Prior to reading this book I confess to only having a vague idea of Grace Dent as a restaurant critic but I knew nothing of her career or her background and was drawn by the promise of an account of growing up in the 70s and 80s. Hungry chronicles Dent’s journey from a working class family and terraced house in Currock, Carlisle to her eventual hard-earned success as a journalist, broadcaster, teen author and restaurant critic. Best known as The Guardian’s food critic and for appearing on Masterchef: The Professional’s, Hungry is a warm, riotously funny and poignant account of family life, food and never losing sight of where you’ve come from. The writing is superb, at times heartfelt, honest and bittersweet and at others riotously funny as self-deprecating Dent pokes fun at herself and the industry she works in. Dent’s book opens 317 miles and several decades away from the London where she made her name critiquing uber-trendy restaurants, in a suburb of Carlisle in 2008 and at the age of seven with her ex-army Liverpudlian dad, George, cooking tea for her and her younger brother. As she recounts childhood memories and family experiences, many shared over food, Hungry is a reminder of all things 1980s, from ‘playing out’, the arrival of superstores, staying up late to sneak a few minutes of The Kenny Everett Show, the introduction of Ready Brek right through to first lessons in how to cook and entertain courtesy of the Brownies hostess and cookery badges. Laughing her way through this and the fashion disasters of the era Dent also pertinently mentions the abundance of bright working class children who, unlike herself, got a disservice from state education in the 1980s and fell by the wayside. Dent’s determination to leave home took her to Stirling university where student writing, dogged determination and a refusal to say no were behind her arrival to work in London. From her early days covering real-life features for Chat and Woman’s Weekly to appearing on late-night TV debate shows and programmes such as Britain’s Favourite Biscuit, the book covers Dent’s fortuitous opportunity covering a food critic vacancy at the Evening Standard and the beginning of her Grace and Flavour column. Also a writer of young adult novels and after achieving growing recognition of her talents as a comedy writer and columnist, Hungry covers everything prior to achieving her position as the Guardian’s restaurant critic. Dent’s admission that her modest background instilled a refusal to ever turn down work along with a willingness to knuckle down and get on with whatever life throws at you is refreshing. This is Dent’s extraordinary journey from the days of simply wanting to be full to moving in circles with people who believed the true goal was actually to taste food! The later stages tell of Dent’s mother’s fight against cancer and her father’s steady decline in the grip of vascular dementia and the family coming together again as Dent and her brother, David, care for their elderly parents. A wonderful tribute to her own family life and a very honest and relatable account of the realities of ageing parents and dementia, Hungry is an irreverently funny and nostalgic warm hug of a book. An inspirational book by a truly down-to-earth and working class success story.

I have been an avid consumer of Ms Dent's writings since she covered soap opera in the Guardian Guide some years ago and she remains a favourite in The G . Her memoir is absorbing, illuminating, moving, and very funny. I devoured (sorry) it in a couple of sittings and would recommend to anyone whether familiar with her or not.

I have been an avid consumer of Ms Dent's writings since she covered soap opera in the Guardian Guide some years ago and she remains a favourite in The G . Her memoir is absorbing, illuminating, moving, and very funny. I devoured (sorry) it in a couple of sittings and would recommend to anyone whether familiar with her or not.

Peppered with Northern humour restaurant critic Grace Dent gives us an insight into her life, and what a story so far. From her Northern roots and less than remarkable school years to how through determination, cheek, luck, hard work and never saying no she became a well known food critic. Though this memoir we see how the love for her family is her ultimate driving force, and how her never give up attitude helps her cope with the illness of her parents. Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for a free copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

I loved this book. It made me laugh out loud and on occasion shed a tear. I grew up in the same era (I am a little older) and the references and memories were so relatable for me. I could not recommend this enough. Amazing.