Fork on the Road

If you not only love to cook but also enjoy curling up with books about food when you’re not it the kitchen, check out this list. Most of the works I’ve included aren’t actually “cookbooks” but are more literary in nature – stories about lives, learnings and experiences with food. I’ll update it frequently with juicy, savory and sweet new titles. They’re in no particular order (yet!) and some may surprise you. Please write comments telling me about your favorites!

White  Truffles in Winter by N. M. Kelby (2011). Luscious. If you could never read the words truffle, champagne, lavender honey and fois gras enough, then add this novel to your list. Author Kelby imagines the last days of the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935). It’s clear that she’s thoroughly researched his illustrious career (Escoffier was the designer of the Titanic’s menus, one of  Sarah Bernhardt’s lovers, a business partner of the hotelier Cesar Ritz, the creator of the modern restaurant kitchen layout, and the designer of such immortal recipes as “Peach Melba” and “Cherries Jubilee”). But this talented writer pushes further and imagines that which “is left unsaid,” believing it to be the most interesting part of  any life.The first pages unfold with Escoffier’s ailing wife, Delphine, wishing for him to create a dish of her very own. Though they have been married for decades, he has never named one after her. They are both dying and it is in their family kitchen that a lifetime of love is explored, remembered, savored, and interpreted for the first time.

Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (2011). Books about food are always interesting to me but I think this memoir by one of America’s most respected female chefs transcends that genre. Hamilton holds a MFA in writing  and it shows. She sometimes left me breathless with her creative use of language, her turns of phrase, and well, her fluency. She’s led a fascinating life (heck, she’s only in her mid to late forties) which started with growing up in a crumbling castle in rural Pennsylvania where her parents threw an annual lamb roast party, to working as cook at a summer camp in the Berkshires, to marrying into an Italian family that led her to spend a month of every summer in the boot of that country learning from the natives. Of course, it’s more than food she’s writing about. It’s about struggling to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. It’s about learning how to create her own family, to figure out what happened in her family of origin, and how to manage a fantastic restaurant on top of it all. It’s delicious.

The Hundred Foot Journey (2010) by Richard C. Morais. Some reviewers have described this book as Bollywood meets “Ratatouille.” That’s fitting as this novel chronicles the development of a talented chef from his boyhood in India through a brief adolescence in England to a full-fledged culinary career in France. But there is more to it than that. The main character, Hassan, rises above cultural prejudices, crippling accidents, and jealous competitors to shine in his art despite a cut-throat working environment. Culinary enthusiasts will savor the descriptions of oysters (who knew they could be so tricky?!), French kitchens and country markets. Francophiles will love reading about the Alps and villages of the Jura. But the story really shines once Hassan reaches Paris, the pinnacle of all things epicurean. As a former senior editor at Forbes magazine, author Morais keeps the story moving while seamlessly explaining the fiscal realities, risks, and politics involved in running a multi-million dollar restaurant. This book is an education in flavor, talent, and another tantalizing take on the history of fine dining.

The Dirty Life: on farming, food and love (2011) by Kristin Kimball – A tale told by a former suburban and urban dweller who interviews and then falls for a man and his life in the country. Visual delights include a description of unloading a car full of Pennsylvania treats in the midst of Manhattan, their weekends in the country before they embark on their life together as husband and wife.  The memoir then does a fabulous job of juxtaposing the merging of her urban sensibilities with his desire to live only off the land.  As a bonus, because she is a food lover to the core - you want to sit and eat with them again and again.

Goat Song: A seasonal life, a short history of herding and the art of making cheese (2009) by Brad Kessler – beautiful prose and refelections about life with goats and the changes those four hoofed friends bring. Read this under a tree this summer or wait until winter when you need to think a bit about vegetables fresh from a garden.

Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth Reichl. This is the second literary installment of Reichl’s life – and where you’ll want to go and start turning pages as soon as you put down “Tender at the Bone.” We pick up her tale in California where she’s starting out her adult life living on a commune just as the Berkley food scene is really heating up. The cast of famous foodies includes Alice Waters, M.F.K Fisher and Wolfgang Puck. In “Comfort Me’” Reichl becomes a professional food writer, her first marriage sadly unravels, but she finds new love, a son, and experiences many amazing adventures in this excellent memoir .

On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town by Susan Herrmann Loomis. This is one of my very favorite books for cooks. Set in France, it is the dreamy memoir of Susan Loomis, a young cookbook writer, who travels to France to attend none other than “La Varenne” cooking school and then ends up working for none other than Patricia Wells on her definitive guide to Paris. Loomis never returns to the states, instead she and her (American) husband Michael make a life for themselves in Louviers, buy a house, start a family and create a cooking school. Like I said: dreamy. There are wonderful recipes as well – be sure to make the Pear and Honey Clafoutis and the Braised Chicken in White Wine and Mustard.

Tarte Tatin: More of la Belle Vie on Rue Tatin by Susan Herrmann Loomis.

My Life in France by Alex Prud’Homme and Julia Child. A must read, even if you think Julia Child is your mother’s chef and teacher. In this book her youthful enthusiasm and zest for life really comes across, as does her love of food, France, Paris, and Provence. It’s a treat to read about her journey from California to France, her first bite of Sole Meuniere, her struggles with graduating from Cordon Bleu, and her relationship (and very interesting diplomatic life) with her husband Paul. Reading this leaves one a new found respect and love for Julia.

