Advance Praise
Proust had madeleines; Amy Barnes has powdered donuts with raspberry jelly filling. The food reviews in Clean-Up On Aisle 5 are a journey through memories, senses, and America in all its mass-produced, fast-food-filled glory. Fair warning: I ordered four pints of Jeni’s ice cream after reading Amy’s review of Jeni’s Strawberry Pretzel Pie ice cream.
– Janine Annett, author of I Am “Why Do I Need Venmo?” Years Old: Adventures in Aging.
“She is damn good, and that’s the long, thin, wide and short of it. She goes to places with ideas and words while the rest of us are left standing around with our hands in our pockets wondering what just happened. I love Amy and her writing, and you will soon, too.”
– Jessica Delfino author of Dumb Jokes for Smart Folks
Barnes writes about dreams and processed foods, and I am here for it. Barnes intertwines reviews of junk food and storytelling to create something unique: a journey through corn syrup and memory, through the self and snacks. Barnes isn’t eating simply because she’s hungry. She wants to know more. These essays are aware that we’re constantly in conversation with advertising, desire, and our past. After you read this collection, you’re going to feel inspired to try that new weird potato chip flavor and listen to the stories it tells you.
– MM Carrigan, Editor of Taco Bell Quarterly
Amy Barnes has food-friendly words at a variety of publications including The Dot, Allrecipes, The Spruce Eats, Parade (Relish), Forbes, Gnashing Teeth’s “Heat the Grease, We’re Frying Up some Poetry” anthology, Tom Hazuka’s “Flash Nonfiction Food: 91 Very Delicious, Very True, Very Short Stories” anthology, Chowhound, Farm Flavor, Simplemost and Clean Plates. Her humor writing has been published at sites including McSweeney’s, The Daily Drunk, Weekly Humorist, Funny or Die, Botnik Studios, College Humor, The Cooper Review, The Higgs Weldon and Robot Butt. She is an associate editor at Fractured Lit, co-editor at Gone Lawn and volunteers for Taco Bell Quarterly, CRAFT Literary, Retreat West, NFFD, Narratively and The Macguffin. Her first collection of flash fiction is forthcoming in summer, 2021.