Good Food in Good Books
Good Food in Good Books
It's food-related books! WSIR #32
“Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.” - C.S. Lewis
Were truer words ever spoken? Who doesn’t love a nice beverage, a good snack, and a great book? I certainly do. Were my parents at their wits’ end because I always, always had a book at the dinner table growing up? They certainly were. Do I still read at the dinner table? Only my husband knows for sure.
Possibly the only thing more better than eating and reading is eating while reading a book about food. And friends, there are some good ones. Given how sensory food is, it’s pretty impressive when writers can bring food and cooking to life on the page. Not to mention - to know what someone eats, what they cook, how they use food as gifts and punishment and self-succor and love - that’s a beautiful way to bring a character, or a memoirist to life.
There are so, so many excellent books where food plays a central role, whether fiction, non-fiction, or memoir - here are just a handful of my favorites (and a few from the archives.) Bon book appetit!
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a book I think about regularly even though it’s been over a decade since I read it. This is author Barbara Kingsolver’s memoir/non-fiction tale about moving to an Appalachian farm and dedicating to a fully local food supply. Interspersed with her dazzling writing about the cycles of her family farm are journalistic takes on the fragility of our food supply and ecosystems. It’s for anyone who’s dreamed of starting their own farm, for anyone concerned about the agricultural state of affairs, and for anyone who can appreciate Kingsolver’s writing. So, basically for anyone.
I’ve mentioned The Henna Artist before but it bears repeating - this is a novel that uses all the senses. The story follows Lakshmi, who escapes an abusive marriage to become a henna artist to the royal and rich in 1950’s Jaipur, with great success until figures from her past show up. Every element of this setting - the clothing, the architecture and materials, the music, the smells - blossoms to life in this book, but somehow none stuck with me more than the food. The food that Lakshmi brings to heal her customers, the food she cooks for her family, the way food is used as a weapon and as a seduction. The author even includes recipes! I really loved this - it’s good escapist reading for smart people.
OK, it’s almost embarrassing to mention Kitchen Confidential because - of COURSE you’ve read it. But then I meet people all the time who haven’t! So if you’re in that camp, you’re definitely going to want to read Anthony Bourdain’s first book that’s part memoir and part inside look at food, at restaurants and cooks - not really chefs, but cooks. There are a lot of chef memoirs, some great ones, but while many try, no one can match Bourdain’s singular voice as a writer. Fun, cocky, a little gritty, not at all polite - 20 years on, it still sings.
OK, I know what you’re thinking because I thought it too before I read Love, Loss and What We Ate by Padma Lakshmi. I love Padma but I thought it would be just a fun, silly celebrity memoir. Instead it turned out to be a deep and moving, very smart, vulnerable memoir by a woman who has experienced a lot. (It does not hurt that she has incredible adventures with famous people to tell from life all over the world. And she DISHES.) As a cookbook author and food show host, cooking plays a primary plot role, of course, but this is also a perfect example of “food as memory,” and how the culture and meaning of food feature in every facet of her life. Plus, she ALSO shares recipes! This goes in the vaunted “Celebrity Memoirs that Don’t Suck” category.
Did anyone read Salman Rushdie’s book “Joseph Anton” where he writes a thinly veiled, extremely unflattering characterization of her? Lemme tell you, he didn’t come off that well in her book either.
And one more from the archive, because if you haven’t read My Life in France, about Julia Child’s … life in France while learning to cook - I implore you to do so. It’s sort of like the antidote, or maybe the mirror image, of Kitchen Confidential in that the author is a well-known food personality with a distinctively engaging writing style. But where Bourdain is acerbic, Julia Child is self-deprecating. Where Bourdain is dark, Julia Child is spirited. Where Bourdain critiques, Julia Child marvels. It is CHARMING and DELIGHTFUL and I only wish I could read it again for the first time.
Also, you try writing “Child” when you mean “Julia Child.” Simply cannot be done! She requires, nay, demands both names.
A Little Housekeeping:
Do you crave *more* book input? Honestly, one weekly email is probably more than sufficient. But if you’re interested in what I love *and what I don’t* in real time, you can find me at my brand new, all-reading-all-the-time Instagram account, She Prefers Reading. Don’t expect elaborate photo staging because who am I, Annie Leibowitz?
All the links above go to Bookshop.org, which (say it with me, fam) supports independent bookstores in the US, UK and Spain. I’ve tried to capture all 32 weeks of recos here.
If you’re ever inclined to share this or any other week’s recommendations, I deeply appreciate it - it’s always fun to see new subscribers pop up! And if you have any requests for book recommendations, let me know and I’ll add it to the queue.