Tender at the Bone

Reichel, Ruth Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table. New York : Random House 2010. Print.

First Sentences:

This is a true story. Imagine a New York City apartment at six in the morning. It is a modest apartment in Greenwich Village. Coffee is bubbling in an electric percolator. On the table is a basket of rye bread, an entire coffee cake, a few cheeses, a platter of cold cuts. My mother has been making breakfast -- a major meal in our house, one where we sit down to fresh orange juice every morning, clink our glasses as if they held wine, and toast each other with "Cheerio. Have a nice day."

Description:

I seem to be in a bit of "immersion reading" recently regarding memoirs of chefs and all things food (e.g., Kitchen Confidential and Mostly True). The latest interesting, fun, and insightful food memoir I just finished is Ruth Reichel's Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table.

Reishel recounts her early childhood before college in a home where her mother served anything that was in the fridge, odd items on expired sale at the market, and anything else that just plain old looked intriguing. These quirky choices came with a fringe benefit for Reichel:

I was the first person in my class to taste mussels, cactus fruit, sea urchins, and lychee nuts.

Her mother had no idea how to combine these various elements, once the mold was scraped off or the expiration dates rationalized away. Reichel took to standing in front of her mother's buffet table during frequent parties to warn people away from most of the "food" that was being offered.

 

Fortunately, her mother did not cook that frequently, a task which fell to young Ruth who had learned her cooking skills from their live-in maid, Mrs. Peavy. She taught Ruth how to make every dish possible, including her father's favorite wiener schnitzel, and let her know to make extra pastry when serving beef Wellington in case (as actually happened) the original dish was dropped just steps from the serving table. In that instance, Ruth and Mrs. Peavy simply retired to the kitchen, patched up the broken course, and returned it to the family.

 

As a child, Ruth once mentioned to her mother that it would be fun to learn French. Very soon after, at age 13 and speaking not a word of French, Ruth was shipped off to a five-month French immersion boarding school in Paris. A lonely, sad experience faced her until, left alone in the school on weekends, she discovered she could sneak out to visit local bakeries and shops. She soon made friends with several ambassadors' daughters who had joined her in her escapades. These friends eventually started taking her home on other weekends to their fabulously wealthy homes whee she sampled other unknown and delicious meals. 

 

During her college years, she lived in communal house with several Eco-conscious friends, cooking for them and random droppers-by before later waitressing at a fine dining restaurant. There she learned the deliciousness and importance of high-end food and elegant service. She became chef at the Swallow restaurant, a co-op healthy dining establishment where every worker was an part owner, taking on all duties from mopping floors to waiting tables to making decisions as a group on the menu, hiring help, and service...a disorderly but somehow successful process.

 

And on she goes, learning more cooking styles, traveling to France to learn about fine wines, (an important skill since as a restaurant critic she knew nothing about wine beyond cheap stuff she could afford). Recipes for each dish mentioned in the chapters are presented in full, a new concept in food memoir writing at the time which has since become the standard format for cooking memoirs. And, boy, they all sound mouth-watering.

• Pork and tomato stew
• Lemon souffle
• Show-off salad
• Clarita's fried chicken
• Coconut bread
• ....and on and on and on, each recipe sounding better than the last. 

In the postscript to this book, Reichel refers to this concept which led to the creation of this unique memoir style:

...food memoirs [at the time this book's writing] were not part of the general landscape....the genre did not exist. As I was trying to think about telling my story through food, it occurred to me that the recipes could function the way photographs did in other people's books. I wanted readers to get to know the characters through the food they cooked and ate, to be able to taste the time. 

It's fascinating, humorous, and intelligently written, recounting stories about the variety of people, places, and learning that contributed to her successful career. Even non-foodies like me will enjoy her experiences in this book. 

 [If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 O'Neill, Molly. Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball

Really insightful, funny memoir from the author who learned to cook and become a world-famous chef and food author, as she grows up in a family with five athletic brothers. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.] 

 

Food for Thought

Brown, Alton. Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations. New York: Gallery Books 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

 

I am sitting in front of a bowl, a spoon a box,and a bottle, and I'm beginning to break out in just a wee bit of a cold sweat.

Description:

I been a long-time fan of Alton Brown and his goofy, informative cooking shows such as Good Eats (16 seasons) and Iron Chef America (13 seasons). These television entertainments provided even non-cooks like me an entertaining introduction to the wonders and science behind preparing delicious food.

