EBOOK
About
When artist Sonali Menezes found herself struggling with mental illness, disordered eating, and the crushing weight of capitalism, she began to look for easy and delicious ways to feed herself that would both fulfill her hunger and her need for care. Her method - non-judgmental, anti-diet, and approachable - became Depression Cooking, a book that combines recipes, personal memoir, and illustrations to provide a guide for those moments in all of our lives when making a meal, and loving yourself, feels impossible.
In each chapter, Sonali writes and draws about a challenging period in her life, when food seemed more like an enemy than an ally, and shares the recipes and cooking tips that nurtured her body and her soul. From dal to ramen to "things on toast," Depression Cooking lays out an approach that helps us through life's hardest challenges, whether that's becoming a new parent, being fired from a job, weathering grief, or living on our own for the first time.
Part comic, part food memoir, part cookbook, Depression Cooking is a love letter to the sad, hungry, and exhausted versions of ourselves who always deserve care, community, and good food. This empathetic, innovative, and delightfully funny book is one of one, and exactly the permission we all need to enjoy beautiful meals just because we can.
Nurturing yourself during times of depression, disability, and crisis is a powerful and life-affirming act, and learning to do so with self-compassion is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. Enter: Depression Cooking, a food memoir peppered with recipes and depression-focused methods for cooking and eating.
Sonali Menezes is an artist, zinester, and writer. She lives in Hamilton, ON, with her husband, cat, and houseplants. She loves food and eats it every day in celebration. Depression Cooking is her first book. Find her on Instagram @sonaleeeeeee.
Sales and Market Bullets
• SUCCESSFUL FORMAT: With breakout hits like Let's Make Ramen! and Let's Make Bread! steadily rising in sales each year, comic book cookbooks have proven to be a successful format for presenting intimidating techniques or cuisines in a more approachable manner. Depression Cooking adds a new element of tackling mental health struggles to the mix.
• STARTED AS A ZINE, NOW WE'RE HERE: The precursor to this book is a small zine called Depression Cooking: Easy Recipes for When You're Depressed as Fuck, eight letter-sized pages folded in half with a limited run of 250 copies in 2022. By the following year, Sonali had distributed over 2,000 copies through the mail and at zine fairs and decided it needed to become a book.
• FOR A WIDE AUDIENCE: Tweens and teens learning how to cook for the first time, new parents struggling with postpartum depression, burnt-out activists, widowers living on their own for the first time, those struggling with depression or other forms of mental illness, and those recovering from disordered eating. The audience for this book listens to podcasts such as Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison or The Socialist Program with Brian Becker and reads books such as The F*ck It Diet by Caroline Dooner and The Art of Not Eating by Jessica Hamel-Akré.
In each chapter, Sonali writes and draws about a challenging period in her life, when food seemed more like an enemy than an ally, and shares the recipes and cooking tips that nurtured her body and her soul. From dal to ramen to "things on toast," Depression Cooking lays out an approach that helps us through life's hardest challenges, whether that's becoming a new parent, being fired from a job, weathering grief, or living on our own for the first time.
Part comic, part food memoir, part cookbook, Depression Cooking is a love letter to the sad, hungry, and exhausted versions of ourselves who always deserve care, community, and good food. This empathetic, innovative, and delightfully funny book is one of one, and exactly the permission we all need to enjoy beautiful meals just because we can.
Nurturing yourself during times of depression, disability, and crisis is a powerful and life-affirming act, and learning to do so with self-compassion is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. Enter: Depression Cooking, a food memoir peppered with recipes and depression-focused methods for cooking and eating.
Sonali Menezes is an artist, zinester, and writer. She lives in Hamilton, ON, with her husband, cat, and houseplants. She loves food and eats it every day in celebration. Depression Cooking is her first book. Find her on Instagram @sonaleeeeeee.
Sales and Market Bullets
• SUCCESSFUL FORMAT: With breakout hits like Let's Make Ramen! and Let's Make Bread! steadily rising in sales each year, comic book cookbooks have proven to be a successful format for presenting intimidating techniques or cuisines in a more approachable manner. Depression Cooking adds a new element of tackling mental health struggles to the mix.
• STARTED AS A ZINE, NOW WE'RE HERE: The precursor to this book is a small zine called Depression Cooking: Easy Recipes for When You're Depressed as Fuck, eight letter-sized pages folded in half with a limited run of 250 copies in 2022. By the following year, Sonali had distributed over 2,000 copies through the mail and at zine fairs and decided it needed to become a book.
• FOR A WIDE AUDIENCE: Tweens and teens learning how to cook for the first time, new parents struggling with postpartum depression, burnt-out activists, widowers living on their own for the first time, those struggling with depression or other forms of mental illness, and those recovering from disordered eating. The audience for this book listens to podcasts such as Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison or The Socialist Program with Brian Becker and reads books such as The F*ck It Diet by Caroline Dooner and The Art of Not Eating by Jessica Hamel-Akré.