27 Comments

I love all the memoirs by an author called Ruth Reichl. I frequently cook from My Kitchen Year. I make the pork dumplings with a little shredded cabbage mixed in for my family’s New Year Day dinner every year. I just wish the book would lay flat on my kitchen counter. ( although I have finally found a good use for my 3 lb dumbbell).

Expand full comment

This is one of your best posts yet. I'm off to buy some books. (I wish I were off to visit some restaurants...)

Expand full comment

I am so thankful for this booklist, Ruth. I immediately went to the library website and requested some of these. I can't wait to read Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking! (I've had a crisis when teaching at the university this semester, and as I always do in times of real heartbreak, I have been returning to your books for some peace). We are all lucky for your words and insight. Grateful.

Expand full comment

After reading the above, I'm almost too hungry to think about books, but....here's one my wife and I enjoyed: Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking Hardcover – Deckle Edge, May 5, 2020

by Bill Buford (Author)

And yes, a great entertaining post.

Expand full comment

Thanks so much for these reading lists. I see many old favorites (Gastronomical Me, Home Cooking, Calvin Trillin) but also some that are new to me. One more that I love is As Always: the letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto. And Marcella Hazan's memoir.... And The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken by Laura Schenone. I guess that's three!

Expand full comment

No better memoir than your very own TENDER AT THE BONE, to say nothing of SAVE ME THE PLUMS. I tell everyone to read those! Thank you for this list. Can’t wait to dig in!

Expand full comment

Thank you so much for this, Ruth! I've spent the last 15 minutes cruising ebay/amazon/thriftbooks just for Joseph Wechsberg boooks. (Apparently they hold their value pretty well.)

Expand full comment

Oh, man! I absolutely love Convenience Store Woman. When I can't sleep, I re-read it. There's just something about this little book that mesmerizes me.

Expand full comment

Sorry - me again. I wanted to also add a recommendation for

"Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste" by Bianca Bosker!!

Expand full comment

I so appreciate this post with the book recommendations! I'd like to also suggest "The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry" and "The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks", both by Kathleen Flynn.

Expand full comment

Thank you for more wonderful recommendations. Enjoying the Laurie Colwin. I would also add Toast by Nigel Slater, which is just the most sad and beautiful food memoir.

Expand full comment

Hello Ruth, Just finished reading "Tender at the Bone" followed by "Save me the Plums." Read them both like a maniac catching a page or two every hour right in the middle of work. It's wild that your love affair with food began with you keeping on eye on those who were eating your mother's inventive dishes. Bravo!

Expand full comment

Grateful for all the terrific reads and can’t wait to read your next work. I own all of your books except your first cookbook - would love to read that, too! If anyone knows where I could find a copy, please share. Thanks!

Expand full comment
founding

This is another treasure.

Expand full comment

Great books and gorgeous pics! Thank you for sharing!

Expand full comment

Should add "cooking with Fernet Branca" a seriously non-food food book (panda paws and badger as some of the dishes the 'hero' makes)

Expand full comment