Julie Van Rosendaal/The Globe and Mail
When artist, zinester and writer Sonali Menezes found herself struggling with mental illness, disordered eating and, as she puts it, the crushing weight of capitalism, she practised self-care by feeding herself well.
In 2022, her efforts turned into a zine (a self-published, hand-produced mini-magazine) called Depression Cooking. From her home in Hamilton, Menezes printed hundreds of copies at a time, enlisting friends and family to help collate, fold, staple, package and mail them around the world.
Now a full-fledged book, Depression Cooking: Feeding Yourself When It All Feels Too Hard contains 25 chapters of stories, life lessons and recipes, with endearing titles (Cooking as an Excuse to Listen to Music and If the Anti-Diet God Exists, She Will Test You), each focused on a challenging time in her life, when food seemed more enemy than ally. “Depression Cooking is intended to be a tool to support and comfort,” she writes. “It is my love letter to you.”
The book begins with one of her pencil illustrations of what looks like strawberry-ricotta toast (toast being one of what she considers the Holy Trinity of depression cooking, along with mac and cheese and instant ramen), and the words: “If you haven’t eaten anything yet today, here’s your sign.”
Part cookbook, part zine, part memoir, Depression Cooking speaks to anyone who has faced the challenge of feeding themselves in the face of grief, depression, heartbreak, even living on their own for the first time. The recipes, from dal to egg salad to traybakes to “things on toast,” are simple and comforting, and well-suited to times when the world is too much, but you still have to eat.
Chapter 18: The Most Important Meal of the Day focuses on foods commonly classified for breakfast, encouraging the reader to eat them anytime. “Meal categories, or the types of food we eat at certain times of the day, don’t need to be observed for depression cooking,” she says, adding that the days she eats a meal in the morning are infinitely better than the days she doesn’t.
Her overnight oats, which are easy to grab for breakfast, lunch or even dinner, don’t require cooking. The ingredients are simply stirred together in individual jars or containers and popped in the fridge, where over time the oats absorb moisture from the milk and other ingredients. As for the oatmeal toppers, anything goes: chopped nuts or seeds, berries, dried fruit, coconut – anything you feel like eating. As a bonus, the oats have a comforting, nostalgic aroma of pumpkin spice.
When considering both physical and mental health, having something nourishing on hand means you can eat well without having to cook – and there’s only one dish and spoon to wash.
Pumpkin spice overnight oats
From Menezes: I think pumpkin spice is the best solution to curbing cooler-weather-shorter-days-are-here-seasonal-affective-disorder-symptoms-impending blues. I bought four small metal food containers with lids from the dollar store and always make these in four portions, then eat them four days in a row. You do what makes sense for you.
- 1 heaping tablespoon pumpkin puree from a can (x4)
- ⅓ cup quick oats (x4)
- ⅓ cup soy milk (or any kind of milk) (x4)
- ½ tsp pumpkin spice, or substitute cinnamon (x4)
- ¼ of an apple, diced (x4)
- drizzle of maple syrup (x4)
- 1 tsp oatmeal topper (x4)
Mix the pumpkin puree, quick oats, soy milk and pumpkin spice well in each container until fully combined. Top with diced apple, oatmeal topper and a drizzle of maple syrup. Add the lids, put them in the fridge and eat in the mornings or any time you need them.
Excerpted from Depression Cooking: Feeding Yourself When It All Feels Too Hard, by Sonali Menezes.