What are you reading (food-related)?
I'm re-reading The Italian Country Table by Lynn Rosetto Kasper (excellent, love many of the recipes and rememberances/histories); Author's Famous Recipes and Reflections on Food by Diane Holloway, Ph.D (some sourced author-linked recipes I haven't seen elsewhere); and Hell Hath No Curry by Tamar Myers - "A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes" (sounds like fun and how can one resist a female Mennonite innkeeper sleuth, heh).
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
23 Comments:
Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts. I have loved her stuff for years (she's regularly featured on the Food Network Challenges, and she was, for a time, on Iron Chef - she worked on the Iron Chef's team and usually did dessert), and I had the good fortune of being in San Fran a few years ago, so I got to stop by Citizen Cake and get a few things from there, all of which were amazing. The book has a variety of recipes, ranging from simple cookies and brownies to her amazing desserts and cakes, and they're all amazing. I can't wait to make something out of there!!!
charm city cupcake at 3:09PM on 10/14/07
After reading his interview on this website, I picked up copies of David Kamp's The United States of Arugula and The Food Snob's Dictionary. If you want to know about the history of fine dining in America, definitely pick up the former. The dictionary is funny and educational -- I will definitely pass it on to those who want to understand what makes this food snob tick :-)
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 11:50PM on 10/14/07
I just read Kitchen Confidental by Anthony Bourdain and I couldnt put it down! I am now afraid to work in the hospitality industry and scared to eat out :D I was almost ashamed of being vegan at some point while reading it
choc_puddin at 6:05AM on 10/15/07
I finally picked up "My Life in France" by Julia Child and Alex prud'Homme. It is delicious, rich, and fulfilling. I can't put it down, and am now totally in love with both her and her husband. Highly recommended.
erelmartin at 8:57AM on 10/15/07
I'm currently reading The United States of Arugula, which is really interesting. I'm a virgin to the experience of reading anything about Alice Waters that isn't an exercise in beatification, so, awesome. I am often rereading The Rituals of Dinner and Much Depends on dinner, both by Margaret Visser, and both bloody amazing.
rockykay at 1:54PM on 10/15/07
I am actually reading through Alice Water's new cookbook "The Art of Simple Food." Sounds crazy to be "reading" a cookbook but hers is jampacked with stories and information! Some favorite food reads...Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and Adam Roberts "The Amateur Gourmet" of course :)
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 2:39PM on 10/15/07
I'm juuuuuuuuust finishing Heat, which has been a great read, imo. I've found myself laughing out loud numerous times, too--nice bonus there! Looking forward to sharing it with my dad, who just gave me the Food Snob's Dictionary and a copy of the The United States of Arugula, which will be next.
Curlz at 3:12PM on 10/15/07
Just finished Nancy Verde Barr's memoir of her working with Julia Child, and was surprised and delighted about this view of the Blessed Julia. I hope I can grow old like she did, or at least mostly. (She wasn't totally without flaws.)
lemons at 4:35PM on 10/15/07
I just finished the The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi from Samurai to Supermarket- great, with so many great nuggets of information on sushi and the fish. Also, just finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, all about growing and eating local with her family for one year.
shaofan at 4:54PM on 10/15/07
Finishing up "Dishing" by gossip columnist Liz Smith. Hers is a great tale of food stories, recipes and...well, dishing, which Liz does better than anyone. (My dream is to have her show me how to fry chicken.)
hatlady at 6:28PM on 10/15/07
Lots of interesting choices here. :) I love the title "Demolition Desserts".
The Visser books I've tried in the past but somehow never finished them. My favorite food history book remains "Food in History" by Reay Tannahill - she starts with 10,000 BC and just keeps on truckin'. Fascinating, smart, and humorous not dry.
I haven't read the Julia books but am almost afraid to after reading MFK Fisher's biographies, which left a sad place in my heart with an added touch that her writing has been skewed for me with the knowledge I learned of her (which I am still fighting to overcome so that I can just enjoy the writing again).
What a wonderfully wide range of responses!
