These days any woman knows that the sensual pleasures of food and cooking are all too often obscured by the increasing demands of careers, families, battles over body image, and the desire for a life outside the "traditional" domain of the kitchen. Through the Kitchen Window offers a fresh look at food and cooking, arguing that food is a cultural declaration, an expression of hidden hungers, a symbol of our intimate connections to one another. Including memories of Latina, Geechee, Chinese and Indian kitchens, this book reveals everything from the painful struggles to overcome an eating disorder to the tantalizing delights of cornbread and barbecue eaten from a lover's hands, and challenges assumptions about women, food, and the true satisfaction of cooking.

Goodwin takes readers along on the exciting adventures of two middle-aged missionaries in New Guinea and Thailand.