Review – Comfort Food For Break-Ups

comfortfoodforbreakupsComfort Food for Breakups: The Memoir of a Hungry Girl
Marusya Bociurkiw
Arsenal Pulp Press

There is a time, immediately after the breakup of a relationship with a serious other when we all seem to require comfort food. Ice cream, cake, mashed potatoes, something in which to drown our sorrows, that reminds us of better, safer times when we were not so vulnerable and hurt.

Comfort food can be anything that reminds us of someone we love, whether it’s the safety of a childhood home, or the memory of a loved one who has passed. Regardless of our culture, food is woven into the fabric of our lives and every dish, every forkful evokes memories.

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Who’s Sorrel Now?

While reading a review copy of Comfort Food for Breakups The Memoir of a Hungry Girl by Toronto-based author Marusya Bociurkiw, I was intrigued by her description of “green borsch”, a soup she was served while visiting Ukraine.

Green borsch contains no beets whatsoever, but instead is comprised primarily of potatoes, carrot, sorrel, broth of some denomination and spices. It sounded interesting and Bociurkiw’s description made it doubly so, but then I quickly put it out of my mind as I made my way through her book of food memoirs.

A few days later, I found myself in Benna’s, that delightful bakery/deli/grocery store in the Polish neighbourhood of Roncesvalles Village. I cannot pass Benna’s without going in and buying something, and I’ve found everything from delightful sweets and pastries to cheeses and Polish canned good there.

On this day, Greg and I were admiring the many varieties of both pickled herring and headcheese when I spied a jar of green stuff. In a total Celestine Prophecy moment, I reached up and realized I was holding the elusive green borsch or sorrel soup. And it was vegetarian.

Of course, I had to buy it.

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