Reviews (97)

Pollan is my hero!
I am a pharmacist who is also very interested in how diet and exercise maintain people's health.Michael Pollan's book was an incredible eye-opener.I first heard him interviewed on Science Friday on NPR news (podcast) and decided to read his book.It is an extremely well researched book with an entire source list in the back.It is also very entertaining and easy to read.It is obvious he has a great sense of humor.His book encompasses the economics, politics, biology, ecology, and physiology regarding our current american diet.His book has surely changed the way I think about food and I was fairly well versed before I read his book.Now, I am a member of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and have been spreading the word! This is one of the best and most influential books I have ever read. Everyone should read it.Ignorance is not bliss.Just ask some of my pharmacy customers who have side effects from the medicines they take and have to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on those same medications.

My response to Vegan/Vegetarian horn-tutors
I'm about halfway through this book (I've been kind of skipping around to various parts--which is how I usually read non-fiction books). Modern agriculture, factory farming, and where our food comes from are all subjects near and dear to my heart. These are topics that only people in the industry or professionally trained chefs (which I am) usually know and care about. I don't think veganism/vegetarianism is a good response (and I don't think it will fix anything). Instead, we need to be voicing our displeasure with our dollars.
Must Read for the Health Conscious
The Omnivore's Dilemma is an exploration into the foods that are on our plates and why. The answers he delivers are at times frightening.
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Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Food Science    4. Food habits    5. Food preferences    6. History    7. Manners And Customs    8. Nutrition    9. Popular Culture - General    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. Health & Fitness / Nutrition   

Reviews (11)

Fun Read
Really satisfying-- it's got a great history about the U.S. food revolution along with some juicy gossip about the big players of the movement.You feel like an insider hearing all the stories about these people.David Kamp tells stories beautifully, and the footnotes are sometimes the most hilarious parts on the page.This is a must read for anyone who considers themself a foodie, and well, for anyone who just enjoys eating...and a good story!

Revelatory
Nietzsche writes, "What good is a book that doesn't take you beyond all books?"David Kamp illuminates a rare but relevant subject and, wittingly or not, goes far beyond it to animate the culture of 20th century America, from which its subject springs.His book renders each of the last several decades vividly and down to astonishing detail.The buoyancy and wit of his storytelling, and the accompanying sense that you're in the good hands of a rational historian, make this book an immense pleasure to read.

my two favorite things: Eating and Reading!!
Loved this book! Toast is a big accomplishment for me, yet I thoroughly enjoyed Kamp's story. Had to eat while I was reading it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Cookery, American    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Cultural And Social Anthropology    6. Essays    7. Gastronomy    8. History    9. Cooking / Essays   

Editorial Review

First published in 1950 and revised over time, Italy's bestselling culinary "bible," Read more

Reviews (106)

Encyclopedic, simple, advanced
Echoing so many other rave reviews, I have to say this is one of the most exciting cookbooks I've hefted (and it is hefty!) in a long time. It seems like nearly everything that I've eaten in Italy or seen on an Italian menu or read in another Italian cookbook has a straightforward, canonical recipe in this tome. It was like discovery, uncovering secrets again and again. I was breathless turning pages in my favorites sections, and kept returning to the book for days, unable to pull myself away.
A truly great book
There are a great many things to like about this book and very little if anything to dislike.
Definite Buy!
I love this cookbook! i agree with all the other raving reviews about it, everything i've made from it have been easy and delicious ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Cooking / Wine    3. History    4. Italian Cookery    5. Reference    6. Regional & Ethnic - Italian    7. Food & Drink / Cookery    8. Italy   

Reviews (68)

A must read for anyone who aspires to live better
While I find most food writing, particularly autobiographies, tiring to the core this book warmed my jaded little heart.
From Awkward Tourist to French Cooking Fame!
My Life in France is the most entertaining memoir I've read in 2006!It's a winner.
"Splendid"
What an incredible read!If you tire of the endless array of predictable fiction plots based on dysfunctional psychological drama, read this as a tribute to the life of a cultural icon.If you have any bias against French established cultures, please read this - it'll give you a more objective frame of reference from Julia Child's perspective. She not only embraced France but took that passion she found and made it her success.Positive and humorous.I loved it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography And Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Cookery, French    6. Cooking    7. Cooking / Wine    8. Cooks    9. France    10. French Cookery    11. History    12. Personal Memoirs    13. Regional & Ethnic - French    14. United States    15. Women    16. Cooking / History   

Editorial Review

Most diners believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain in Read more

Reviews (465)

kitchen confidential
Rairly have I read a book that I hate.This is it!Not only is it not funny but it is insulting to anyone who would sit in his dining room.Tony's fan base just lost one.

