A smorgasbord of essays to satiate the hungry reader’s palate.
The latest edition of the food-writing series, edited by former Fodor’s Travel Publications executive editor Hughes.
The collection is light on celebrity-chef profiles and restaurant reviews, offering instead wide-ranging essays on topics ranging from how we find solace in food (David Leite’s “When Food Doesn’t Heal”) to cross-cultural disorientation (Chang-Rae Lee’s “Magical Dinners”). A new section, “Foodways,” contains stories of African-American culinary influences of the 1960s and ’70s, Venetian seafood, farming Kenyan vegetables in Minneapolis, the egalitarianism of drive-thrus and how eating local in New York City translates into a delicious fusion of Italian and Chinese flavors. Readers will learn what attracts people to shark fin soup, what constitutes a food desert and why access to grocery stores is important. Another new section, “Guilty Pleasures,” includes mirthful thoughts about Vienna sausages, tater tots and the “food of depravity”: pimiento cheese, Doritos, smoked oysters and other unforgettable midnight munchies. Three stories delve into the use of digital media by foodies: Nick Fauchald describes his online food diary (zero followers three weeks into his Twitter feed), Sara Deseran laments the burgeoning social-media use by foodies in San Francisco and Ike DeLorenzo describes the good and bad about online food sites Yelp, Chowhound and Citysearch, and the move by Facebook and Google to encourage restaurant reviews. As DeLorenzo writes, diners are redefining the table setting: “Fork on the left, knife on the right, iPhone top center. It’s chew and review, toast and post.” Other contributors to this year’s anthology include newcomers Gabrielle Hamilton (Blood, Bones, and Butter, 2011), Lisa Abend (The Sorcerer’s Apprentices, 2011) and stalwarts Colman Andrews, Christopher Kimball and Floyd Skloot.
A smorgasbord of essays to satiate the hungry reader’s palate.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7382-1518-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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