What We're Reading...

Frequent flashes of humor and equally revealing sober insight make this thorough (and energetic, not exhausting) review into a page turner. Heath and Adams cover bestsellers from 1990 thru 2005, and span topics as diverse as Harry Potter and Barak Obama. They conclude with a sound wake-up call to reader, writer, and the publishing industry. Not to be missed.

Smoked Salmon Spanakopita, Marion’s Living Muesli, and Curried Tofu Salad are just a few of the mouth-watering, hearty recipes from the world-renowned Esalen Institute retreat center that fill Esalen Cookbook: Healthy and Organic Recipes from Big Sur. Whether you follow recipes religiously or take bits of inspiration from them and improvise, here are many delicious ideas for every meal, dessert, and snack, illustrated with full-color photographs.

Where did Mark Twain celebrate his 70th birthday? Who was Minakshie DasGupta? Which Chinese American chef once referred to herself as “the bossy big sister?” The late Alice Arndt has created a true culinary and historical masterpiece in Culinary Biographies, an alphabetical compendium of personalities in the world of food from Pythagoras to Julia Child. Answers: Delmonico’s; First Indian woman to write a Bengali cookbook in English; Grace Chu

All the classics that your mother may or may not have taught you are presented in The Silver Palate Cookbook Anniversary Edition, 25 Years, still as consistent as ever and now with color photographs. Tips on food shopping, storage, and preparation, as well as popular and obscure food quotes complement every recipe.

Journalist and historian Laura Shapiro has crafted an excellent chronicle of Julia Child’s life. While based on extensive archival research in Julia’s personal papers, her television shows, and media coverage, Shapiro’s Julia Child is rich, engrossing and more remarkable than the many myths surrounding this legendary culinary figure.

Corson is a great storyteller no matter what the tale. From description of a sushi apprentice’s fear of knives to tuna locomotion and its relevance to sushi service in layman’s terms, The Zen of Fish invites you into the history, mythology, science and gustatory pleasures of sushi. (I could think of eating nothing else while reading it.) It certainly is “one of the most compelling food-themed books in recent years.”
– Publishers Weekly (in a starred review)

Cooks, designers, historians, bakers, home owners, foodies. Anyone will appreciate this foray into the pantries of today and yore, the room formerly of maids and butlers, canning, mice, and even writers: It is suspected that Emily Dickinson (and others) wrote in the pantry. The profuse and detailed color photographs beautifully illustrate the utility and craft of one room dedicated to food.

A less violent and much warmer story than the title implies, yet with a fair share of surprises. The Devil in the Kitchen exposes culinary history and Chef Marco Pierre White’s ground breaking culinary achievements as a young man in Britain. White, the “first rock star chef,” rockets through London’s finest kitchens with passion, hyper-perfectionism, and tenderness for classic French technique, but few people. His wry humor seasons the read very well.

How did we arrive at The Age of the Celebrity Chef and what does that mean for the culinary industry, chefs, and the rest of us eaters? From the movement of organic and local food to The Food Channel, dieting, and The French Laundry, Ruhlman follows his curiosity and his palate across the country. Julia, Emeril, Rachel Ray, and the CIA all star, as do innovative young chefs and their shrimp cocktail breath fresheners. Thorough, revealing, and honest.