One ordinary day, the tin in which Bee Wilson baked her wedding cake fell to the ground at her feet. This should have been unremarkable, except that her marriage had just ended.

Unsettled by her own feelings about the heart-shaped tin, Wilson begins a search for others who have attached strong and even magical meanings to kitchen objects. She meets people who deal with grief or pain by projecting emotions onto certain objects, whether it is a beloved parent’s salt shaker, a cracked pasta bowl or an inherited china dinner service. Remembering her own mother, a dementia sufferer, she explores the ways that both of them have been haunted by deciding which kitchen utensils to hold on to and which to get rid of when you think you are losing your mind.

Looking to different continents, cultures and civilisations to investigate the full scope of this phenomenon, Wilson blends her own experiences with a series of touching personal stories that reflect the irrational and fundamentally human urge to keep mementos. Why would a man trapped in a concentration camp decide to make a spoon for himself? Why do some people hoard? What do gifts mean? How do we decide what is junk and what is treasure? We see firsthand how objects can contain hidden symbols, keep the past alive and even become powerful symbols of identity and resistance; from a child’s first plate to a refugee’s rescued vegetable corers.

Thoughtful, tender and beautifully written, The Heart-Shaped Tin is a moving examination of love, loss, broken cups and the legacy of things we all leave behind.

Other cookbooks by this author

• Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
• Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
• Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
• Consider the Fork: A History of Invention in the Kitchen
• Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
• Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
• Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
• First Bite
• First Bite
• First Bite: How We Learn to Eat
• First Bite: How We Learn to Eat
• First Bite: How We Learn to Eat
• The Heart-Shaped Tin: Love, Loss, and Kitchen Objects
• The Hive: The Story of the Honeybee and Us
• Sandwich: A Global History
• Sandwich: A Global History
• Sandwich
• The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen
• The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen
• The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen
• Swindled: The Dark History of Food Fraud, from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee
• Swindled: From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee - The Dark History of the Food Cheats
• The secret of cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen
• The secret of cooking
• This Is Not a Diet Book: A User’s Guide to Eating Well
• The Way We Eat Now
• The Way We Eat Now: How the Food Revolution Has Transformed Our Lives, Our Bodies, and Our World
• The Way We Eat Now: How the Food Revolution Has Transformed Our Lives, Our Bodies, and Our World