Weston Hingler's crib was in the kitchen of BuenAppeTito, his mother's catering service. There, he learned to read while tasting all the flavours of his mother's culinary alphabet. But before he was allowed to enter the Tsil Cafe, he had to pass his father's taste tests. Anchovies, Habanero chiles, Chipotle peppers. Food to purge the body and soul. Food his loving but sometimes volatile father uses as a measure of family, friends and enemies.

Caught between these two kitchens, Weston quickly learns that he's also trapped by his wayward parents' secrets and histories, infidelities and gaping needs, as well as by the cafe customers and employees who are privy to his growing up. In this layered and savoury novel, food is the reflection of life's shifting flavours, and readers will be drawn to a delicious package in which Averill delivers his story - complete with recipes. But ultimately they'll attach to Weston's complicated family, and when Averill serves us their feasts of reconciliation, readers will want to raise a toast.