Having come across Jimi as a judge on Masterchef and as a reviewer, I was keen to read his novel. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this book. I found it didn't grab me. I found it slow and rather uninteresting, sorry Jimi

This is more than simply a food memoir; it's an exploration of the authors identity and relationship with food, how that has changed and developed at different points in relation to external and internal factors. Not only does it explore his journey from being a very picky child, seemingly reliant on beige food but it also explores how his experiences as a child of parents born in Nigeria changed how he experienced everything too.

It's wittily written, enjoyable and entertaining. Famurewa uses words skillfully to create the scenes he talks about.

What intrigued me in Picky and caused me to pick it up was Famurewa’s relationship with food, and how it changed and was influenced by all the cultures and some people he has been living with.
Overall, this is a fun book, with both funny and cool insights.
Famurewa’s experience and insights are both relatable and unique at the same time.
3.5 stars

Picky is writer Jimi Famurewa's own story of his journey from being a very picky eater in childhood to an adventurous restaurant critic in adulthood. It includes some warm 80s and 90s nostalgia hits and interesting insights into being a diaspora kid (Nigerian in Jimi's case).

I must confess that I was only first introduced to Jimi via the Masterchef TV proramme a few years ago. Not living in London meant that I didn't really read the Evening Standard and I’d not happened across any of his writing previously. Therefore, it took me a while to get used to his descriptive phrasing, which can border on the flowery at times but not quite purple prose territory.

I did love the way he wove in discussions of cultural identity and linked this to food in so many way.

This is a 3.5 stars rounded up to 4, as I like the guy. It's great that he is shaking up the food and restaurant scene (along with my faves Grace Dent, Jay Rayner and others), so that it's not just about posh white men dining in starched French dining rooms. Food, like our own identity, is so much more. As Jimi says "We are, none of us, just one thing. And life, like that secret scrap of plantain, is all the more sweeter for it."

This book was really good and really sweet! I highly enjoyed it. I used to be a picky eater as well and then now I’ll pretty much eat anything or at least give it a try. It’s not only a book about food but opening ourselves up to new experiences as well

3.5* Picky by Jimi Famurewa is an enjoyable canter through his life punctuated by food.

Picky gives a delightful insight into Jimi’s life from being a small boy visiting Nigerian relatives to growing up in London and glorious trips to visit cousins in the USA. Initially a picky eater (hiding school lunch mash in his pockets so he could leave the table), he was drawn to bland processed food. This took on a life of its own when going to the US first with his brothers and then as an unaccompanied minor to stay with a rotation of family all of who seemed to live off Fluff and vibrantly coloured cereal.

Jimi is a fantastic writer and the prose sings off the page. It pulled me in from the off, with lots of memories of 1980s and 1990s staples from Crispy Pancakes to Maccy D’s apple pies. However it was the chapters where Jimi visits Nigeria which added a real sparkle as the cultural cross-over meets with a child of immigrants who can’t quite find his footing.

This book was a little long. As much as I enjoyed the writing, there was a lot of overindulgence that could have been edited a little more firmly. If you are in the book for Jimi’s time as a writer and food critic, this really takes off about 2/3 of the way through.

In hindsight I think I might have enjoyed this more on audio as it’s the kind of book that would work well on a long walk or drive.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for an ARC.