Food School – Jade Armstrong

Paperback. Conundrum Press. 2024. New Condition. 

A twenty-something college dropout enrols in a full-time outpatient program for eating disorder recovery. As they change their relationship with food, their relationships with people change, too.  

Olive’s post-secondary education isn’t what they’d planned. Instead of college, they spend five days a week, eight hours a day at what Olive calls ”Food School”: a full-time outpatient program for eating disorder recovery where they learn, talk, and cry about eating disorders as part of a survivor support group.  Intensely committed to recovery, Olive confronts the secretive, self-destructive, and sometimes tragically comedic nature of their illness, while struggling with the complexities of modern mental health care. With support and perspective from their roommate, a fellow patient, and their partner, Olive learns to open up about their abusive relationship with food and exercise—and finds ways to cope with the reality of living in a society that actively encourages disordered eating.  In this fictional slice of life comic, Jade Armstrong ( Scout Is Not a Band Kid ) explores the ways our relationships with food impact our connections with the people we love.