Customer Reviews

Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

Thank goodness the waiter slipped coffee into my decaf. Yes, I was up all night, but it gave me time to read "Comfort Me With Apples" in one huge, delicious sitting. If you read and liked Ruth Reichl's previous memoir, "Tender at the Bone," then run out and get this one--it's better. And if you haven't read Tender at the Bone, then get this anyway, or just make your life better and get both.

I'd initially shied away from reading this book because sophomore efforts are rarely as good as the originals, because the first few pages, when I scanned them, looked awfully dreary (all those Berkeley folks giving Reichl a very hard and preachy time of it, complaining that her new job as a restaurant reviewer means selling out), and because of some negative reviews on Amazon. Now that I've reread those reviews, I'm surprised--some people seem to have read such a different book than I did.

But I just figured out what the problem must be. Reichl is a devoted foodie and food writer, but she is also an eloquent and moving memoirist. If you've come to her work looking for insight only about food, go elsewhere (I suggest Jeffrey Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything, or AJ Liebling's Between Meals). But if your interested in lives--women's lives especially--and how they intertwine with careers and passions (Reichl's passion being for food among other things), get this. Reichl is definitely and consciously writing in the tradition of MFK Fisher, who used food as a prism to write about a thousand other things.

Reichl's chief story line is about her career as a restaurant critic and a reporter on the scene of the great revolution in Californian (and hence American) cuisine. Contrary to one reviewer, I didn't think she's telling this story to show off; her insights about Alice Waters, Wolfgang Puck, Fisher, and others are worthwhile and fascinating. Her subplot is her personal life--divorce and remarriage, the death of her father, the adoption and loss of one child and the birth of another. In the hands of another writer these personal details might be mawkish or dreary; I found them wonderfully engrossing.

Of course there are problems with the book. I agreed with many others that tales of trips to China, Thailand, and Barcelona at times seemed more like magazine articles than a coherent part of a memoir. Unlike others, I didn't like the recipes at the end of each chapter; I found it intrusive to go from an emotionally wrenching description of the end of an affair, for example, into chirpee cookbookese ("count on a pound of asparagus per person. Buy the fattest stalks you can . . . ") The memoir parts of the book could have been slightly more self-reflective; Reichl needn't show regret she doesn't feel for the affairs she had during her marriage, but it would seem natural to acknowledge them as something the merest bit more troublesome than the decision about which main course to choose at La Tour d'Argent. Nevertheless, the book overall was wonderful, warm, lusty, passionate, filling, generous, and evocative. I recommend it highly to anyone with an interest in food, life, or love.

After thoroughly enjoying "Tender on The Bone," I eagerly awaited the publication of Reichl's latest work. While the book is well written, it lacked both the wit and sparkle that made "Tender" such a hit for me. While both books are autobiographical, the first focused more on the humor and tenderness of the events in her life (and of course the food), and this one seems to focus more on her life (and the food).

If this is your first Reichl exploration, stop...click over to "other books by this author," and order a copy of "Tender on The Bone." If you are a Reichl fan, this is a decent read, but wait for the paperback.

I've rushed reading this book because I could not put it down. Ruth writes with all her senses. She recreates the smells, the taste, the the texture, the appearance, the sound of food. I have totally enjoyed her sharing the humorous, unique experiences she has had reviewing restauerants, traveling , cooking, famous and not so famous friendships, tender relationships, difficult transitions, and a mother that would try the patience of Job. Throughout all the details shines a love of life and an amazing ability to experience and write about food in such full terms that you feel you are with her in the experience. At the end of each chapter is a recipe or 2 that was mentioned in her adventures. I plan on trying the pasta recipe first. I hope book number 3 is coming soon.

Yes, it's a great book, a fabulous followup to "Tender at the Bone." Don't forget the fabulous recipes included in the book. The Sweet Potato Pie is now a family staple at my house, and I've made a note to consult the "Big Chocolate Cake" recipe the next time I need to make cake for a huge crowd. (It's a recipe that creates two 13x9x2 chocolate cake layers plus enough icing to cover them.) Some of the other recipes are a bit fancier, or perhaps a bit more fragile than my cooking schedule will allow, but I plan to try plenty more of them. Her books are a good reminder that there ought to be more to the act of eating a meal than simply consuming calories in mass quantities. If you're bored with cooking or eating out, this book might well remind you to notice more carefully what you're experiencing with each bite.

