Notes to; Food with Feeling by Nicola Barker

Food with feeling; Nicola Barker (England, 1993)

-This story is about a little family; mom, Anne Marie, dad, steve and child, Fiona.
Anne Marie is pregnant and the only things she do (what we read in the story) is to bake every sunday. She hates it. She is doing it to feed the family and to be the good house mom and because she hopes that it might bring the home some homely. Steve is working a lot and is not being honest with Anne Marie. Little Fiona is saying that her moms food seems to be angry, “it tastes very bitter and frosty bit it too sugary and full of air”.
After that every meal got a feeling -often a bad feeling, because she hatted it; to bake.

One sunday evening for dinner, Steve is saying that he don't want the baby and that he is tired of her cooking. Anne Marie gets quiet and go cleaning up.

-Anne Marie compare baking with her baby, she says: “maybe the baby is the truth. I wanted the baby because I wanted to find out the truth about everything”
She is trying to figure out what is going on -between her and her husband, her daughter, her child and her new baby. She want's to know and tell the truth.
She is trying so hard to be a good mom, but she can't only just bake to make it good.

-Steve has to accept her and first of all be honest with her. He might not love her anymore and same with her: she doesn't love him anymore. She is tired of herself, the baby and the baking.

At the end she says: “I want to tell you the truth, and the truth hurts”.
She is now ready to play all her cards, she will not hid anything anymore.

The baking make Anne Marie get out with all her frustrations and feeling.
She cooks with feeling and passion; it doesn't always has to be a good feeling; in this case it's a bad feeling dying