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto edited by Joan Reardon

Clementine in the Kitchen by Samuel Chamberlin. This is excellent pre-Julia reading. I just loved this book. It’s definitely a throwback to a different era but it offers an insight into pre-war France and a different way of cooking, eating and living. Though the main character Clementine is fictional (a composite of several cooks the real Chamberlin family had while living overseas in the 1930′s and early 40′s), she is nonetheless endearing and provides a window and a pair of eyes into another world. This book was the result of a series of columns Samuel Chamberlin wrote for Gourmet Magazine in the 1940′s that described his family’s transition back to living on the North Shore of Boston after nearly a decade of residing in the French countryside – all from the perspective of “Clementine,” their beloved cook. Don’t forget to try the recipe for “Poule au Riz,” a succulent one pot chicken dish simply flavored with thyme, garlic, celery, and onions.

Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fushia Dunlop. This woman is amazing! She’s a hero among curious cooks, a culinary renegade,  not to mention an extremely talented linguist and writer.  In this dense and satisfying book Dunlop, who is well-known in her native Britain and recognized for her expertise on Hunan cuisine, delves deeply and personally  into hidden  China, its culinary traditions, its language and customs. This is food memoir at its best because Dunlop truly has an insight into the many facets and complexities of her topic. She is fluent in the language , was the first woman to attend the local elite “Institute of Higher Cuisine,” spends time as a guest of locals in small, rural villages, and has a fearless palate. Not only are there recipes included but there are also diagrams illustrating the different types of cutting techniques and utensils used in Sichuan cuisines.

Eating Korean: From Barbecue to Kimchi, recipes from my Home by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee. I came away from this book feeling as though I had been one of the many guests at the Lee’s home having eaten on of her mother’s hot pots or steaming seafood dumplings. Lee offers not only well-crafted recipes (she’s written for the LA Times and the Washington Post) but intimate and insightful writing about what it was like to grow up in Korean-American family whose life centered around the kitchen. I especially enjoyed her descriptions of the communal activity of kimchi making and about her earliest memories of living in Korea. This will open your eyes – and taste buds – to another way of cooking and living.

In Late Winter We Ate Pears by Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber. If you’re looking for languorous and luxurious prose and the feeling of being transported to Italy – winding streets, thick stone walls, salty pancetta and all – this is the book for you. Right now. No matter what the season there are recipes, stories, and exotic ingredients to delight all of the senses. This part memoir, part cookbook tells the story of the year a newly-married Heekin and Barber spent in the Italian countryside learning about culture, cuisine and community. Readers will finish “In Late Winter” yearning to visit the intimate Osteria Pane e Salute in Woodstock, Vermont where the authors are dedicated to creating sensuous food and a sense of community for their diners in late winter, spring summer and fall, year after year.

Frankies’ Place: A Love Story by Jim Sterba

The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones

Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas by John Baxter

Travels with Alice by Calvin Trillin

Stay Me Oh Comfort Me: Journals and Stories 1933-1941 by M.F.K. Fisher

Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon by M.F.K. Fisher

South Wind Through the Kitchen: The Best of Elizabeth David by Elizabeth David

Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave by Bill Buford. Avid home cook Bill Burford wants to know how is culinary skills would translate to working in a professional kitchen so he decides to put himself to the test.. “Heat” chronicles his year spent in three very different kitchens. His journey first takes him to Mario Batali’s famous restaurant Babbo in New York city where he describes his time spent as a “kitchen slave.” Then he’s off to Italy and the best parts of the book lie ahead. Burford learns how to make homemade pasta with Betta – he’s only allowed to start kneading the dough after first watching her work for ten days (no wonder my pasta isn’t perfect yet!). And then he’s off to Tuscany region to master the art of meat-cutting with a Dante-quoting butcher. Reading this is a real treat – and is an education in Italian food.

A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France by Georgeanne Brennan

Honey From a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia by Patience Grey

Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin

Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Reviews, Articles, Memoir, Fiction and Moreby Dianne Jacob. If you are interested in turning your best recipes into a literary career or in further developing your present food writing job, this is a helpful resource. I most enjoyed the chapter on recipe writing which gives direct advice and quotes from renowned editor Judith Jones (who has worked with Julia – yes, the Julia – Madhur Jaffrey, Marcella Hazan to name just a few) and also the ones on memoir and fiction writing. If for no other reason, this is a good book to have on hand for the bibliography. Jacob sites many books (especially mysteries) previously unknown to me on or about food that I am now curious to read.

The Best Food Writing 2009 Edited by Holly Hughes

Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by Patricia Volk

The United States of Arugula by David Kamp

When French Women Cook: A Gastronomic Memoir by Madeleine  Kamman. Not only can Madeleine Kamman cook but she can also write beautifully. Turns out she studied languages at the Sorbonne and it really shows. This is a lovely memoir that graciously and poetically remembers eight French women who were important in Kamman’s life and development as a chef. They, of course, were all fantastic cooks and colorful people. What makes this book even more interesting is the fact that each woman comes from a different region of France so reading it is like taking a trip all over “the hexagon.” Among others we read about Magaly from Provence and her fabulous eggplant gratin, Loetitia from Brittany with her fabulous seafood dishes and Alsatian Eugenie with special cheese and cumin quiche and Claire who lives high up in the Alps who makes a mean pork noisettes with prunes. There are many recipes at the end of each chapter.

This page has the following sub pages.

• Books about France