Reichl has given foodies and book lovers alike yet another wonderful tale of life with taste. Picking up where Tender at the Bone left off, the reader follows reichl from her Berkely commune to food editor of the Los Angeles Times, honestly sharing the story of her disintegrating marriage and her own part in its demise. As she develops as a food writer, Reichl travels to many locals to nosh on the native cuisine, places that are around the corner from her as well as across oceans. One of her many food journies takes her mainland China a mere 9 years after Nixon's historic visit where she willfully disregards the orders of her tour group's official leaders and makes contact with the locals, and of course, eats the food of the people, not the typical restaurant variety. We suffer with her through the loss of her father, and later her daughter, yet the reader is never manipulated into snivelling sentimentality. The same voice that spoke to the hearts and palates of so many readers is evident in this new memoir, ready to consume the reader in more delicious adventures.

This memoir by Ruth Reichl is her second, beginning stories from her life in San Francisco where her first volume `Tender at the Bone' left off. This volume essentially covers her journalistic career in California from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. One sure sign that this volume is a memoir and not an autobiography is that the story gives few clues about the dates on which the various episodes take place. Another sure sign that this is a memoir of her professional career is that it seems to spill a lot more ink dealing with office affairs than with her first marriage and its failure.

Make no mistake about it. The writing in this volume is as good as the narrative in the first, and probably a lot more interesting to the average adult reader.

My favorite story in this book is the episode where Ms. Reichl and a number of colleagues are treated to a cooking demonstration by Danny Kaye who had a first class kitchen in his house arranged specifically to enhance the ability of observers to see the ebullient Mr. Kaye demonstrate unvarnished culinary genius. This is the first I heard of Danny Kaye's culinary skills, but several other reporters have confirmed them since I read this story. Reichl's recipe she developed from memory even appeared in a volume of the `Best American Recipes' series. I have been looking for more details of this aspect of Danny Kaye's talent ever since. Unfortunately his biographies have virtually nothing on the matter.

The saddest event in the book is the telling of Ms. Reichl's visit to China at the time her father was very ill. He insisted Ruth make the trip in spite of his perilous condition, and he died while she was deep in mainland China, well away from easy contact with her family.

I am quite disappointed with the fact that by some great coming together of coincidences, I acquired a copy of this book from Amazon with Ms. Reichl's autograph. When I saw this, I felt a great disappointment in owning a souvenir of an event that never happened.

Ms. Reichl's encounters with other notable American food figures include meetings with M. F. K. Fisher and James Beard. As avid a reader of culinary writing as I am, I confess I have never been charmed by Ms. Fisher's writing. It is something I must explore, but I find it odd when Reichl is compared with Fisher, yet I find Reichl's writing far more engaging. I even find Elizabeth David much more enlightening than Fisher does. Must be me. Reichl's encounter with Beard is typical of other James Beard encounters with less important women. At the time, he was an aging lion with no interest in women, so he was brusque with a young female California journalist, our Ruth.

This is a book which one is sorry to see come to an end. Since it really deals with maybe a dozen anecdotes from her life, one can hope there is much more material available for some future volume. Unfortunately, Ms. Reichl has a full time day job as Editor in Chief of `Gourmet'. So, I guess I have to be satisfied with her monthly magazine columns and occasional restaurant reviews.

A very tasty read.

Memoirs seldom take us into new territory. Ms. Ruth Reichl's Comfort Me with Apples is the happy exception. You will find your mouth watering, your skin coming alive, your ears perking up, and your heart breaking in this amazing story. She successfully mixes marriage, divorce, wild romances, great food, a new career, building a new life, meeting celebrities, travel, loss of a father and of a child she wants to adopt, pregnancy at 40, and recipes in this compelling book. You've never read its like, and will never forget it. Ms. Reichl is now the editor-in-chief of Gourmet, a former restaurant critic for both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, as well as the former food editor at the Los Angeles Times. But don't let this establishment resume fool you, Ms. Reichl followed her own muse to get there.

