Mad Hungry {books}

“Men eat differently than women—they eat more, they eat constantly, and they eat passionately.”  ~Lucinda Scala Quinn

I always thought I had the man food thing down pretty well. It was with food that I first lured András to my side, and he’s cleaned his plate during every meal since, praising my culinary prowess. But my focus has always been on quality over quantity—small amounts of exceptionally raised, lovingly braised bits of goodness that just fill us up.

Recently I learned that I’ve been going about the whole thing all wrong. Quality is key, but a hearty helping counts for an awful lot. My wake up call came when András came to pick me up at work for date night one recent Friday.  My colleague and friend Claudia, wife, and mother of two half-grown men, had just cooked up an oversized portion of pasta. She offered András a little taste before we headed to our concert, and before I knew it he was pulled up to the bar opposite her cook top, polishing off his second plate. It was more than I had ever seen him eat at home.

I’ve since learned that as intuitive as it is to cook for anyone we love, there really is an art to feeding the men and boys in our lives—be it boyfriend, brother, best buddy or little boy. No one knows this better than Lucinda Scala Quinn, author of the playful new book Mad Hungry : Feeding Men & Boys. You may recognize her name and face from the pages of Martha Stewart Living, where she is the Executive Food Director, but her shining role is that of wife, and mother to three active boys whom she feeds with the spirited recipes she’s created and gathered cooking her way through life.

I sent a copy of this book to my sister Jenny in San Diego, who has the joyous job of feeding her hubby and my nephew Benjamin, both excellent eaters. Last week she added one more man to that list, my dad, while my parents were out there visiting.

Tonight, upon their return, I called Mom and Dad to hear about the trip and Dad’s report centered firmly around Jenny’s chicken parmesan dinner, which came from the pages of this book.

“Where can I get mother a copy of that Man Hunger book?” Dad asked.

Right here.