Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Jenni Ferrari-Adler (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

In this delightful and much buzzed-about collection of essays, 26 writers and foodies invite readers into their kitchens to reflect on the secret meals they relish when no one else is looking. Part solace, part celebration, part handbook, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant offers a wealth of company, inspiration, and humor—and finally, recipes that require no division or subtraction.

Featuring essays by:

Steve Almond, Jonathan Ames, Jami Attenberg, Laura Calder, Mary Cantwell, Dan Chaon, Laurie Colwin, Laura Dave, Courtney Eldridge, Nora Ephron, Erin Ergenbright, M. F. K. Fisher, Colin Harrison, Marcella Hazan, Amanda Hesser, Holly Hughes, Jeremy Jackson, Rosa Jurjevics, Ben Karlin, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Beverly Lowry, Haruki Murakami, Phoebe Nobles, Ann Patchett, Anneli Rufus and Paula Wolfert.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A balanced literary buffet...seasoned with whimsy.”
—Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Jenni Ferrari-Adler is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Michigan, where she received an MFA in fiction. She has worked as a reader for The Paris Review, a bookseller, an egg-seller, and an assistant at a literary agency. Her short fiction has been published in numerous magazines.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade; Reprint edition (July 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1594483132
• ASIN: B001R23FT8
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,227,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars something wonderful, September 25, 2009

By 

L. Arthur "lover of life" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone (Paperback)

As, I had read this before-when I saw it for a super low price I could not resist. This book is delicious. If you like food for more than taste but for the whole experience of eating-this is a great book. It has recipes sprinkled throughout. The book is not a recipe book but a book about eating alone(the joys and perils) and writers take on it.The prose is wonderful. The writers included are writers who know how to incite, seduce and warm your heart.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Foodie Read, December 19, 2009

By 

Janet Plotkin "maziej" (the great State of Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a collection of short stories centered on the idea of eating alone - or feeding oneself when unaccompanied. It is a great foodie read and would make an excellent gift for a foodie you know. Funny, happy, sad, poignant...all the emotions we have experienced when eating alone are represented. Many of the authors are heavy hitters in the food world. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it without reservations.

2 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So tired of hearing about tiny New York kitchens, March 2, 2010

By 

D. Alden (Inver Grove Heights, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone (Paperback)

I saw this in a bookstore while I was out of town and was tempted to buy it. After finding it at the library, I am so glad I did not. I read the whole book, but out of some pathetic sense of obligation. To be fair, M.F.K. Fisher's essay was good, but that's no surprise. What was surprising was the amount of bitterness and bile hidden (barely, I might add) underneath prose that was supposed to be self-deprecating but really just sounded, well, whiny and self-involved. There were several essays bemoaning a tiny New York kitchen: we get it, the apartments are like closets, etc. I can't imagine that anyone but New Yorkers found this interesting. The rest of us are tired of the cliche.

And the recipes! Yikes: avocado raita? I mean, I get we all eat weird things when we're alone, but that's not a reason to share the recipe. Maybe the recipes were supposed to be some sort of joke, but if so, it fell very flat.

I read this because I like to cook and to eat, but I'll bet there are far more entertaining and interesting books on eating alone. At least I hope there are.