What inspired you to write your memoir?
I come from a family of storytellers and cooks. As an Armenian and with a father who had escaped the first genocide of the 20th Century, there were lots of stories to tell. Memoir has always been my favorite form of reading. As Mark Twain once wrote, “Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction. Fiction, after all, has to make sense.” I knew I had a story to tell and decided to write an autobiographical cookbook. I was told there wouldn’t be a place for it in the large bookstore format since my story covered so many topics–history, food, travel, romance. It wasn’t until two memoirs, Isabel Allende’s Aphrodite and Ruth Reichl’s Growing Up At the Table, hit the bestseller list at the same time that the publishing industry came up with a name for the genre and thus the “culinary memoir” was born. Siren’s Feast, An Edible Odyssey fit the bill.
About your Book:
Set primarily against the backdrop of the turbulent Sixties and early Seventies, Siren’s Feast, An Edible Odyssey, tells the tale of a rebellious daughter who foregoes the safety and security of suburban American life and sets off on an adventure that leads her to some of the remote outposts of the world. As a first generation Armenian-American, whose family narrowly survived a genocide, the constant that remains with her is a passion for food and cooking-the remembered flavors of home, tradition and lives long forgotten.
During her seven year odyssey, she encounters mystery and magic in Morocco, has a romantic idyll on the Emerald Coast of Sardinia, establishes the first vegetarian restaurant on the island of Ibiza in Spain (today the party capital of the world), journeys to the East in search of love and enlightenment in the Himalayas and, during a stint as a cabaret dancer in Aleppo, Syria, falls in love with a Bedouin gypsy, resulting in the birth of a daughter. A series of mishaps leads to her sixteen-month incarceration, along with her baby, in an infamous London prison, where she manages, even there, to pioneer a new and healthy way of eating.
The journey comes full circle when she returns home and finds her true purpose and meaningful work through an enigmatic teacher of an ancient healing art and comes to understand the value of family, friends and true spiritual nourishment.
Siren’s Feast contains over 40 mouth-watering recipes, representing well-tested originals as well as old family recipes.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I sent my manuscript to several editors, starting at the top with Judith Jones, who edited James Beard and Julia Child to mention just a few. I sent some of my Armenian Sweet Rolls at the same time and did receive a hand-written rejection. My agent at the time said my rejection letters were some of the best she had ever seen. Still no enchilada. Ultimately I decided that as someone who has been self-employed for most of my life (at age twenty one I opened my own restaurant in a foreign country) that I would self-publish so that I could do the book exactly as I envisioned. I wanted to find a printer that was green, Forest Stewardship Council certified and definitely did not want to have the book printed in China. I did find a printer in Italy and the quality of the paper along with the thread binding produced a book that made people comment on its quality. It also won awards for cover design.
How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
I’m not sure I would know how to write a novel and I am in awe of those authors who do it well. Still memoir is my first choice when it comes to choosing books I want to read. I am always drawn to true stories for the inspiration they give me. However, the best memoirs do employ devices used in literature and need to be as well-written as the best novels.
Author Bio:
Nancy Mehagian has been involved with food and healing since 1969, when she opened the first vegetarian restaurant on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Since 1978, Nancy has maintained an active Massage Therapy and Jin Shin Jyutsu practice in Los Angeles, has lectured at health conventions, catered for celebrities and taught gourmet cooking classes, creating cuisine that is healthy, international and authentic.
She is the author of the multi-award winning culinary memoir Siren’s Feast, An Edible Odyssey, the award winning Supernatural Kids Cookbook and co-author of The Oprah Effect.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Book On Amazon
Link to Book on Barnes and Noble
Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3326458-siren-s-feast-an-edible-odyssey
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sirens-Feast-An-Edible-Odyssey/176894235245
