What food-related books are you reading? (2004 - 2015)

[suzilightning]

just finished Robert Irvine's book Mission:Cook. the recipes were ok but i really enjoyed his writing about how he learned to cook and his philosophy on tasting, ingredients and discipline in the kitchen as well as elsewhere. still doesn't make me want to watch his show on food network but the narrative was really good.

and i have outlaw cook by thorne just in

[kiliki]

I'm halfway through and loving Secret Ingredients (the new collection of New Yorker food articles). It's worth it just for the food related cartoons alone.

[rconnelly]

I'm halfway through and loving Secret Ingredients (the new collection of New Yorker food articles). It's worth it just for the food related cartoons alone.

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Totally agree about Secret Ingredients. Also just finished The Tenth Muse, the memoir by Judith Jones, the editor who "found" Julia Child. Great writing and an interesting life.

[RAHiggins1]

My wife gave me "The Professional Chef - 8th Edition" for xmas. My in-laws gave be a 20 book instructional series from the 70's by Le cordon bleu of London. I was also given a Thai cookbook and a 400 sauces cookbook as well as an updated version of the St. Tammany Ladies auxillery recipe collections or something like that from one of my katrina refugee friends here in Atlanta. And finally "Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells". All in all a good christmas for me.

I read cookbooks like people read novels.

[Philip Dundas]

For a brilliant literary adventure , try Anne Tyler's Dinner at The Homesick Restaurant. Cooking as redemption. It was published in 1982 but some things are really worth going back to.

[dougw]

I'm reading the Julia Child autobiography about her time in Paris, Marseille, and Germany etc. It's a lovely read.

[Megan Blocker]

I'm reading the Julia Child autobiography about her time in Paris, Marseille, and Germany etc. It's a lovely read.

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My Time in France - I agree; it's fantastic. I read the Fitch biography of Julia a couple of years back, and though it's thorough and well-researched, it comes nowhere near the sheer pleasure of reading this newer book.

[dougw]

It is so wonderful, not only for the food but her endearing language about her husband, and to learn about her politics!

[Peter the eater]

My wife gave me "The Professional Chef - 8th Edition" for xmas.

Me too!

I've never had a food text book before - how fun - I assume it's required reading for CIA students?

So what do you think of the book so far? I'm very glad to have it and I know it will be very useful now and into the future, but . . . I have two complaints:

One, it took me ten minutes to find the first typo - this is unacceptable for such a large, expensive and authoritative tome. How many more will there be after I spend a few hours with it? None I hope. For the record, it's a small infraction but a mistake nonetheless: the bran muffin recipe is on page 1111 not 111. Maybe a recipe calling for 1 egg really needs 11 eggs? Get a real proof reader.

Two, I find the legends to the photographs very irritating. Sometimes we start on the lower left and go clockwise, sometimes we go in rows top to bottom, and sometimes both. Sometimes there are stacks of things to make the image even more confusing. The result is the reader jumps back and forth between words and pictures. This could have been a whole lot easier and clearer.

[hummingbirdkiss]

I am reading The Alice B Toklas Cookbook

my mother scored an original English version at a thrift shop in the Caribbean ..her score became my score

I love that whole Gertrude Stein/Hemmingway/Picasso period my grandmother was a big fan of Gertrude Stein ...

this is quite a good read actually

I looked online and now they have this version and all her stuff in paperback

[JohnRov]

I'm reading Ruhlman's The Elements of Cooking. It's a nice reference especially for people like me who have no formal training.

[et alors]

Finished Candy Freak. Holy cow, it's a must-read. compelling, can't put it down, especially for Bourdain fans who like whole-personality writing.

Edited January 8, 2008 by et alors (log)

[The Naughti Literati]

Finished Candy Freak. Holy cow, it's a must-read. compelling, can't put it down, especially for Bourdain fans who like whole-personality writing.

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I cannot WAIT to read that! Steve Almond is my favorite writer right now. He can write anything! I have his latest book, a collection of essays called Not That You Asked, and his two short story collections; My Life in Heavy Metal and The Evil B. B. Chow. If you are into fiction, those two are must-reads. The man is _bananas_.

Glad to see this thread jumpin again, I figured it would be after all of the holiday bounty was received.

I got the ProChef 8th Ed for myself last year and too thought the same thing about the pictures and their order, but overall I really enjoy reading it along with The French Culinary Institute's Techniques of Classical Cuisine, which I bought after I read The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry.

Right now I'm slowly making my way through Secret Ingredients and Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking, having fallen in love with her newest called Desserts by the Yard. Was at the bookstore the other day and read a few selections from Best Food Writing 2007 (including an Almond essay on killing lobster LOL) but ended up leaving it there cause I spotted the 2008 Pushcart Prize anthology and had to have it. Trying to limit the books I buy to about 50 a month. That, Candyfreak and My Life in France are next on my list though!

[rconnelly]

Finished Candy Freak. Holy cow, it's a must-read. compelling, can't put it down, especially for Bourdain fans who like whole-personality writing.

