Grace Dent is definitely individual ! Warm and witty, this is a fantastic memoir of her life so far. Emotional and honest. There is nostalgia for people reading this who are a similar age. Fray Bentos pies and no internet. I didn't want the book to end. The end is emotional and you may find yourself in tears.

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.

Autobiography of sorts focusing on food as a running theme, charting Grace Dent’s career to her current role as the Guardian’s main food writer, from her childhood in Cumbria, heading for the bright lights of London as a young optimistic graduate to her current role as acerbic restaurant critic.

Really heartwarming, nostalgic, witty, upsetting and frank at times as she describes food and family life with real warmth and affection but great humour and a sharp way with the minute details and preoccupations of meal times and family life. She writes so well and so engagingly on such a range of aspects of her life from the daft ness of trying to get on in the media world of the 90s and 00s to the gradual loss of her father to the horrors of dementia, and how she attempts to keep her family in some kind of ‘normal’ routine as long as possible while living hundreds of miles away.
Can’t recommend this enough if you enjoy food/words/memoirs/remember the 90s/have eaten a meal ever.... love everything she writes from World of Lather back in the day to the superlative Shiraz Bailey Wood (how would she have coped in the modern world of social media??)

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but I absolutely loved it. Hugely entertaining and an enjoyable inspirational read.

I only really know Grace Dent from Very British Problems and her writing in The Guardian. It was her humour in both of these that interested me in reading this book. I’m so glad I did as it was a delight.

It is a book which is funny, emotional, sad and about everyday life growing up in Carlisle and Grace’s rise to become a journalist and T V presenter. It’s a very honest, funny and detailed warts and all.

Grace Dent is an award winning broadcaster, columnist and author, most people (me included) know her best for her appearances on Masterchef. But she's also a working class girl who did remarkably well in an industry built on nepotism through what she attributes to luck but in fact seems to be more from tenacity and sheer bloody mindedness!

But she also a witty and talented storyteller. In this book she tells her story via the medium of her lifelong love affair with food, from a decidedly very UnItalian sounding version of Spaghetti Bolognaise she loved making with her Dad as a child to the high end restaurant food she became famous reviewing. As someone who was born a few years after the author I very much recognised the changing world she described including the arrival of the big supermarkets (ours was Sainsburys though - we'd have killed for an Asda) and the arrival of the Internet and all the dodgy videos it subjected us to. And gosh she took me back. This is a really vicarious nostalgia trip that had me both laughing and, towards the end crying as she describes her parents health issues. She does this really well - it's obvious the difficulties they have faced as a family but she treats it sensitively, never betraying her parents dignity and privacy. A wonderful book.

I hadn’t heard of Grace Dent until she appeared on Masterchef as a critic. She was like a breath of fresh air and having read her book it is obvious why. She has worked hard to get where she is but will never let her Cumbrian roots be forgotten despite living in London for many years. Down to earth, gritty and determined she deserves her success

A gem of a book. I really enjoyed it! This book has some real laugh out loud moments and a major nostalgia trip !
It is an extremely honest book, well written, emotional and evocative
I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially to anyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s
Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins and Grace Dent for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

GD has a way with words that connects with the reader. She took me right back to my childhood, there was definitely a marked feel to the era I grew up in. Highly recommend.

I requested this from Netgalley ‘cause I’ve long enjoyed Grace Dent’s writing and I really miss restaurants. What struck me most though, quite unexpectedly, was Grace’s writing about her parents. Specifically her Dad, and what he’s been going through. What her whole family have been going through, really. A very emotive read; one I would whole heartedly recommend whether you’re a foodie or not.

I always thought Grace Dent must have been brought up in a middle class family. How wrong could I be? She was brought up in a family much like my own and many of her experiences really chimed with my memories of the 70s. Of the food, tv and family life.
A really enjoyable read for anyone but especially those of us who recognise the food references.

Grace Dent shares with her readers her beginnings in Carlisle where highlights included yellow sticker goods from the new big Asda and pink wafer biscuits.

Throughout Hungry we hear the authors love of food and her cravings for fame and cuisine. I love a good foodie book and this one has so many aspects to devour.

I think I must be a similar age to the author as there were so many parts of this books that I could relate to. If you grew up in Britain in the 80's here is a reminiscence for you. From Findus crispy pancakes to Neapolitan ice cream, of course most of these memories include food. As Grace grows up her travels take her away from Carlisle and the foodie talk becomes much more distinguished with dishes sounding weird, wonderful and some just downright odd.

Hungry is written as a kind of memoir to the authors start in life until she becomes the much loved food writer that she now is writing for The Guardian amongst other places. The book is written with humour, emotion and mostly with the love of food.

The first half of this book brought back lots of memories for me. The second half showed a slightly different side of the author, which didn't go amiss by her family.

A really enjoyable book that I recommend to everyone who loves a foodie tale.

Review published at below link on 26th February.

