"The word "terroir" refers to the climate and soil in which something is grown. Natasha Sajé applies this idea to people and the environments that nurture and challenge them. In exploring her identity as the child of European refugees alongside her life in the United States, she offers incisive commentary on nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and class. From a winter waitressing in Switzerland to marriage to a Jamaican man in Baltimore, and after his death, to a woman in Salt Lake City, this memoir-in-essays asks how how terroir creates identity, reminding us that change is constant in our lives."--Back cover.