Spaghetti Junction

The New York Times bestselling author of Korean American traces his twisted path to adulthood in New York City at the dawn of the digital era—from ASMR YouTube fame and pop star dreams to internet friends and the love of a good dog. In Spaghetti Junction, Eric Kim—New York Times food columnist, bestselling author of Korean American, and beloved internet food voice—presents a series of deeply personal and disarmingly funny essays about coming of age in the earliest decade of our online world. Named after Atlanta’s famed Tom Moreland Interchange, a “spaghetti junction” is a point where many roads collide and diverge. For Eric, life in New York City in his twenties was filled with these stressful but ultimately meaningful interchanges that made him who he is today; from his pop star dreams at the dawn of the YouTube era, internet friendships, and his near-miss academic career at Columbia, to the dizzying heartbreaks of his twenties, his queer coming-of-age, his relationship with his parents and his partner, Paolo; the origin story of his writing life, and the quiet, grounding presence of his rescue dog, Quentin. Taken together, Eric’s funny yet poignant observations about growing up reveal a larger arc about how to grow up when the world feels on fire, how to build a new life from the scraps of old ones, and how food remains a solace and a tonic throughout. A recipe appears at the end of each chapter—like roast chicken with tomato butter, eggplant quesadillas, pasta with asparagus ragu, Sprite-glazed ham, and interstellar brownies—each one linked to a pivotal emotional moment in Eric's life, reminding readers that what we eat often says the most about who we are.