Pour yourself a glass of red wine and settle in for this collection of stories and recipes from author Vince Agro. Centred around his mother's kitchen table, "from where she steered the family as if the captain of a ship," we learn of his father's butcher shop, collecting dandelions, drinking red wine, hunting ducks, butchering chickens and escaped snails. But it always comes back to the kitchen table, and the recipes for the delicious meals his mother, Grace, placed before her family every day. Whether you want to know how to cook cardoons or what they did with those ducks, In Grace's Kitchen is a wonderful immersion in a way of life that is quickly passing.

Vince Agro's profile page

Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Vince Agro graduated from King's College at the University of Western Ontario. He has taught high school English, served on the Hamilton City Council and worked in the insurance industry. He has previously published one non-fiction collection, You Can Fight City Hall.

"[In Grace's Kitchen] combines all the charms of memoir, food essay, and recipe book in one volume; it is also light-hearted and quite funny. It is this ease and lightness in the writing that I most enjoy because it reminds me that cooking doesn?t need to be complicated and serious to be good — it's okay to have fun in the kitchen." - Shelf Life

"I love this book dearly, and it's one that would be perfect not only for an at-home chef, but anybody with an interest in Hamilton's not-so-distant past." - Not My Typewriter

"This hearty soup with Swiss chard and green lentils was a perfect starter for a winter feast that included two gluten intolerants having to eat something from an Italian cookbook." - All Lit Up