How food shapes identity in Amber Husain's new memoir

Amber Husain's Tell Me How You Eat redefines food as identity and activism

Amber Husain’s new book, Tell Me How You Eat, blends personal struggle with broader questions about food and identity. The work examines how eating shapes who we are while also tracing her own recovery from anorexia. Alongside this, it explores food’s deep ties to politics, history, and social change. Husain structures the book around five key chapters, each reflecting a stage in her journey toward healing. Her academic background—a PhD in the history of art and mind-body medicine—shapes her approach, weaving together memoir and analysis.

The phrase *you are what you eat* has roots in the 19th century, first coined by French lawyer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Husain builds on this idea, arguing that food is never just sustenance. It carries cultural weight, political meaning, and even faith in the future. Her earlier book, *Meat Love*, examined society’s emotional bond with eating meat. Now, she expands the focus, showing how food can fuel activism and personal transformation. Her own involvement in campaigns like the Right to Food movement played a role in her recovery. For Husain, food is both a necessity and a tool for change. It can ground political action in daily life while making the work of improving the world feel more joyful and alive.

The book ties together Husain’s recovery with a wider argument: food connects the personal and the political. By looking at history, activism, and her own story, she presents eating as an act of resistance and renewal. The result is a work that challenges readers to see meals as more than just nourishment.