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Lessons in Chemistry: How Bonnie Garmus makes her 'desperation brownies'

Lessons in Chemistry author Bonnie Garmus on the five dishes that shaped her life

The bestselling novelist shares the different foods that have defined her

Bonnie Garmus's debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, has become a global phenomenon since it first went on sale in April 2022. It's been published in 42 countries, topping bestseller lists in many of them, and has sold millions of copies around the world.

It tells the story of Elizabeth Zott, a brilliant chemist who becomes the host of a hit TV cookery show in 1960s America, and decides to use her platform as a rallying call to housewives to better understand the science behind the meals they make.

"I've always appreciated people who cook, but now I understand that they're not just people who cook, they're chemists. They're really high level chemists too," says Bonnie.

It's also a story about sexism in the workplace, the home and society. Bonnie's own experiences inspired her to start writing the novel, after a work meeting in which a male colleague took the credit for her ideas, and no one else in the room spoke up.

"What inspired me was a bad mood."

Bonnie has a remedy for a bad mood - 'desperation brownies' - which she baked for The Food Chain's Ruth Alexander.

"I came home from work one night and I'd had a bad day, and it was my night to make dinner. I wasn't inspired at all. I didn't know what to make. And then my husband came home and he'd had a bad day. And my kids came through the door and they'd had a bad day. And I said, 'You know what? I'm making brownies for dinner.'

"And we called them from that day forward desperation brownies. And when we have a bad day, our family makes them. And that's what we have for dinner. They work."

Bonnie decided to include the brownies in her novel. Elizabeth Zott makes them repeatedly for dinner when she’s going through a particularly difficult period.

"I thought, wait a minute, she's had a bad day. Why don't I put what my family does in the book? And that's how that came about."

For the latest episode in the Food Chain's My Life in Five Dishes series, Ruth Alexander visited Bonnie in her London home, to hear about the food influences in her novel, and the story of her life told through five dishes that have been in some way meaningful for her.

As well as serving up brownies, Bonnie tells us about her childhood growing up in California, her first date with her husband, and the adoption of her two daughters from China - as well as the role their dog, 99, plays in their lives.