With the price of living in Vancouver rising rapidly to the point where few bookstores can afford to exist, Emily Wight, a graduate of UBC's Creative Writing program, has generated a food blog called Well Fed, Flat Broke. Self-described as someone who is "almost always broke, but practically never hungry,"; Wight has subsequently concocted her first book, Well Fed, Flat Broke: Recipes for Modest Budgets and Messy Kitchens (Arsenal, 2015) for those who want to eat well on a limited budget. It offers recipes organized by ingredient so readers can prepare meals based on items they have on hand. From orecchiette with white beans and sausage, to Salvadoran roast chicken, to scrambled eggs, rice and lentils, Wight provides advice for healthy and delicious dishes that don't cost the moon. Processed foods and refined sugar are avoided as much as possible, but there is room for comfort foods that can be made and enjoyed in moderation. There is also a nod to the trend of global cuisine, with a number of recipes that call for ethnic ingredients that are often inexpensive and readily available. Wight also suggests places to shop for those who don't wish to spend five bucks for an organic, free trade, conversation-worthy cumquot-carrot-whatchamacallit status symbol at places like Choices and Whole Foods.

BOOKS:

Well Fed, Flat Broke: Recipes for Modest Budgets and Messy Kitchens (Arsenal, 2015) $24.95 9781551525792

[BCBW 2015]