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I cannot WAIT to read that! Steve Almond is my favorite writer right now. He can write anything! I have his latest book, a collection of essays called Not That You Asked, and his two short story collections; My Life in Heavy Metal and The Evil B. B. Chow. If you are into fiction, those two are must-reads. The man is _bananas_.

Glad to see this thread jumpin again, I figured it would be after all of the holiday bounty was received.

I got the ProChef 8th Ed for myself last year and too thought the same thing about the pictures and their order, but overall I really enjoy reading it along with The French Culinary Institute's Techniques of Classical Cuisine, which I bought after I read The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry.

Right now I'm slowly making my way through Secret Ingredients and Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking, having fallen in love with her newest called Desserts by the Yard. Was at the bookstore the other day and read a few selections from Best Food Writing 2007 (including an Almond essay on killing lobster LOL) but ended up leaving it there cause I spotted the 2008 Pushcart Prize anthology and had to have it. Trying to limit the books I buy to about 50 a month. That, Candyfreak and My Life in France are next on my list though!

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Have to agree on Candy Freak. Plus it's a flashback with some of that good old-fahioned candy.

50 books a month, you say!

wow, and I felt guilty about my 10 or so.

[Megan Blocker]

Oooh, this is good news - I've been thinking of buying Candy Freak for a friend of mine who has the most insatiable sweet tooth I've ever encountered. This seals the deal on what she's getting for her birthday...

[The Naughti Literati]

RConnelly - I find some GREAT buys at used bookstores around the city, so it's not as expensive a habit as it seems. I feel naked without at least two books on me, doesn't matter where I am. I carry a book light too. LOL

That's it - I'm getting Candy Freak and Best Food Writing 2007 this weekend. And I just saw that Steve's essay from that anthology, Death by Lobster Pad Thai, is in the collection (Not That You Asked) I already have! Please check the story collections out. They're so good that I'm going to read them again.

I'm definitely sold on My Life in France too...I'll get that before the month is out.

John Thorne's Mouth Wide Open is out now too, I remember someone talking about how great he was in the Top 10 thread. I've heard mixed reviews on Gael Greene's book Insatiable but it seems like it's a good read...have that in my growing food lit pile as well!

[C_Ruark]

Veginomicon by Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero. They also wrote Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and host the The Post Punk Kitchen.

I'm not a vegan by any stretch of the means, but I recently started exploring ways to change some sloppy eating habits. A closer examination of what I eat most often showed that I needed more veggies and fruits in my diet.

Picking the book has been a home run.

Edited January 10, 2008 by C_Ruark (log)

[theisenm85]

Currently reading Marco Pierre White's autobiography thing...

Also have Elements of Cooking to get through, Sirio, and Bourdain's new book.

(It was a good Christmas.)

[moosnsqrl]

I started a history of the McIlhenny family, Avery Island and Tobasco Sauce last night. Looks like it's going to be an interesting read.

Also, while at the library, I picked up a book called The Sushi Economy. Curious if anyone else has read it (but haven't done a search so don't flame me if there is a thread, please - I wouldn't have started a seperate topic without checking but thought I would toss it out here).

[Meanderer]

I've been reading Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya and boy, is it sobering. Food plays a prominent role in this novel, primarily because there is so little of it. The narrator, a wife of a tenant rice farmer in India, considers herself almost prosperous at one point because she has managed to sock away a half a bag of rice, two measures of lentils, and a pound of dried chilis. The narrator values the chilis above all because "when the tongue rebels against plain boiled rice, desiring ghee and salt and spices which one cannot afford, the sharp bite of a chili renders even plain rice palatable."

This book provides a good lesson in perspective.

[toddw8877]

I am currently reading Flash in the Pan: Life and Death of an American Restaurant by David Blum. So far, it's a great read, and I'm only half way through. Although, I admit that I would not pay the asking price on Amazon.

Also, just finished two really great books by Kimberly Witherspoon and Peter Meehan. Both are short stories of the world's greatest chef's. The first is called How I Learned to Cook, the second, Don't Try this at Home. If you have not read these, do yourself a favor and pick them up.

[Sherry B]

"I Like You" by Amy Sedaris. Drop-dead funny, with some good recipes.

Kinda dirty too, which I like.

[duckduck]

Just finished My Life in France by Julia Child and earlier in the week finished The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones.

[The Naughti Literati]

"I Like You" by Amy Sedaris.  Drop-dead funny, with some good recipes.

Kinda dirty too, which I like.

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That broad is NUTS. I love that book, especially the pictures.

I finally got Candyfreak today!!!!!! I swear, I'm not buying anymore books for a week!

[moreace01]

"I Like You" by Amy Sedaris.  Drop-dead funny, with some good recipes.

Kinda dirty too, which I like.

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That broad is NUTS. I love that book, especially the pictures.

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Yeah, the pictures... I picked up a copy at the library and was walking down the street with it. People kept giving me funny looks. I didn't know what was on the back cover till I got home (Amy in a shirt and stockings - and little else).

Anyway, very amusing read.