REVIEW: If You Can't Take the Heat by Geraldine DeRuiter
Book #66 of 2025, done!
📖BOOK: If You Can’t Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury by Geraldine DeRuiter
🎧FORMAT: Audiobook via Prince William County Library & Libby
📚GENRE: Memoir/Essays
📅RELEASED: March 12th, 2024
⏱️AUDIOBOOK LENGTH: 9 hours and 34 minutes (Listened at 1.75x speed)
⭐RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4 out of 5 stars)
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🧳SYNOPSIS:
”When celebrity chef Mario Batali sent out an apology letter for the sexual harassment allegations made against him, he had the gall to include a recipe—for cinnamon rolls, of all things. Geraldine DeRuiter decided to make the recipe, and she happened to make food journalism history along with it. Her subsequent essay, with its scathing commentary about the pervasiveness of misogyny in the food world, would be read millions of times, lauded by industry luminaries from Martha Stewart to New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells, and would land DeRuiter in the middle of a media firestorm. She found herself on the receiving end of dozens of threats when all she wanted to do was make something to eat (and, okay fine, maybe take down the patriarchy).
In If You Can’t Take the Heat, DeRuiter shares stories about her shockingly true, painfully funny (and sometimes just painful) adventures in gastronomy. We’ll learn how she finally got a grip on her debilitating anxiety by emergency meal–planning for the apocalypse. (“You are probably deeply worried that in times of desperation I would eat your pets. And yes, I absolutely would.”) Or how she learned to embrace her hanger. (“Because women can be a lot of things, but we can’t be angry. Or president, apparently.”) And how she inadvertently caused another international incident with a negative restaurant review. (She made it on to the homepage of The New York Times’s website! And she got more death threats!)”
💬THE VIBE:
Quick, witty, and sneakily educational. It’s like listening to your funniest friend rant about the absurdities of restaurant culture and gender politics.
💡STANDOUT ELEMENTS:
I learned things I’d never heard of (like the “women’s menu,” which is infuriating), and I appreciated how she managed to balance humor with some truly maddening facts about how women are treated in culinary spaces.
🧠WHAT STUCK:
Her voice is so engaging. I love how she mixed personal stories with big-picture observations and still kept everything moving.
👎WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME:
Nothing at all. It’s a essay collection, so somehit harder than others. Overall it was very entertaining.
🤔IF YOU LIKE:
Smart, funny memoirs with bite
Food writing that doesn’t take itself too seriously
Essays that blend humor and feminism
🙅♀️IF YOU DON’T LIKE:
Nonfiction that jumps between topics
Personal stories mixed with cultural critique
Books that occasionally rant (in the best way)
📝FINAL VERDICT:
4 stars.
A funny, insightful listen that taught me new things and made me laugh out loud more than once. Perfect if you enjoy memoirs with equal parts humor, righteous anger, and great stories.
