Reviewed by Eleanor J. Bader

Journalist and longtime social justice activist Pat LaMarche’s latest book, Humble Pie, defies categorization. Yes, it deconstructs the horror of hunger in the US. And yes, it tells poignant stories of people – the housed, the unhoused, and the doubled-or-tripled up – who rely on the country’s nearly 100,000 food pantries to feed themselves and their families. And yes, it showcases the inadequacies of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) programs. But Humble Pie is more than an expose about people’s struggles. The book also sheds light on the cruel and arbitrary policies that govern both public and private social welfare programs and highlights the false narrative that continually smears low-income folks as undeserving, lazy, or morally lax.

Moreover, the book blurs the line between memoir – LaMarche’s account of the many years she’s worked to ameliorate hunger and homelessness – and cookbook. It’s a fascinating amalgam: Vivid anecdotes from homeless and formerly homeless individuals are presented alongside recipes for the low-cost meals they’ve created (or sometimes adapted). In addition, numerous budget-friendly recipes from British chef Archie, The Pie Guy, a former restauranteur, give the book heft.

“Food is more than sustenance,” LaMarche writes. “It is a form of communication, an expression of love.” Indeed, Humble Pie is a heaping serving of all of this. As a how-to guide, Humble Pie will help poor individuals and families survive. But the book can also be read as a policy guide for lawmakers, social service workers, and people who simply want to make a difference in the lives of their neighbors.

As LaMarche reports, approximately nine million people worldwide die of starvation annually. The US is not exempt: Anti-hunger researchers at Feeding America note that 40 million Americans are food insecure. “Starving children hamstring a country’s ability to flourish on the world stage,” she concludes.

Wouldn’t it be nice if politicians remembered this?

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All proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit anti-poverty organizations in Pennsylvania.

Humble Pie by Pat LaMarche, Illustrated by Jeremy Ruby. Charles Bruce Foundation, November 2024.

Reviewer bio: Eleanor J. Bader is a Brooklyn, NY-based journalist who writes about books and domestic social issues for Truthout, Rain Taxi, The Progressive, Ms. Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Indypendent.

Review by Eleanor J. Bader

The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that 30 percent of unhoused Americans are children and their caretakers. And while every school district is mandated by federal law to address the needs of kids living in shelters, doubled-or-tripled up, in cars, or on the streets, The Three Melissas underscores the learning challenges that result from housing precarity.

The Three Melissas: The Practical Guide to Surviving Family Homelessness, a self-help manual for those navigating extreme poverty, was written by long-time advocates Diane Nilan and Diana Bowman for the unhoused, but it centers on the experiences of three women named Melissa. One lost her home after fleeing domestic abuse, another was evicted after becoming too ill to work, and the third lost her home in a hurricane.

They’re a sympathetic trio, and this slim volume provides a firsthand account of how they’ve accessed school resources, shared space, and found nutritious food, seasonally appropriate clothing, culturally sensitive medical and psychiatric care, and permanent shelter. But unhoused individuals are not the only readers who will benefit from their strategies: Social workers, teachers, school administrators, medical staff, and other ‘helping professionals’ will get an up-close introduction to the indignities that follow the loss of a home and the difficulties of navigating often-callous bureaucracies. Complete with recommendations for lawmakers, The Three Melissas also suggest numerous policy shifts to benefit undomiciled families.

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The Three Melissas: The Practical Guide to Surviving Family Homelessness by Diane Nilan and Diana Bowman. Charles Bruce Foundation, September 2024.

Reviewer bio: Eleanor J. Bader is a Brooklyn, NY-based journalist who writes about books and domestic social issues for Truthout, Rain Taxi, The Progressive, Ms. Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Indypendent.