own. Drool-worthy menus make it even more distinctive and fun.
Character/Execution: The revolving narrative of all the major characters results in incredibly strong depictions. The reader understands what those in the work do not – specifically the motives and intentions of each narrator.
Blurb: Stellar! The Forager Chefs Club is riveting fun, a combination of Top Chef meets Survivor. Readers will be hard-pressed to put the book down before the last page.
Date Submitted: August 28, 2024
Walston’s epically delicious second novel summons readers to a table piled with purpose, twists and, of course, a passion for food. Following the lives of five contestants chosen to compete in a one-of-a-kind competition for the little-known Forager Chefs Club, Walston dices through cliches to serve up a tale rich with small intrigues and an in-depth look at the art of foraging—particularly in Michigan. Beginning with 21-year-old Celeste, an aspiring chef on Mackinac Island relegated to kitchen scut work, chapters cycle through each character’s perspective, with each backstory lovingly integrated and each perspective offering both suspense about the competition and insights into foraging itself: “You had to notice details, be respectful.” Meet culinary school drop-out Christian; soup kitchen chef Eden; Blaise, the self-described culinary rising star and his autistic brother, Bradley; and widowed father and outdoor-cooking specialist, Daniel. The rules of the contest are simple: contestants are provided a place to live in the Club’s lodge, if they wish, and the entire grounds upon which to forage. In exchange, they must create five lavish meals over seven months for five unknown judges. All of the ingredients must be sourced from Michigan— the competition is a terroir, after all—and the prize is $50,000, a life-changing amount. Each character’s story is delicately layered with nuance, leaving readers struggling to pick just one contestant to root for. Each has their strengths and challenges, though young Celly becomes an early favorite, particularly with her determination and drive.
Secondary characters, in the form of Bradley and Daniel’s young son, Ethan, provide an excellent garnish to the story, though it’s the narrator, Randall, and the lodge’s manager, Elena, who provide the structure on which everything else is built. Precise and sumptuous dish descriptions prove just as enticing and involving as the character portraits, making this feast for the senses one readers will fall in love with and revisit to have their souls and hearts nourished.
Takeaway: Nourishing, character-rich novel of a foraging cooking contest.
Comparable Titles: Jennifer Ryan’s The Kitchen Front, Sarah Echavarre Smith’s Simmer Down.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