Extremely well-written
Anthony Bourdain is a person I would be friends with if I knew him.He's cynical, he's blunt and he loves food.
Perfect
I love this book!!! I worked in the restaurant business for 10 years. Now that I have a "real job", I find myself missing the crazy work hours of reataurant life. I miss the people, because really, restaurant people are like no other. You either belong in the business or you don't.
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Subjects:  1. Beverages - Wine & Spirits    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Bourdain, Anthony    6. Cooking    7. Cooking / Wine    8. Cooks    9. Essays    10. General    11. New York    12. New York (State)    13. Biography & Autobiography / General    14. Biography: general   

Reviews (29)

Classic Bourdain
I just wanted to chime in my two cents here after reading some of the bad reviews of this book."The Nasty Bits" is a great read and a must for any Bourdain fan.Just as "A Cooks Tour" book is a must read for all those who loved the "A Cooks Tour" t.v. show."The Nasty Bits" is a must read for anyone who is following the "No Reservations" years.It is really that simple.I can only hope that Bourdain keeps writing and lives long enough to visit every inch of this strange and beatiful planet.
Eh, nice try, Bourdain...
I'm halfway through the book and fading fast. Although I do enjoy Bourdain's style of writing, its endless barrage of power verbs and curse words, it does get tiring after a while. Is he really "barking" things at people? Really, now. Nevertheless, he makes many valid points in this collection of essays: the use of immigrants in haute cuisine kitchens, the semi-insanity of the organic movement, but above all, I believe this book lacks a sense of cohesion. These essays were, for the most part, cobbled together from previously published essays. (Some seem entirely unnecessary), not to mention that fact that I think it would have been a nice idea to include either the source/year the essay was published, because I can sense certains shifts in his perspective as a writer, even though the book gives no indication of chronology. So don't rush out to buy, but DO browse through it in a bookstore.

Zzzzzzzzzz
How very disappointed I was with this reading.It became a chore and I made myself finish it.How sad since Mr. Bourdain is so talented with his writing and humor.Don't bother.He has become too big for his book binder/britches. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Essays    5. Cooking / Essays   

Reviews (4)

One of Wine's Grand Old Men
By Bill Marsano. We can divide wine drinkers into three classes. Ordinaire Joe, who'd rather drink wine than talk about it, is here advised to flee: This book will bore him stupid. The Wine Geek is just the opposite; for him wine is an excuse to prattle about clonal selection and hints of toffee on the nose. He'll love this book--will take it to bed with him. It is a gold mine of tasting notes covering many decades and innumerable wines from most regions of the world. The emphasis is on France, with Germany a distant third (there is no second), Italy a distant fifth (there is no fourth) and everybody else reduced to odds and ends. There's lots of stuff on champagne and port, too--a quintessentially British slant.

Sweet Dreams are Made of These
I first fell under Mr. Broadbent's spell during my earliest days as a fledgling sommelier. His slender volume, Michael Broadbent's Complete Guide to Wine Tasting and Wine Cellars (1982) has long been, like they say about middleweight boxers, pound-for-pound the best book I've ever read about appreciating wine. When the wine auction scene arrived in Chicago in the mid-eighties. I can still remember attending some of the first few events at the University Club, sponsored by Christie's and conducted by the legendary MB. I was overwhelmed watching him lead auctions, but way too shy and in awe of him to introduce myself. Read more

Subjects:  1. Beverages - Wine & Spirits    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Essays    5. Handbooks, manuals, etc    6. Reference    7. Wine    8. Wine and wine making    9. Cooking / Wine & Spirits   

Reviews (11)