Karen Resta at 8:35AM on 10/16/07
Karen, I understand your feelings about Mrs. Fisher. It's a good example of the difference between the person who writes and what they write. But dear God, could she write!
lemons at 9:43AM on 10/16/07
Her descriptive prose and her storytelling abilities were unparallelled within that genre (which she stretched) during that time period, for sure. And as she wrote of life and food (and love) in the essay form, such an intense credibility was held within it - just as good food holds life itself.
That's why it is so difficult to read her and swallow it as "good" - because that credibility (for me) was shattered. I tried to re-read "The Art of Eating" several months ago and only made it part-way through. The shadow could not be disspelled. I can see the excellence, but it's weighted now with another taste.
I also wonder if writing itself has gotten a bit less weighty today. I was feeling the sense, re-reading MFKF, of reading Henry James. Fantastic, but like walking with weights on. Different than current writing styles.
But who might be her equal, writing today? I don't know.
Karen Resta at 11:33AM on 10/16/07
i think that if i was going to list the last 20 books i read it would go something like:
heat (reread)
everything by jeffrey steingarten (reread)
everything by anthony bourdain [fiction and non] (reread)
how i learned to cook
don't try this at home: culinary catastrophes
the julie/julia project
my life in france by julia child
garlic and sapphires by ruth reichl (i'm about to go pick up her two memoirs at the library)
the complete meat cookbook
lexophile at 12:03PM on 10/16/07
Reading United States of Arugula. Never got around to it when it first came out, but, like Dominic, Adam Roberts's interview sold me.
Adam Kuban at 3:04PM on 10/16/07
I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle as I eat locally all month. It's inspiring and an enjoyable read.
July at 3:20PM on 10/16/07
You can never go wrong with anything by Anthony Bourdain!
--------------------------------
You like to eats?
http://www.gobbl.com
druz99 at 3:24PM on 10/16/07
Karen, Richard Olney's autobiography, Reflexions, tarnished my appreciation for his wonderful cookbooks, so I know what you mean.
Fortunately, Alex Prud'homme's portrait of Julia is sweet and affectionate; she wasn't without flaws, but she was a helluva dame.
I'm reading Suzanne Goin's Sunday Dinners At Lucques, Fergus
Henderson's Beyond Nose to Tail, and a proof of Judith Jones' memoir The Tenth Muse.
Cathy at 3:29PM on 10/16/07
My Life in France is on my list but haven't gotten it yet (maybe for Christmas!).
It's been a while since I read anything with somewhat of a food focus (except Joy of Cooking, which I read most days), but in the past few years I've really enjoyed French Women Don't Get Fat (a tribute to the virtues of moderation), A Trip to the Beach, and A Thousand Days in Venice. Each is primarily about something other than food, but none of the stories can be told without the vital subtext of food!
LoCo at 4:16PM on 10/16/07
i'm reading how to eat by nigella lawson, having already burned through most of the books mentioned here. i'm really enjoying ms. lawson's prose and am looking forward to trying her recipes for yorkshire pud and translucent apple tart.
cybercita at 9:36PM on 10/16/07
I thought of you, Cathy, when reading Julia Moskin's recent NYT article on Judith Jones' book and life. It looks interesting. Evan Jones' American Food is one of very few books I've kept for many years (I tend to winnow out and give away books constantly). It is falling apart. :)
October 30 is the release date for another book I can't wait to read: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink edited by David Remnick. I need to order that today. The anticipation is killing me.
Karen Resta at 8:30AM on 10/24/07
Okay, I'm in love.
With Secret Ingredients - The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink.
From the introduction:
While Ross and Shawn did not distinguish themselves as "fressers", they did build a magazine that welcomed some of the greatest eaters and also some of the greatest writers *about* eating who have ever picked up pen or fork. This anthology comprises those men and women of appetite and their successors, writers who have taken an interest in food and drink as a source of pleasure, sustenance, metaphor, portraiture, adventure, comedy, and fiction.
Karen Resta at 10:31AM on 11/11/07
I'm reading "The Book of Jewish Food' by Claudia Roden. The recipes aren't that in depth, but honestly I rarely cook from recipes. The great thing about the book are her well researched essays about various Jewish settlements around the world and her introductions and variations to the recipes.
coolname at 12:43PM on 11/11/07