Now Brown had created a book, Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations, chock full of his memories and wide-ranging thougts about his career with food. 

These short essays cover such diverse topics as "Biscuiteering," "Bad Day at the Bakeshop," "Luau from Hell," "The Turkey Man Cometh," "The Sip of the Civilized" and "Cooking: The Final (Marriage) Frontier." In other words, Brown shares everything running through his mind, from making the perfect martini to cooking hacks, as well as his disastrous introductions to Cap'n Crunch cereal and s'mores.

It is not a book of recipes, although he does share his Horcrux meal (something that contains a part of him), the perfect martini (stirred, not shaken), and a few other tips on meal preparation and tools. And believe me, he has strong opinions. It is not a How-To book, but more of a collection of his rambling thoughts.

Here's a sample from inside his brain:

• The Son of Blob story about the discarded bread dough Brown had put into the restaurant dumptster that expanded to gigantic size and oozed out of the metal container;

• The first bite of a Cortona, Italy pizza which was so delicious that he used it to define his life "before the bite and life after the bite....To say it was just six simple ingredients would be like saying Pollock's Autumn Rhythym is just four colors of paint";

• He self-taught himself to cook in college to "lure" plan to woman to be interested in him. First, he will give her a simple, cheap meal (spaghetti and meatballs). Then, if all goes well, a second invitation to a slightly more costly one (coq au van). Finally, a third meal to close the deal with an expensive serving (sole florentine au gratin. Unfortunately, his first date cancelled at the last minute and he thoroughly enjoyed the meal by himself;

• [Note: About that seduction-through-meals-plan] - Brown states, "I harbored no illusions of actually bedding anyone; a bit of hand-holding on the sofa or a good-night kiss would have ranked as a major victory." He only cooked one more meal to win a woman's affection and burned the spaghetti, but won her heart and she eventually married him]; 

• "The word chef when preceded by the adverb yes becomes a subtle yet effective form of "f**k you." 

• He conceived of a new type of cooking show to be "a juxtaposition of unrelated forms" based on the style of Julia Child (practical), Mr. Wizard (science), and Monty Python ("laughing brains are more absorbant');

• The theme song for Good Eats was, at Brown's insistence, catchy and only 10 notes long in order to be used in the new 1997 cell phones and their customizable ring tones;

• Eating with chopsticks helped him lose weight;

• To get youngsters to eat food they refuse, just tell them they can't have any of it anyways because it is adult food;

• Once after sampling a soup on Iron Chef America" that contained oysters (which he is allergic to) he threw up repeatedly on the set and ended up in the ER.

I could go on and on with engaging tidbits from Brown, but I'll leave the rest of the discovery to those who read his book in full. Haven't laughed out loud at a book in a long time, so as you can tell I really enjoyed his behind-the-scenes stories, quips about life, and of course, cooking advice/failures/triumphs. 

Read it even if you don't know anything about food or its preparation, but love delightfully written stories that will definite make you at least smile and msybe even laugh out loud as I did.

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:] 

  

Pepim Jacques. The Apprentice.   

The autobiography of the chef who popularized French cooking in the United States. Includes his recollections about his French training, apprenticeships, and first restaurants, all told in his clear, personal writing style. Highly enjoyable, even for non-foodies. (Previously reviewed here.)

 

Happy reading.

Fred

 

Click here to browse over 435 more book recommendations by subject or title

(and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

 

Stir

Fechtor, Jessica. Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home. New York: Avery. 2015. Print.

First Sentences:

They say that trauma functions like a merciful eraser, wiping away into dust what the body most needs to forget.

That's not how it worked for me. I remember all of it: the shifting hum of the treadmill as I cranked up the speed; feeling strong and fast until, in an instant, I wasn't. 

Description:

Hard to imagine that a lover of thrillers and sports writing like me would be at all interested in Jessica Fechtor's memoir of recipes, love, and medical trauma. But what first-time author Fector offers in Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home are my personal big three of worthwhile books: great plot, interesting characters, and quality writing. With that trio, I will read and love anything. And Stir definitely proved well worth it for me to move outside my usual box of acceptable topics to pursue.

