Big Appetite: My Southern-Fried Search for the Meaning of Life

By Sam McLeod

Sam McLeod was always a "big boned" guy with a passion for good cooking. But when a friend of his suffers a sudden heart attack, Sam realizes that it's time to make some changes in his life. As he contemplates severing his relationship with food, Sam receives an invitation to a neighborhood reunion in Nashville, Tennessee. His wife suspects the invitation comes from Lexi, Sam's not-quite childhood sweetheart who ran wild with him and his brothers in the wide open backyards of their 1950s neighborhood. Believing that he'll find the purpose he needs along the way, Sam's wife bundles him off on the cross-country trip to Nashville. But what Sam finds as he drives are memories of his childhood: of the creek with the mythic snake and the secret hideout cave; of the judge who made him think he was going to jail for throwing a snowball; and the gentle old man who gave the neighborhood kids candy. And with these memories come the smell of his mother's meatloaf and the taste of country ham and biscuits and cold pickled shrimp on a hot summer night. Ending his journey in the old neighborhood, Sam surveys his childhood home and comes to understand that his memories, and the food that carried the love of the women who cooked it, are all he needs to know the meaning of life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439188807
• ISBN13: 9781439188804
• Release Date: April 2012
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.3"