Clearing Out the Fridge
Clearing Out the Fridge
Ruby Van Dyk
We smiled at each other,
knowing hunger would surpass desire
for perfection.
In her debut poetry collection, Ruby Van Dyk dedicates space for introspection, anger, and cravings. Clearing Out the Fridge asks what food means to all of us. Traveling through warm kitchens, malodorous grocery stores, and the mind of a grieving teenage girl, it examines the systems on which we are all reliant. Traversing love of her grandmother, the silliness of a young cousin, and the uncertainty of a world overrun with microplastics and greed, poetry serves as the base for a greater message.
POETRY | Paperback | 2025 | ISBN: 979-8-9909764-6-7
Photo by Winky Lewis
About the Author
Ruby Van Dyk is a poet from many places, including North Carolina, Singapore, and Maine. She wrote her debut poetry collection Clearing Out the Fridge through The Telling Room’s Young Emerging Authors fellowship. A recent graduate of Casco Bay High School, she is attending Stanford University to study sustainability and policy. She is deeply invested in the future of our food system and our climate, and hopes to help in working toward a solution. In her free time she likes to take long walks, cook without recipes, and watch movies at her local theater.
Book Discussion Guide
Age Recommendation: Middle and High School
Discussion Questions
Each section of Clearing out the Fridge is introduced by a recipe written on an index card. How does this create a framework for the topics of the poems in each section?
What are the different ways “sickness” is portrayed in relation to food in these poems?
What are the lessons outside of food that the author learns from her grandmother Bam and cousin Phoebe that you notice? How does location and travel intersect with the author’s relationship with food?
What is important about the theme of the need for change, whether it relates to food or not?
Writing Prompts
Write an ode to a favorite meal; use as much description as possible and be sure to connect it to a loved one or a specific memory (or set of memories).
Write a call to action on how people can be better about food conservation and/or environmental care. Pick a fruit or vegetable. Write a poem using metaphors connecting that fruit/vegetable to something (or someone) that matters to you.
Write a poem inspired by the poem, “So What is the Solution?”
Group Activities
Look up a recipe either from your family or online. What story does it tell? Is this something you’d like to make yourself or with loved ones?
Go to the beach or look up pictures of the beach. What do you see? How do you feel about what you see? What textures are present? What do you smell or think of smelling?
Draw or sketch images of the food you enjoy.
Make a list of foods that shape who you are, and write about that relationship from one of the themes in the book (grief, home, identity, etc.), write a short song OR make a playlist of already existing songs that touch upon similar themes.
