The 24-Hour Soup Kitchen

Reviews / Votes

"Like most of us, Stephen Henderson felt guilty about eating well in a hungry world. Unlike most of us, he did something about it. This fascinating tale is incredibly inspiring. Wondering what you can do? Reading this book would be a good place to start."
- Ruth Reichl, Chef, food writer, and host of PBS's "Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth"

"A captivating and original book. This quest to learn more about gastrophilanthropy is at once a vibrant travelogue and deeply moving search for self. I devoured it and still wanted more!"
- Cynthia Nixon, Actor and Activist

"Giving food to the hungry is a sacred responsibility and joy. This beautifully written series of autobiographical vignettes relates how a minister's child turned world-traveled writer discovered the various ways needy people are fed around the globe. Honest, colorful, and at times even humorous. I highly recommend it."
- Gregory E. Sterling, Dean of Yale Divinity School

"When figuring out how to help the needy, our choices are actually quite simple: clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, and feed the hungry. We all know this, but too often we're not sure where to begin. Stephen Henderson decided to start small, by baking up a few batches of cookies. From there, his culinary volunteerism grew, and took him to soup kitchens around the world. His unusual and poignant book may inspire you to light a fire - under a charitable fry pan, and under yourself!"
- Charles King, Chief Executive Officer, Housing Works An inspiring philanthropic account that deftly displays the author's affability, knowledge, and passion.

A New York-based journalist recounts his experiences in some of the world's soup kitchens in this debut memoir. Henderson was in France on a mission to buy an "absurdly expensive oven" when he was asked if he had ever come across the Frenchman Alexis Soyer, who became Victorian Britain's most celebrated chef. Learning about Soyer, inventor of the soup kitchen, inspired the author to begin his own "gastrophilanthropic" journey. Interested in feeding large numbers of people but with no professional training, Henderson began utilizing his journalistic expeditions as a way of learning more. When visiting Delhi to write an article about India's fashion week, he discovered that Sikh temples "operate 24-hour soup kitchens." He later completed a five-day apprenticeship at one such kitchen. The author's travels also took him to Iran, where he learned about nazr, a spiritual vow that can involve "voluntarily cooking for others." Henderson then made his own vow to volunteer at a soup kitchen in Pittsburgh to celebrate each year that his niece completed in her Ph.D. program. The memoir details his experiences in Japan, where he stayed at a Buddhist temple; Mexico, where he cooked a meal for a group of "homeless street kids and transgendered sex workers"; Peru; Israel; and South Korea. The author also discusses volunteering at soup kitchens across America.

Henderson's writing bubbles with enthusiasm. When describing feeding a group of seemingly nonchalant youths at a shelter in Los Angeles, he writes: "What I saw...over the next hour was how a home-cooked meal can transform a roomful of sullen teenagers into a group of cheerful children." His narrative is also woven with a wealth of background data that underlines the gravity of the homelessness crisis: "It's also estimated that there may be between one million and three million homeless children currently living on the streets in the United States." The author's delightful descriptive skills that often draw on culinary metaphors add a sprinkling of levity to a serious subject (a road in the Andes is depicted as having the "consistency of pudding" and an Israeli tour guide had "hair dyed a shade of red best described as 'medium rare' "). Henderson is conscious of how his approach to "gastrophilanthropy" is viewed by others. He candidly reveals that one friend referred to his journeys as "magical misery tours" whereas another nicknamed him "His Holiness" behind his back. Unafraid to introduce a broad range of perspectives to the memoir, the author admits that "making a meal is, after all, an imposition of your taste onto someone else." He intelligently defends his position on feeding the poor, drawing on the French philosopher Jacques Derrida's proposal that "charity is based on income inequity." Henderson boldly dismisses this explanation as "a clever intellectual's rationale for doing nothing." The author draws courage from how his idol, Soyer, was also derided for his acts of charity but endeavored to make a change regardless.
A graceful, well-balanced, and enlightening work.

-Kirkus reviews