Summer Reading

‘Tis the season and here are a few of the food oriented books I’ll be whiling away the summer reading. Check here for a much longer list of non-food related reading that I may tackle. (Thank heavens for libraries!)

• Two for the Road : Our Love Affair with American Food by Jane and Michael Stern. The king and queen of American Road Food tell their story.
  


• Heat : An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford. Buford’s story about being Mario Batali’s “kitchen slave.” Getting lots of buzz in the food world.


• My Life in France by Julia Child. After Child died, her grandnephew finished her authbiographical book about the years she spent in France with her new husband.


• The Kitchen Diaries : A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slater. This one is cheating since it won’t be published here in the U.S. until October. However, I’ve been looking forward to it for some time since Slater is one of my favorite food writers. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading him try Appetite or Nigel Slater’s Real Food for a taste of his style.


• Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine : 108 Ingenious Shortcuts to Navigate the World of Wine with Confidence and Style. I have been trying for quite a while to find the time to write up a proper review of this fantastic book. For now I will content myself with saying that if you are at all interested in wine this is the most readable and helpful book on the subject that I’ve found.


• The Reach of a Chef : Beyond the Kitchen by Michael Ruhlman. Ruhlman carries on his investigation of the professional cooking world by revisiting some chefs he has examined in past books and taking a look at the celebrity chef world. If you haven't read anything by Ruhlman before I highly recommend The Making of a Chef recounting Ruhlman's experiences as a student at the Culinary Institute of America and The Soul of a Chef wherein Ruhlman examines three different chefs and their restaurants. I found both books riveting.
  

Tags:Food, Books