On Feeding Mad Hungry Men and Boys

Famished after an afternoon soccer game, Lucinda Scala Quinn’s teenage son consumed a full recipe of Cheesy Corn Snack, half a recipe of Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges and a 10-ounce smoothie. That was after an after-school snack and before dinner.

He was what Quinn calls “Mad Hungry,” and that is the title of the professional foodie’s new book.

Quinn came to the Darien Library on Thursday to promote Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys (Recipes, Strategies and Survival Techniques) just published by Artisan, a division of Workman Publishing Company in New York.

“If you have one hungry male in your path, it is a rather urgent situation,” she told the crowd of 50 fellow foodies to laughter.

Quinn should know. She is the mother of three boys, all six-feet tall now; they plus her husband are Quinn's source of inspiration for both cooking and writing about it.

“Men eat differently from women,” Quinn writes. “They eat more; they eat constantly; and they eat passionately. And if they’re ‘mad hungry,’ with no food in sight, life is a living hell.”

Quinn’s book is full of recipes for “honest” meals of fresh, simple ingredients, interspersed with anecdotes about her sons and suggestions for others to follow to lure their boys and men to the table.

Her first word of advice is this:

“Never be caught without bacon.”

The reason is simple:

“Cook it and they’re gonna come.”

Growing up in an Italian household where both her parents shared in wholesome meal preparation, Quinn has been cooking professionally since college days. She regards the avocation as providing food for the soul as well as the body. It's what Quinn calls “one-stop shopping for wellness.”

“If you cook for people you love and teach them how to cook, it can be the most wonderful thing you remember doing together.”

Sitting down together for a meal can bring otherwise rulctant adolescents to conversation, she says.

“They don’t want to talk to you, but they want to eat. They can talk about the food and say this is ‘mad good,’” says Quinn, adopting the lexicon of young urbanites.

The conversation thusly opened, they are freed to shift the conversation to more sensitive topics. It's simple: the way into any man's heart in through his stomach.

Quinn is executive food director for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, a cohost of PBS’s Everyday Food and has her own Sirius XM satellite radio show, EatDrink. Yet, despite her demanding work schedule, she is insistent that she shop and prepare healthy meals for her family.

Quinn is a strong proponent of the family meal: three meals a day, to be exact.

“Make Boys Eat Breakfast,” she commands in Chapter Two.

Quinn taught herself to make a perfect egg and cheese sandwich on grilled bagel when one of her sons headed off to school in the morning on an empty stomach, purchasing a fast-food concoction en route. Now she sends him out the door with a still-warm sandwich in a foil wrap. The dual message of maternal comfort and comfort food is not lost on him.

As for lunch, “It really matters,” Quinn says.

“Plan it, pack it to go, or serve it at home, but don’t skip it.” she writes. “Prioritize a midday respite for mind, body, health and vitality and avoid an afternoon slump.”

And Quinn says “What’s for dinner?” is her boys' most burning question.

The cookbook is full of simple recipes with natural ingredients to create meals that are highly aromatic and fulfilling as well as healthy.

Nor is dessert overlooked.

“Men love pie,” says Quinn; and so she offers easy recipes for a fail-proof old-fashioned apple as well as strawberry rhubarb and banana cream.

Darien’s soccer and football Moms facing “mad hungry” athletes could do worse than cook up Quinn’s cheesy corn snack. It calls for vegetable oil, popping corn kernels, butter, Parmesan cheese and salt, takes just a few minutes to cook and makes four quarts. It is patterned after commercial cheese snacks but lacks the preservatives and chemical additives. If Quinn’s soccer-playing son is an arbiter of taste, it is far yummier than its commercial cousin.

And if the Darien Library audience is any judge, the cookbook is a winner: volunteers cooked up recipes from the book to serve as refreshments during the book-signing, and they disappeared faster than you could  kick a soccer ball 50 yards.

Three copies of Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys (Recipes, Strategies and Survival Techniques) are avaialable at the Darien Library, but you'll need to reserve a copy, and join the already-growing waitlist!