I’ve read a few of Ruth Reichl’s other non-fiction books, mainly about her life growing up and working for Gourmet magazine. This book is a collection of recipes that she wrote up in the year following the end of Gourmet magazine and the beginning of her search for her next steps.
Right away something about this book’s format rubbed me the wrong way. She introduces each section with (what I am guessing is) a tweet that she made at that time, and they’re sort of written like a little poem/haiku/emotion bomb. For example:
“Cool, rainy. Autumn’s on its way. Pasta, perhaps? Cauliflower, olives, anchovies. Rich red wine. Ripe pears. So fine.”
There are a lot of these throughout the book and so each chapter I had another chance to be annoyed. I guess I just didn’t really enjoy the attempt to over-romanticize the experience of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches:
“Hot. Hawks dance in the air. Grass prickles. Warm peanut butter and jam on thick white bread. Summertime picnic. Feel about five.”
p. 397
But enough about my grouchiness – the recipes were why I was reading, and they are a great selection of different kinds of foods, mainly fitting an American diet. I liked that the format was simply a description and not written analytically. It was like hearing how to make something from a friend in the kitchen.
So, I’d recommend the book for the variety of recipes. Reading about how a very successful lady survived a year off work while living between two of her houses and shopping for organically grown heirloom vegetables at the local farmer’s market every week – well, that wasn’t so compelling.