Most people who experience life crises around 30-35 (almost everyone) tend to self-dramatize and feel sorry for themselves. Ms. Reichl treats life as an adventure to be embraced and tends to poke fun at herself. As a result, you cannot help but like her. She is also very down-to-earth, and is very candid about things that most people would downplay or try to keep secret.

She has a lot of courage. Whether it is ignoring the orders not to talk to people in China or offering her untutored opinions to great chefs, she just dives in with whatever fits her sense of the moment. You will probably admire her courage, if you are like me.

Ms. Reichl is extremely intelligent, and her imagination will stir yours. She has a great ability as a writer to help you enter into her world, and feel what she feels.

At the beginning of the book, she had just been surviving as a writer by keeping her expenses low and working as a cook. Her husband's art career had started to take off, and she gets a chance to become a restaurant reviewer. This opportunity is derided by her fellow commune mates in Berkeley, and couldn't be more different than her experiences with eating macrobiotic food that she often prepared herself. She only had one dinner out a year before taking this new job.

Soon, she is reviewing (after misadventures like having her credit card rejected at the first restaurant she reviews and reporting that a robbery had occurred in the parking lot of another restaurant without checking the facts) and starting a tempestuous affair with her editor at New West. The affair fizzles out when he marries another editor at the magazine. Ms. Reichl soon falls for a man who she cannot stand at first, and they also have a torrid relationship that ends happily in marriage.

Some of the best parts of the book involve the difficulties of opening new restaurants. You will get most of the gory details on two, including Wolfgang Puck's Chinois. The book is filled with other restaurant celebrities, and you will enjoy what you learn about them. They are most engaging when away from the harried moments in the kitchen.

The book also is filled with recipes. Now, most recipes in books are long on ingredients and short on instructions. Ms. Reichl is just the opposite. These are almost all simple recipes with oodles of details concerning preparation. For example, asparagus in balsamic vinegar has two pages of directions. Also, the dishes come from many cultures so they can allow you to have some adventure with your meals.

One of the many clever devices she uses in the book is to describe meals at Chez Panisse in Berkeley as a kind of measuring stick for her connection to the world of food. She nicely uses her mother's experiences with the restaurant in the same way. I was very impressed by this method.

After you finish reading this marvelous book, I suggest that you think about where you need to try more things. Ms. Reichl's life would have clearly been much less if she had not taken great strides to try things she had never done before. Where should you do the same?

Seize life and experience it with full flavor!

I have read Gourmet for years and have enjoyed Ruth Reichl's editorials every month. Now that I have read this second installment of her life with food and love, I appreciate her even more. Ruth started out writing about food in California and she has started the book with such amazing, lucious recipes. I was almost tempted to stop reading and start cooking. She soon was cooking for the household and experimenting with all fresh foods. She went on to start reviewing and her stories of Italy and the food she cooked had me rushingto get out my passport and look at my next trip. Ruth is nothing but honest and her first marriage ended and her second relationship was the best. She seems to be very happy now and this reflects in her writing and the image she portrays. Waiting fot the next chapter in her life.

I went right out and bought the hardback because I enjoyed "Tender at the Bone" so much. I certainly got my ... worth of fun out of "Comfort Me with Apples". Reading Ruth Reichl is like spending time with a really good friend, one that has an adventurous eventful life. I wonder if she will have some stories about herself and her son in the next book? That would be especially interesting given the complicated relationship she has had with her own mother. I look forward to her next book, and highly recommend this one.

COMFORT ME WITH APPLES takes place in the 1970's and is an autobiographical story that is both candid and provocative. The author is Ruth Reichl, a chef who became a food writer for the New York Times and Gourmet magazine. She's a talented writer and has a unique style that's all her own.

Ruth Reichl's life is as much about people as it is about the foods that they shared together. Her travels around the world seeking adventure in culinary delights makes for fascinating reading. Her sensuous journey into the exotic world of food took her from China to France and from California to New York. The book is filed with anecdotes about famous chefs including a movie star who was also a terrific cook.

She was quite open about her failing marriage and her various love affairs. Although it was captivating to read about, Reichl seemed to be a woman who was, at times, emotionally out of control. While reading the book, I'd often catch myself thinking, "Oh, no, Ruth don't get mixed up with that guy."

Yes, Ruth included quite a few recipes. My favorite was the one for mushroom soup.