Brigid Washington's mouthwatering memoir, Salt, Sweat & Steam, makes liberal use of its three titular components to season the story of Washington's time as a student at the Culinary Institute of America.
Reeling from a breakup, Washington left her life in North Carolina to enroll at the CIA, plunging into its famously rigorous chef-training curriculum: knife skills, restaurant law, gastronomy, the history of various cuisines from around the world. As a Trinidadian immigrant, Washington knew the value of her own culinary tradition but quickly learned she was out of her depth in the Institute's rarefied, exacting atmosphere. She writes candidly about her sloppy habits, lack of sleep, and apparent inability to juggle all the ingredients of life at the CIA. However, she carved out a place for herself as editor of the student newspaper, La Papillote, and relished the challenge of interviews and article-writing alongside studying for demanding practical exams.
Working to prove herself in the kitchen, Washington came to ask herself what she wanted outside of it, and some interpersonal drama and an illuminating trip back to Trinidad clarified her desires. A complicated fight for the perfect internship threatened to derail her plans, but in the end, Washington emerged from the CIA stronger, grounded, and more confident: seasoned, like the dishes she'd spent endless hours learning to make.
Brimming with tasty descriptions and lashings within the kitchen, Salt, Sweat & Steam is an insightful look at how one woman learned to nourish herself. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams