This book made me see soup in a whole new light. It's a lovingly curated selection of poems and recipes that gave me a glimpse into the lives of other people—the struggles, heartbreak, nostalgia, and joy; vignettes of domestic life in which a pot of soup is quietly simmering on the stove. Both the poems and the recipes are culturally diverse; many of them reflect the diasporas that reside in the United States.

Throughout the book, Jackson shares anecdotes from his own life and how soup has enriched it. These are accompanied by beautiful watercolour illustrations and backgrounds, which are brightly coloured, yet soothing.

I made the ribollita recipe and was surprised by how much I liked it. Adding pureed beans to the pot thickens the base of the soup so that it isn't too watery. I am looking forward to trying many of the other recipes in this book.

Reading this collection felt like wrapping both hands around a warm mug on a cold morning — the kind of cozy that settles deep in your chest, much like Chicken Soup for the Soul once did.
This anthology of poems is a love letter to food and memory. Page after page, I found myself smiling, then pausing, then smiling again. Each poem seemed to reach back into my childhood and pull out something I’d almost forgotten — the smell of my mom’s kitchen, the sounds of something simmering on the stove, the way a simple meal could make everything feel safe and okay.
What I didn’t expect was how much this book would remind me of the quiet power food holds over us. It’s not just nourishment — it’s ritual, it’s love, it’s the language our families spoke when words weren’t enough. This anthology captures all of that with tenderness and grace.
If you grew up in a kitchen that felt like the heart of the home, this one is for you.

A Bowl of Goodness is, itself, a book of goodness. As soon as I opened it and read the introduction from Major Jackson, my perception of soup began to shift. I love the mix of poetry, snippets of longer persepctives, and recipes - combined with beautifully simple watercolours. This is "Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul", but older and wiser. A Bowl of Goodness will soothe you just like a bowl of soup.