Fechtor offers a memoir that contains three intertwined plots: her medical trauma and recovery; her love story with friend/fiance/husband Eli; and her discovery of the healing power of food and its preparation. Can these disparate themes co-exist? Oh, yes, if in the able hands of Jessica Fechtor.

When I tell people that I am writing the story of a bloodied and broken brain -- and, oh, by the way, there will be recipes, too -- I get some strange looks.

A healthy twenty-something, athletic, married Harvard grad student, Fechtor suffered a brain aneurysm one morning while running on a treadmill. The incident nearly killed her. During her long months of recovery, she dreamed of returning to her "everyday" life of the kitchen and cooking.

Food has powers. It picks us up from our lonely corners and sits us back down, together. It pulls us out of ourselves, to the kitchen, to the table, to the diner down the block. At the same time, it draws us inward. Food is the keeper of our memories, connecting us with our pasts and with our people....Food -- like art, like music -- brings people together, it's true.

Fechtor transports readers into her world of illness and recovery with MRI's, angiograms, ultrasounds, medicines, doctors, and tests. The feelings she records are so honest and heartfelt that they brought back memories of my own illness and hospitals. For those wondering what it is like to anticipate dire consequences based on the results of the latest medical test, but then also to feel the warmth of friends and family as they stand by you unflinchingly and completely every day, then Stir is the book for you.

But this is also a love story. Eli, her husband, is the man any woman would want beside her in joy and in crises. From courtship to marriage to fatherhood, he is always at Fechtor's side, providing words of encouragement, dealing with doctors and families with firmness and sensitivity alike, and providing Fechtor a worthy partner in the healthy life they create. In stories of helping Fechtor learn to ride a bike to designing their engagement ring, Eli is the perfect companion in all conditions (unless he has poured milk onto his cereal and cannot be disturbed for anything). It is always a pleasure to read a great love story between two smart, interesting, caring people.

Then, there are the recipes and cooking memories so vital to Fechtor's recovery and relationships. Four months after the aneurysm, Fechtor starts a food blog (Sweet Amandine). In the blog, she shares favorite dishes along with photos she takes of the dishes,all delivered with her splendid writing. Fechtor shares past memories of the kitchen and the influential people who guided her interest in food and cooking, from her mother and step-mother, to friends, fellow chefs, and other family members. Her blog followers grew and grew, in numbers as well as probably in girth with all the lusciously photographed and described recipes presented.

To expand the blog into a book, Fechtor expanded the focus to more of her personal journey in her relationship with Eli and how these helped her deal with the aneurysm. A small incident remembered from her hospital bed triggers a warm description of the preparation of a particularly delicious item. The recipes for these special dishes are included, but I cannot comment on their complexity or deliciousness as I am not a foodie. But I trust Fechtor to provide food-loving readers with accurate road maps to creating the same goodies that so influenced her life and recovery. It is enough for me, an indifferent eater, to read Fechtor's descriptions of ingredients and the adventure of combining them to convince me about the power of food. 

You bake to share....Baking is an act of generosity, and thereby an act of freedom,since to be generous is to be free from the smallness of thinking only of yourself. Illness had made me dwell unnaturally on my own body and mind.I wanted to be generous again.

Who cannot enjoy a book with such a high level of self-awareness and exquisite writing? Whether you read to understand a medical survivor's tale, a wonderful love story, or possibly just for the recipes, Stir will satisfy your mental, emotional, and literary appetite.

Thinking about food means thinking about everything that goes on around it. The dash from the breakfast table out the door, the conversations that shape us, the places and faces that make us who we are. What besides food could I think of that would encompass my life so roundly? 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Gaffigan, Jim. Food: A Love Story

A hilarious (and I don't ever use that word, but in this case it is accurate) portrayal of author Gaffigan's relationship with every aspect of food as an all-consuming "Eatie," rather than a more selective "Foodie." He explores food across the United States, his personal favorite restaurants, and best food (bacon, "the candy of meat"), delivering all observations and comments with laugh-out-loud humor. (previously reviewed here)

Food: A Love Story

Gaffigan, Jim. Food: A Love Story. New York: Crown Archetype. 2014. Print.

First Sentences:

What are my qualifications to write this book? None really.

So why should you read it? Here's why. I'm a little bit fat. Okay, to some I might not be considered that fat, but the point is I'm not thin. If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating, I'd highly recommend you not read his book.... 