Having first been introduced to Grace Dent via Masterchef on TV, there was work to do to catch up with her written work, but I have been a regular reader ever since. I guess because we are not that far apart in age, Grace’s experience growing up resonates with me – especially from a food point of view, so reading Hungry was a complete joy!

From ‘sketty’ at home, to chip butties and – oh dear god – ‘salads’ at school, there are so many memories wrapped up in the food we eat, and Grace is able to frame the periods of her life with these shared memories, all told with her trademark wry humour, but there are some incredibly emotional sections as her family deals with the emergence of strange behaviour from her Dad which they surmise is the onset of dementia.

It is in these passages of family connection that this memoir really stood out for me – Grace Dent’s literary side-eye might have made her name, but she writes so sensitively and honestly about what must have been a truly exhausting and saddening period of her life that I was really moved by it.

Although this is primarily a book about one woman’s life, there is so much in it that defines a generation – especially one that lived – gasp! – BEFORE THE INTERNET! It was a genuine pleasure to take a trip down my own memory lane as I read and I’d recommend it to all, but particularly women of my age…

I loved this book, I know of Grace from her TV appearances but it was great to read her book, I felt like I really got to know her. Her stories were amazing, her stories on growing up working class and the comfort food really resonated with me.

This book was an absolute joy to read and had me laughing and crying, I just could not put it down!
It was a perfect walk down memory lane and her life growing up was so relatable, from her relatives to Brownies and playing out until dinner ....it had me telling my kids more stories of my life growing up and the foods we didn't have in the 1980's when beige food ruled!
Grace Dent's relationships with her parents is lovely and when the chips (excuse the pun!) are down she really shines.
A funny, heart-warming book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I will admit that befire I started reading this i actually didn't know who Grace Dent was, I was vaguely aware of the name but thats about it. However I was drawn in as I loved Ruby Tandohs eat up and thought that this would be something along thise lines.

Unfortunately while I did enjoy this I didn't think it lived up to the title, I think far too much time was spent in her childhood and I didn't really get the nostalgia factor as a child of the 90s.

From about 2/3 of the way through I really got into this and would have loved to have read the last third of the book fleshed out morev

Grace Dent's autobiography focusses on her relationships with food, and her parents. Starting with her working class upbringing in Carlisle, through university and journalism career in London, the story ends back in Cumbria, as Dent supports her parents through illness and old age.

I really loved the early sections of the book. Dent has incredible detailed recall of the minutiae of 80s working class upbringing - the food, the furniture, the fashions - which were really joyously relatable. Her disgruntled 7 year old self at Brownies could have been me! She writes honestly and lovingly about her parents and brings them to life really beautifully.

I don't feel she does quite such a good job on herself and there were large sections of her life that she glosses over totally. I also felt that there was an obsession with class leading to an overemphasis on the differences between her food worlds past and present - as if no food space exists between Asda doughnuts and Michelin restaurants. In reality the relationship between food and class is more nuanced.. An absorbing read nevertheless.

not knowing much about grace dent apart from being obsessed with her diary of a chav books when i was younger, i really really enjoyed this!

grace grew up near carlisle, went to uni in stirling, and then moved to london where she moved up the magazine circles, writing columns before moving on to becoming a very successful food critic.

this was sharp and funny and, despite being 20 years older than me, i found it oddly relatable and nostalgic. i really loved the way she spoke about her family and the milestones they went through together as well as the way the world changed around them.

really great, would recommend even if, like me, you don't know a whole lot about grace dent!!

People will know Grace Dent as the no-noneense northern food critic often seen on Masterchef or panel shows. If, like me, you like Grace Dent, you may have read her previous work about trying to leave Twitter - I love you, Dent, but it didn't stop me using it. If you are a fan you may have recently picked up her autobiography - Hungry. If you are not a fan then you should, most definitely pick up a copy of Hungry.
Grace Dent has lived a very normal yet inspiring life. You could call it a rags to reasonable income story (I think even Dent would stop at saying riches) but it hasn't fallen into her lap. Yes she has had some lucky breaks but all of her chances seem to have been born of hard work. She has put in the graft. As a fellow northerner you see an unwavering sense of "you get what you work for" mentality. An innate life ethos that comes from being working class and it is a mentality to take pride in.
The title Hungry is very fitting. Every time Dent mentioned a food staple from her childhood my mouth filled with saliva and reading the book left me with a hankering for Findus Crispy Pancakes - I've not been able to find them, I've had to settle for Bird's Eye.
Overall, Dent uses food to show how the staple of our everyday lives combined with the love of our family creates a sense of comfort and how evocative food can be at drawing out memories.
A wonderful autobiography.
Hungry by Grace Dent is available now.
For more information regarding Grace Dent (@gracedent) please visit her Twitter page.
For more information regarding Harper Collins (@HarperCollinsUK) please visit the Twitter page.

I was really looking forward to this book and was a bit disappointed with it. It was fairly well written but it didn’t really hold my interest