‘Blood, Bones and Butter’ by Gabrielle Hamilton

If you are looking for a good read this summer and you are a fan of food memoirs, I highly recommend chef Gabrielle Hamilton’s “Blood, Bones and Butter.” Don’t be turned off by the title, there is really nothing gory about this book (OK, there is an unfortunate chicken episode) and Hamilton is a provocative [...]

Read Full Post »

Cookbook review: “In the Green Kitchen” by Alice Waters

Alice Waters believes in puttering in the kitchen. Chop and grind your own food. Cook slowly over moderate heat. Breathe. Taste. Compost. What’s the big rush, right? Just in time for Earth Day, the ideas behind the Slow Food Nation 2008 event that brought together reform-minded foodies in San Francisco can now be savored at [...]

Read Full Post »

Foodie Quote: Michael Pollan

“There is nothing wrong with special occasion foods, as long as every day is not a special occasion. Special occasion foods offer some of the great pleasures of life, so we shouldn’t deprive ourselves of them, but the sense of occasion needs to be restored.” – Michael Pollan, “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual”

Read Full Post »

Cookbook review: “The Pleasures of Cooking for One” by Judith Jones

In her recent memoir “The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food” (2008), Judith Jones, the editor of Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” urges singles to get in the kitchen and cook. In her new book The Pleasures of Cooking for One, Jones shows readers just how easy, adventurous, and rewarding it is [...]

Read Full Post »

Foodie Tourist

I just survived Seattle’s hottest week on record. The temperatures soared over 90 degrees F. most days and the nights were stifling. Most homes and buses do not have air conditioning. Nonetheless, it was a welcome break from the dreary summer Boston has served up this year. Seattle’s seemingly infinite waterfronts were all the more [...]

Read Full Post »

What We Eat When We Eat Alone by Deborah Madison

A well-crafted meal creates a space for all kinds of wonderful things to happen – family ties can be strengthened, a sense of community nurtured, and love welcomed in. Hours of hard, careful work in the kitchen may reap the rewards of appreciative smiles, warm feelings, and good conversation. But what happens – if anything [...]

Read Full Post »

A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

Food memoirs are rapidly filling bookstore shelves these days, and just when you would think that there is simply nothing new to add to the topic along comes an original voice like Molly Wizenberg and her book A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table. Read the full review here.

Read Full Post »

Food Matters by Mark Bittman

Mark Bittman, food columnist for The New York Times, has joined the Greek chorus of foodies for a better planet. Openly acknowledging that he is building on the investigative work of Michael Pollan (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma”) and others, Bittman has taken up the mantra of: eat more plants, fewer animals, and less in general. Although [...]

Read Full Post »

Eat, Memory: Great Writers at the Table edited by Amanda Hesser

No one can deny the power of a steaming, full plate to transport one to some other time or place. And yet food, or a meal, can also play a minor character in an intense drama. Everyone has an expert opinion about food these days but it takes a good writer to decipher the emotions [...]

Read Full Post »

Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Harzan

If your family enjoys a home-cooked “Italian night” at least once a week, you can probably thank Marcella Hazan. And if you are going to thank Hazan, be sure to thank her husband, too. Hazan, considered by some as one of the most influential Italian cooks in the United States and Britain, has made certain, [...]

Read Full Post »