I wouldn't trust them skinnies with food advice. After all, how to you know  they really feel passionately about food? Well, obviously they are not passionate enough to overdo it. That's not very passionate. 

Anyway, I'm overweight.

Description:

While I enjoy humor books, it is not often there is one that makes me laugh out loud on every page at some situation, turn of the phrase, or just pure and simple outrageousness. Enter Jim Gaffigan's Food: A Love Story with probably the funniest writing I have encountered since ... well, ever.

Gaffigan, a stand up comedian gaining popularity for his dry humor, already has written a popular book with his wife and co-writer, Jeannie, about raising their five children (his "basketball team") in a two-room New York City apartment called, Dad Is Fat. The follow up book, Food, is a narrative of stream-of-consciousness about his passion for food as an "eatie" (someone who loves and is satisfied with ordinary food) as opposed to a "foodie" (someone always looking for the perfect dining experience). 

An avowed overweight man, Gaffigan rejects the Weight Watchers creed that "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels."

I for one can think of a thousand things that taste better than thin feels. Many of them are two-word phrases that end with cheese....Even unsalted French fries taste better than thin feels....Eating fries without salt feels like a sacrifice. "What am I, a pioneer?" When I have to eat unsalted fries, I often feel like I should be a contestant on Survivor or something.

While he admits weight can be a problem in our society, looking too thin has equal drawbacks for Gaffigan:

I believe some people should be fat. We all have a that friend who has lost tons of weight, and whenever you see them you secretly think, You looked better fat. Go back to being fat. You're thin, but you look exhausted. Even looking at you makes me want to sit down. 

The book is organized into short chapters that cover every aspect imaginable about food. He starts off with various regional food he has experienced during his stand up tours. The United States is divided into "Seabugland" (lobsters, crabs, etc), "Steakland," "Mexican Foodland," EatingBBQland," "Food Anxietyland" (New Orleans where food is so important), "Coffeeland," "Blubberland," and "Luauland." He examines each area for its restaurants and food offerings, both good and awful, and then carefully, tastefully describes them. 

There are also short commentaries on international food. He reviews Thai food ("Buddha was so peaceful and fat because of the Thai food"), Indian ("either on the edge of too spicy or lethally hot"), Chinese ("they will eat anything, but they have an uncanny ability make seemingly disgusting things taste good...like oxtail soup"), and other cuisines.

Next comes his musings about specific everyday foods, from fish to steak ("the manly meat"), where he writes about bacon ("the candy of meat"), cheeseburgers ("America's Sweetheart"), ketchup ("the king of the condiments"), doughnuts ("not liking doughnuts is a crime"), crackers ("the adult junk food"). and a debate between which is preferred: Wheat Thins or Triscuit.

There are also some good and scathing restaurant reviews, from IHOP ("ICanBarelyMove feels more appropriate. Maybe INeedAWheelchair"), Waffle House ("the vibe feels more like that  of a halfway house or a mobile home"), and Auntie Anne's Pretzels ("a last resort. I have some dignity"). Of course, the regular stops also are addressed, like McDonald's ("Not wanting to embarrass and humiliate myself by admitting I'm there for the food, I say, 'Oh, I'm just meeting a hooker. He should be here by now"), Burger King ("the impostor king...it seems like Burger King purposely does it worse"), Wendy's ("the other woman in my life, playing hard to get with her delicious Frosty"), and White Castle ("some people make fun of White Castle, and these people are called everyone").

You get the idea. Nothing is sacred to Gaffigan when it comes to simply eating and enjoying food all the time, wherever and whenever hunger (or just an interest in consuming some more food!) occurs to him. 

When I don't want to eat something, I assume I'm sick and most likely dying. I try to stick to three meals a day and then an additional three at night. The only time I stop eating is when I'm sleeping.

There is much, much more in Food on Gaffigan's favorites and those worthy of scorn, although nothing is considered so bad that it stops him from eating a particular food or in a certain dining establishment. 

A thoroughly satisfying narrative, one that can be read straight through, skimmed, or simply picked up and read in any order, for as long as you care to laugh and nod your head in agreement with his witticisms and wisdom. I loved it, even though I am one of those untrustworthy skinnies. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

_____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Gaffigan, Jim. Dad Is Fat

More funny recollections from Jim Gaffigan and his wife/co-writer, Jeannie, on raising their "basketball team" of five kids in a New York City apartment.