Dirty Kitchen by Jill Damatac
In the style of CRYING IN H MART and MINOR FEELINGS, Jill Damatac blends memoir, food writing, and colonial history as she cooks her way through recipes from her native-born Philippines and shares stories of her undocumented family in America.
“A hard journey to freedomDamatac weaves history, mythology, and recipes into an affecting memoir of abuse, grief, longing, and frustration.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"Dirty Kitchen is not only an astonishing memoir—it is a bravura juggling act of genre, and a vivid testament to resilience. An absolute marvel."
—Jose Antonio Vargas, bestselling author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
“Part personal memoir, part cultural analysis, and all heart, Dirty Kitchen invites us into Jill Damatac's searing journey from decades of undocumented invisibility through the slow and recursive process of healing. Vulnerable and gripping, Damatac's debut explores what it means to reclaim one's life from the jaws of generational trauma and colonialism, while honoring the great ancestral gifts of Filipino heritage. Dirty Kitchen heralds the arrival of an unforgettable new talent. This book will make you cry, laugh, and hunger for more, and Damatac's wisdoms will leave you forever changed.”
—Qian Julie Wang, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Country
“There's a blue fire to Jill Damatac's way with words. In Dirty Kitchen, history itself burns sapphire bright.”
—Saeed Jones, author of Alive at the End of the World and How We Fight For Our Lives
“Dirty Kitchen is a feast of many ingredients: at once a searing, heartfelt account of one undocumented family’s life as told through dish after mouthwatering dish, as well as a fierce, unflinching look at the indigenous and colonial history that seasons every meal. This is a book that knows that the root of the word ‘recipe’ is ‘to receive’—one that shows us, with profound resolve and tenderness, all the things we receive with every meal: every pleasure, every pain, every story, every ghost. A book to sate multiple hungers, that leaves its reader truly fed.”
—Elaine Castillo, author of America Is Not The Heart
“As nimble and bold as the dishes she describes, Jill Damatac confronts the intersectional cruelties of colonialism and patriarchy with an unflinching spirit. Damatac celebrates the resilience of Filipino food as an ingredient for healing passed down through the ancestors. Dirty Kitchen is a literary feast that sticks to your fingers like a sumptuous kamayan.”
—Albert Samaha, author of Concepcion: Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family’s Fate
"Jill Damatac brings together myth and memory, history and hauntings, colonialism and catharsis and seats them around her table. Any reader of Dirty Kitchen is in for a feast when they pull up a chair."
—Alejandra Oliva, author of Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration
—Kirkus Reviews
"Dirty Kitchen is not only an astonishing memoir—it is a bravura juggling act of genre, and a vivid testament to resilience. An absolute marvel."
—Jose Antonio Vargas, bestselling author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
“Part personal memoir, part cultural analysis, and all heart, Dirty Kitchen invites us into Jill Damatac's searing journey from decades of undocumented invisibility through the slow and recursive process of healing. Vulnerable and gripping, Damatac's debut explores what it means to reclaim one's life from the jaws of generational trauma and colonialism, while honoring the great ancestral gifts of Filipino heritage. Dirty Kitchen heralds the arrival of an unforgettable new talent. This book will make you cry, laugh, and hunger for more, and Damatac's wisdoms will leave you forever changed.”
—Qian Julie Wang, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Country
“There's a blue fire to Jill Damatac's way with words. In Dirty Kitchen, history itself burns sapphire bright.”
—Saeed Jones, author of Alive at the End of the World and How We Fight For Our Lives
“Dirty Kitchen is a feast of many ingredients: at once a searing, heartfelt account of one undocumented family’s life as told through dish after mouthwatering dish, as well as a fierce, unflinching look at the indigenous and colonial history that seasons every meal. This is a book that knows that the root of the word ‘recipe’ is ‘to receive’—one that shows us, with profound resolve and tenderness, all the things we receive with every meal: every pleasure, every pain, every story, every ghost. A book to sate multiple hungers, that leaves its reader truly fed.”
—Elaine Castillo, author of America Is Not The Heart
“As nimble and bold as the dishes she describes, Jill Damatac confronts the intersectional cruelties of colonialism and patriarchy with an unflinching spirit. Damatac celebrates the resilience of Filipino food as an ingredient for healing passed down through the ancestors. Dirty Kitchen is a literary feast that sticks to your fingers like a sumptuous kamayan.”
—Albert Samaha, author of Concepcion: Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family’s Fate
"Jill Damatac brings together myth and memory, history and hauntings, colonialism and catharsis and seats them around her table. Any reader of Dirty Kitchen is in for a feast when they pull up a chair."
—Alejandra Oliva, author of Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration
Jill Damatac is a writer and filmmaker born in the Philippines, raised in the US, and now a UK citizen, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jill is a 2026 Haymarket Books and Mellon Foundation Writing Freedom Fellow and her film and photography work has been featured on the BBC and in Time, and at film festivals worldwide. Her short documentary film Blood and Ink (Dugo at Tinta), about the Indigenous Filipino tattooist Apo Whang Od, was an official selection at the Academy Award–qualifying DOC NYC and won Best Documentary at Ireland’s Kerry Film Festival. Jill holds an MSt in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Documentary Film from the University of the Arts London. Follow her on Instagram @JillDamatac.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781668084632 |
| ISBN 10 | 1668084635 |
| Title | Dirty Kitchen |
| Author | Jill Damatac |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Atria Books |
| Year published | 2025-06-12 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |