By the time Joanne Fedler's fortieth birthday loomed, she'd had it with several trouble-makers who'd been wreaking havoc in the kingdom of her heart for too long. It was time to deport them. In what she initially took to be an unrelated impulse, she figured she could also start to care again about how she looked before the fatty deposits on her rear-end fossilised. And that's where the idea behind When Hungry, Eat began. Or so she thought. She started a new eating plan ('a ridiculous euphemism for self-imposed starvation') which took her on a route to a much Greater Hunger - as Lauren van der Post calls it - which had nothing to do with food. What began as a mission to get back into a bikini, became a pilgrimage back to faith, which had not been on either her food list or her itinerary. When Hungry, Eat is a celebration of unexpected spiritual wisdom, small portions and the gifts of hunger. new immigrant in Australia, and mother of two, she only knows that she does not want to be ‘fat and forty.’ What begins as a strict eating regime takes her on a journey of discovery not only into the many meanings of hunger, but also into the consequences of loss. As Joanne slowly sheds her weight, gram by gram, she starts to confront the grief of having left the feast of her life in South Africa, her beloved homeland. In making friends with hunger and dropping a few dress sizes, Joanne learns to confront her fear of being hungry, of letting go, of losing things. In this way, a quest for weight loss becomes a pilgrimage of faith, love, memory and acceptance. Reminiscent of Eat, Pray, Love, When Hungry, Eat is a humorous yet poignant celebration of unexpected spiritual wisdom, small portions and the gifts of hunger.