Recipe for Disaster is a collection of stories and recipes—from a veritable who’s who from the worlds of food, music, art, literature, activism, fashion, and pop culture—about finding comfort in food, surviving the unthinkable, and living to tell about both.

Discover how getting dumped led to author Samantha Irby's Rejection Chicken. Comedian Sarah Silverman tells of the power of the humble Pinwheel cookie that got her through bouts of crippling childhood depression. Culinary legend Alice Waters reflects on how a perfectly dressed salad has carried her and her chosen family through loneliness and uncertainty. Here are forty recipes—some traditional, some unconventional—that commemorate the low points with the same culinary conviction with which we celebrate the highs. Part cookbook, part candid confessions, this book of good food for bad times reminds us that even the worst of days yield something worth sharing.