The Kitchen Shrink

From McDonald's to 'mum food', this is Esther Perel meets Nigella Lawson - an eye-opening, fascinating and accessible deep dive into understanding how our stories of love, loss and attachment are connected to the food that we eat, and are written all over our plates.

Did you know that the food we eat says a lot about how we love?

Psychologist Dr Andrea Oskis shows us how we connect with each other and how we can change our personal 'recipes' to have better relationships.

Along the way, she also reveals her own food story about love and loss. Inviting us into her therapy room with her patients, she tells us:

the real reason why comfort food comforts
why dessert isn't a good idea when you're stressed
why you should never give a bottle of hot sauce to someone who has been rejected
Be prepared to never look at your plate in the same way again.

Review

Easy-going and anecdotal in a way readers of Esther Perel will recognise ― Financial Times

Poignant and often sad, the stories of Oskis's patients peel back the layers of the human mind and our attachment to people and things... What becomes clear as consommé is that food is humanity's original and universal love language ― Mail on Sunday

An illuminating read. ― Roopa Gulati

I've had a lot of books across my desk, but nothing like this! Dr Oskis shows us that what's on our plate speaks volumes about our hearts. ― Suzy Walker, Muddy Stilettos

About the Author

Andrea Oskis is a psychologist, a food writer and a professional cook. Her academic expertise is human relationships; how we connect, love and attach in couples and communities, and she has researched, taught and written about this for more than twenty years. Andrea is Greek Cypriot and so, perhaps not unsurprisingly, the kitchen has always had a natural pull. In 2018 she took an intensive course in classic cookery at Leiths School of Food and Wine. Andrea's food writing has been published in Vittles, Pit Magazine and Gastronomica, The Journal for Food Studies. She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers. In 2022, Andrea was shortlisted for Moniack Mohr's Emerging Writer of the Year and a Guild of Food Writers Award. In 2023, she won the MFK Fisher Last House Writing Contest. She is also a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.