Patricia Volks delicious memoir lets us into her big, crazy, loving, cheerful, infuriating and wonderful family, where youre never just hungryyour starving to death, and youre never just fullyoure stuffed. Volks family fed New York City for one hundred years, from 1888 when her great-grandfather introduced pastrami to America until 1988, when her father closed his garment center restaurant. All along, food was pretty much at the center of their lives. But as seductively as Volk evokes the food, Stuffed is at heart a paean to her quirky, vibrant relatives: her grandmother with the best legs in Atlantic City; her grandfather, who invented the wrecking ball; her larger-than-life father, who sculpted snow thrones when other dads were struggling with snowmen. Writing with great freshness and humor, Patricia Volk will leave you hungering to sit down to dinner with her robust familyboth for the spectacle and for the food.From the Trade Paperback edition.