Mangoes and Curry and so Much More, Oh My!
Mangoes & Curry Leaves is one of my favorite cookbooks and I have scores of Indian cookbooks, as I'm sort of a gourmet chef. I wrote a cooking column for a sailing magazine for a couple years and one of my favorite articles was my "Two Ways to Tandoori" which you can read in one of my "Amazon So You'd Like to Guides," if you want. Tandoori chicken is just delicious. Anyway, while I was making the guide, I listed fifty cookbooks from my collection. I have more. I know, I know, one would think a couple books would be enough, but it's sort of an obsession with me, making food taste great and I just love to see how others have done it.
Beautiful and authentic
I cannot imagine anyone writing anything negative about this book...my family and I come from Bangladesh and India and I have tons of Pakistani friends. The depth that the authors have gone into understanding ingredients and the cooking is remarkable. I cannot imagine how they came to know some of those details. Like my neighbor in PA who had written a negative review, I have also Jaffrey's books which i love but Alford and Duguid got into the very essence of real home cooking of the subcontinent.Other authors sometimes focus on party foods while this book advises the readers on what people really eat on a daily basis. The other travel advice is interesting and the photographs gorgeous although i understand the concerns of the Bethlehem, PA reviewer of pictures that are hard to interpret. Just let it go. They still do an even better job with this book than Hot Sour Salty Sweet. The book is great. I'm glad amazon offers it for a lower price than bookstores.

Good work in a cookbook/travelogue
I am a novice American learning to cook Indian style.I have studied enough books to know that sticking curry powder in a melange of stewing vegetables is not really "getting it" in terms of creating an authentic Indian meal.In my search for authenticity, I think Alford & Duguid go a long way in presenting just that, scouring the villages & cities of India.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cookery, Asian    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Essay    6. Essays    7. International And Ethnic Cookery    8. Regional & Ethnic - Asian    9. Regional & Ethnic - Indic    10. South Asia    11. Cooking / Asian    12. Indian sub-continent    13. National & regional cuisine   

Editorial Review

A classic tome of gastronomic science and lore, Read more

Reviews (38)

Very interesting reference book on food
It covers the science, chemistry, lore and history of every food group.

There's a certain kind of cook who has to have this book
You know who you are. It's not enough that you know 'how'. If you love something enough to understand the how, you have to know the 'why' and maybe even the 'who' and the 'where' and 'when'.This is the book for you. There are a few books in my life that I really treasure because they unlocked secrets. Of course, I'm not curious about everything, there are some secrets that are more special than others.
THE book to tell you why and how food does what it does!
I purchased Cookwise some years back, and when I finally found this book (On Food and Cooking) and read it, I realized that THIS was the book I was looking for when I bought Cookwise.It tells you the why of everything, and it's great!No, there are no recipes or glossy photos, but the in-depth explanations of the actual chemistry behind food and its cooking are unparalleled.It totally inspires me to review my favorite recipes to see if I'm using the right flour, or beating the eggs and sugar correctly, or...!A must to read, it also talks about the history behind the haute cuisine of France, as well as cuisines from other parts of the world. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Essays    5. Food    6. General    7. Cooking / General   

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Beverages - Wine & Spirits    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. History    6. Wine And Wine-Making    7. Wine and wine making    8. Cooking / Wine & Spirits   

Reviews (1)

Culinary Arts.
One of the many neat features of studying at Cornell University is that, even if you're not enrolled in its famous School of Hotel Administration, you can attend one of the cooking and wine tasting classes organized especially for non-Hotel School students, and get at least a flavor of the five star culinary instruction provided by the chefs teaching at that school. (That is, you can do so if you're willing to get up an extra hour or two early on the morning of non-Hotel School student enrollment, and if you're lucky enough to beat the crowds or at least slip in as a substitute participant.) In addition to numerous recipes and pieces of valuable advice, information and memories - particularly of the last night, on which we had to put together a four-course meal, fine dining style, complete with menu, garnishments and perfectly laid table - Cornell's "cooking class" has enriched my kitchen by two items I have since found it very hard to do without: A professional grade chef's knife, and Sarah Labensky's and Alan Hause's "On Cooking," which we used as our textbook.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Essays    5. General    6. Cooking / General    7. Food & Drink / Cookery    8. Hotel & catering trades    9. Tourism   

Reviews (414)

