Meet Jenny
Oh hey!
Jenny Mollen is a writer, actor, Instagram personality and New York Times bestselling author of the essay collections I Like You Just the Way I Am and Live Fast Die Hot. Heralded by The Huffington Post as one of the funniest women on both Twitter and Instagram and named one of “Five to Follow” by T Magazine, Jenny wrote a standing column for Parents magazine and has contributed to Cosmopolitan, Glamour, New York, Elle.com, Grub Hub, and Wake Up Call with Katie Couric. She also cooks stuff.
Ever since I was a child, food equaled love. And for that, I was always hungry. - Jenny Mollen
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Mommy, is it ok if you call me King? - Sid ( Age 8 )
The Birth of a Dictatorship
How I Learned to Survive an Authoritarian Lunch Regime
How it Started
My story begins like all heroes’ journeys…
…with the best of intentions and a shit ton of mommy issues. Growing up as a child of divorce, with two parents who worked days and dated nights, I was often tasked with packing my own lunches for school. So when I had Sid and Lazlo, I couldn’t simply send them out the door with brown paper bags. I needed to give them movable feasts.
How it Progressed
I knew I would have to be strategic…
…or they would turn into those tyrants that only eat pasta with butter. At first, lunches started as a testing ground. Since I wasn’t around, there wasn’t the same power struggle as at every other meal. So I went hard, serving up everything from kimchi to Guatemalan pupusas.
How it's Going
As I planned out each lunch…
…I started to understand that for me, these lunches weren’t just about nutrition or exposure. They were my way of “having it all,” of being both the stay-at-home mom I always dreamed of and the working mom I am to the core of my being. They are my version of a handwritten note, not just to the kids I have but also to the kid I once was.
