Salt & Sour (paperback)
A cookbook memoir. 6” x 9”. 353 pages. $30 retail value. Available also at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca and as an e-book. Also available at any of the following retailers.
I did not know this was going to be a book when I started writing it in August 2017. I was just writing to help heal from the most difficult event of my life. But really, I wrote this book because I couldn't not write it.
The tattered copy of my first printed manuscript traveled with me to Amsterdam, Portugal, France, Spain, Ireland, Halifax, PEI, Thailand, Oaxaca and beyond. It was beside me when I fell in love, when I went through loss and when I became who I am today. I quietly worked on this project for three whole years, while cooking my heart out as a professional chef and traveling the world. This book has been the most perfect dance between the two great loves of my life — food and words.
The process of writing, publishing and promoting this book has at times been exhausting and painful, but I have watched as it has slowly morphed into the truest labour of love I've ever known. The day it was released the world (August 20th, 2020) was a day I will never forget. Throughout this process I have been honoured. I have been humbled. I have been terrified.
And… I am so, so excited for you to read it.
This book is the story of my journey into how I became a professional chef, as well as my journey into opening (and closing) my own restaurant back in 2015. It's a story of soul searching, love, heartache... and yes... there are some recipes too!
More info: When we think of a starting over, most of us dream up images of exciting new adventures and possibilities. For Yoda Olinyk, starting from scratch meant waking up alone and sorting through the losses that had vanished over the last 16 months: her home, her partner, her dog, her life savings, her restaurant, and her self-worth. In this gutsy memoir, Yoda chronicles her turbulent relationship and the restaurant that caused her to lose so much, including herself. Instead of sugar-coating the process and promising everything will get tied up in a sparkly bow, Yoda details how complicated and unraveling starting over really feels. For Yoda, it’s through a combination of facing the hard truths about her relationship, making amends with the people she had wronged, traveling Europe, and indulging in Pedro’s orange cake, that she finds a way to start from scratch in life, love, words, and food. Salt and Sour is a compilation of stories of resiliency, strength, love, trauma, and loss, mixed with tempting recipes throughout.
Please note: this story includes heavy themes and is not suitable for children, or for fairweather folks.