Magic in the kitchen
When this novel first hit the bookshelves,it was a bestseller;Laura Esquivel was a household name (I even have a very old New Age magazine that has an interview with her).Her now ex-husband Alfonso Arau made a movie version of the book.I was a "Like Water for Chocolate" fan;I had the keychain,the book-I even found the soundtrack (an excellent one)at a used CD store.
This is one of my favorite books of all time!
The story really pulled at my heartstrings.Great romance.

tastes from another world
Iliked this book! It was filled with emotions, you could taste, smell, feel and see the characters lives unfolding.I liked the magical touch too.If you liked this book you might also enjoy " The Mistress of Spices" ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Fiction / General    5. FICTION-GENERAL    6. Gastronomy    7. Love Stories    8. Spanish (Language) Contemporary Fiction    9. Magic realism   

Reviews (1)

Reviewfrom Parul & Arvind Narain (California)
I just got this book after waiting for a few months and was quite thrilled to see familiar names and places mentioned.Being a distant family member, I am probably prejudiced but I think this book is a fascinating read, especially for someone brought up in Delhi.The book even has a family tree in the beginning, going back to the 1500s.As in all her books, Madhur Jaffrey manages to give her recipes a very easy to do feel and very helpful hints for people like us living in the US and I am dying to try out the recipes.Enjoy! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Cooks    8. General    9. History    10. India    11. India - History    12. Indian Cookery    13. Regional & Ethnic - Indic    14. United States    15. Women cooks    16. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Subjects:  1. Beer    2. Beverages - Beer    3. Brewing    4. Brewing industry    5. Cooking / Wine    6. Corporate & Business History - General    7. History    8. History - General History    9. History: American    10. Industries - General    11. United States    12. United States - General    13. United States History (Specific Aspects)    14. History / United States / General   

Reviews (1)

Everyone should own this book!
Anyone who reads Kitchen Table Wisdom will be touched and inspired by the learning processes of the patients and the life lessons which they teach us through their experiences. The stories are life-affirming and will validate your own experiences in a way that is frequently unavailable in our present social context.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography And Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Essays    6. Motivational & Inspirational    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Popular psychology    9. Self-Help / Motivational   

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Cooking / Wine    3. Courses & Dishes - General    4. Gastronomy    5. General    6. Cooking / General   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (90)

One of My Favorites
If you liked Under the Tuscan Sun, you will probably like Tender at the Bone and its sequel, Comfort Me With Apples.Reading this book is a journey and an adventure, and the reader comes away feeling like they have met a fascinating new friend.If you are interested in travel, food, restaurants, or growing up with a mentally ill parent, you must read these two books!

Dysfunctional Family and Food
While best known as a "foodie memoir", this books is an excellent piece on growing up with a mentally ill mother; the chaos and instability, the family system that results.

Wonderful
This book is poignant and funny, joyful and melancholy, a remarkable mix of memories. A series of vignettes tells the story of Reichl's life from early childhood onward; together, they form an ecclectic stew which still holds together, bound by a common thread: food.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Cookery    5. Cooking    6. Essays    7. General    8. Reichl, Ruth    9. Biography & Autobiography / General    10. Biography: general   

Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Diet / Health / Fitness    4. Dinners and dining    5. Food    6. Gastronomy    7. General    8. History    9. Cooking / Entertaining   

Editorial Review

Ruth Reichl's first book, the autobiographical Read more

Reviews (79)

An account of the personal experiences of an author
This book is a memoir. It is not a simple tale of food. If you somehow are confussed about this like some of the reviewers you may not like this book very much.I actually enjoyed this on many levels - the honesty took my breath away. But is also made me feel uncomfortable knowing the people in this book might be hurt all over again by the telling of the tale. Hoping that's not the case I must say this book has a unique "flavor" and may not appeal to everyone. It did me.

Light, fun read
Easy, fun read. Much better than watching mind numbing garbage on the telly. I agree with some reviewers that the author went on a bit too long about her sexcapades but nevertheless I was entertained. I really enjoyed her style of writing. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on "Tender at the Bone."
Hippie Time Warp
I could not finish this because it was written from such a negative and downbeat perspective. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Cookery    5. Cooking    6. Essays    7. Personal Memoirs    8. United States    9. Women    10. Women food writers    11. Biography & Autobiography / Women   

Reviews (10)