Sam van Zweden is a Melbourne-based writer interested in memory, food, mental health and the body. Her writing has been published by the Saturday Paper, ABC Life, Meanjin, The Big Issue, The Lifted Brow, Cordite, The Sydney Review of Books, The Wheeler Centre and others. Her debut book, Eating with My Mouth Open, won the 2019 KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award and is available now.
Today, Sam van Zweden is on the blog to answer a few of our questions about her debut. Read on!
Sam van Zweden
Tell us about your book, Eating with My Mouth Open!
SVZ: My relationship with food has always felt fraught. I come from a family where food is central to the way we relate to one another. My dad was a chef for 25 years, so food for him has often been about pleasure, joy, hard work and providing. My mum, on the other hand, has been dieting for as long as I can remember, so her relationship with food is often about anxiety and risk. I can feel both of these influences inside me, and these sit alongside my own history of mental health concerns (depression, anxiety, self-harm and disordered eating). Eating with My Mouth Open considers and moves beyond my own experience to pull apart the ways food is a vehicle for so many things: love, nourishment, desire, memory, social capital and more.
How did you first discover the joy of food?
SVZ: My first food memory – in fact, my first memory of anything – is of my brother gifting me a box of strawberry flavoured chocolates at Easter when I was 3 years old. I remember holding the box of chocolates and feeling so safe and loved. It’s a memory that I associate with my brother’s kindness, and his insistence on taking care of me, and this memory and these feelings come back to me every time I eat something with artificial strawberry flavouring. Food is magical and mundane, and our bodies hold so many of the stories we tell with food.
You write about food as something that is essentially nourishing and joyful. Why do you think society has such a complicated relationship with food?
SVZ: It seems to me that there are two dominant stories we tell about food.
In one story, food is a potent site for making memories, a great way to show you care, and also to nurture yourself. It’s a way to take the world inside of you, and to find a way into different cultures.
In the alternate story, it’s this incredibly risky part of life, particularly for women, whose bodies are weaponised against themselves. There’s a massive industry built around shame and distrust of our own bodies, and the joy of food gives way to shame.
What does it mean to you to have body politics that are, as your blurb says, ‘empowering, productive, and meaningful’?
SVZ: We’re living in a moment where so many social justice issues are co-opted by people trying to make money off them. This has happened with the idea of ‘self-care’, and now ‘body positivity’ seems to be going much the same way – we’re told that to do either of these things well, you’re meant to look a certain way, or buy the things to help you do it. I think it’s important to recognise body politics is about a personal relationship to your body, but also a project of liberation not just for individuals but at a systematic level. The impacts of body politics are intersectional. All bodies (yes, all of them) are deserving of respect and care.
The manuscript for this book won the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2019 – congratulations! What has the journey been like between winning that award and publication?
SVZ: The shortlisting for the prize allowed me time at the very special Varuna, which is a writers’ retreat in the Blue Mountains. While I was there I was given the time and space to work on the project without having to think about everyday things like walking the dog, organising meals, etc – I woke, I walked, I read, I wrote, and I thought. That time really helped me connect with what I was trying to do and what I hoped for the book, and get it across the line. I was lucky to spend some time there doing what I called ‘the hungry edit’, where I spent days and days really building up sensory detail around food scenes. I was so grateful to have the on-site cook during that time!
Soon after Varuna, I won the award, which gave the book a great platform and financial support, and very soon after that, I signed with NewSouth Publishing, who have just been so wonderful to work with.
How did you come to be a writer?
SVZ: In a lot of ways I think I was just born a writer – I’ve always been drawn to words, sense-making, pattern-matching, and documenting. I became more intentional about making writing my career in my 20s, and was lucky to be living in Melbourne, where I connected with so many brilliant mentors who have supported me along the way.
If you’re thinking writing might be for you, I’d encourage you to open yourself up – show people your work, put your hand up for things, and make yourself vulnerable, no matter how uncomfortable that can be.
Who are some of your all-time favourite food writers?
SVZ: One of the joys of writing Eating with My Mouth Open has been all the time I’ve been able to spend with food writing! One of my favourites is Ruby Tandoh’s Eat Up!, which is a really tender look at food without all the distractions of diets or elitism, asking what it means to honour our appetites. I go back to this book a lot, to remind myself of all that’s good about food writing when it’s really honest.
I also had a great time going back to my favourite kids’ books for the ways they write about food – Roald Dahl (especially Matilda) does it so well, as does C.S. Lewis (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe), Lewis Carroll (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) and Enid Blyton (the Faraway Tree stories). There seems to be a shadow of wartime shortages over these stories that makes super simple meals, like milk and sandwiches, totally enchanting.
What is the last book you read and loved?
SVZ: I got lost in Smart Ovens for Lonely People (by Elizabeth Tan) over the summer break. Its amazing blend of pop culture and magical realism is captivating, and it’s a book that’s filled with really original and surprising stories. I can’t wait for whatever Elizabeth Tan does next; I’ll be there in a heartbeat.
What do you hope readers will discover in Eating with My Mouth Open?
SVZ: I hope people will recognise themselves in the book. I hope this book is found by people who connect to their loved ones through food. I hope it’s found by readers who want to know why their food memories creep up on them and are so tangled up with other memories. I hope it’s found by second-generation migrant kids who feel most connected to their parents’ homelands through food. I hope it’s a lifeline for people who feel like food is really tricky. I hope this book can be a gateway to other ideas like sense memory, body liberation, and the anti-diet movement.
I hope readers will take away the message that it is possible to find a balance between softness and power in your body, even when you’ve been made to believe it’s a liability.
And finally, what’s up next for you?
SVZ: After taking six years to write Eating with My Mouth Open, I’m keen to return to some literary criticism, advocacy work, and lots and lots of reading. My to-be-read piles need some real attention. I have no doubt that the spark for my next project is in there somewhere!
Thanks Sam!
—Eating With My Mouth Open by Sam van Zweden (NewSouth Publishing) is out now.
Eating With My Mouth Open
'To eat is to build upon our collective story. We use food to say, again and again, who we are.'
Eating with My Mouth Open is food writing like you've never seen before: honest, bold, and exceptionally tasty. Sam van Zweden's personal and cultural exploration of food, memory, and hunger revels in body positivity, dissects wellness culture and all its flaws, and shares the joys of being part of a family of chefs. Celebrating food and all the bodies it nurtures, Eating with My Mouth Open considers the true meaning of nourishment within the broken food system we live in...
What do we know about the Boy Swallows Universe Netflix show? 
Booktopia’s top thrilling fiction picks for Crime Month 
Booktopia’s Top First Nations Book Recommendations for 2023
Comments