Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's All About Winning, December 9, 2003
This review is from: Cookoff: Recipe Fever in America (Hardcover)
Before I read this book, I was only vaguely aware of the competitive cooking circuit. That is, I'd heard of the Pillbsbury Bakeoff, of course, and knew of chili contests. I had no idea there was a year-round series of national competitions, a la the PGA Tour or perhaps more appropriately, the Pro Bowling Tour. The whole concept of a year on the competitive cooking circuit was a new one for me and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about it. Sutherland's reporter-style writing, lots of facts and descriptions, not too much analysis, really works. She examines the competitions, profiles some contestants, looks into the preparation for an event, discusses the history of cooking contests, and addresses the phenomenon of "contesters". I have to agree with another reviewer that photos would have been a welcome addition to this book, the few on the jacket are great, but left me wanting more. Apparently, cooking contests are uniquely American. According to Sutherland, "Through contests we embody the founding fathers' ideal... to make of ourselves what we can... Even if you are stuck in a dead-end job in a dead-end marriage on a dead-end street, in America you can rise above your station and reign supreme at the bowling alley or the dog show or the poker table." Cookoff isn't really about cooking, it's about the competition.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Treat, December 31, 2003
This review is from: Cookoff: Recipe Fever in America (Hardcover)
Food writer Amy Sutherland has written a fascinating behind-the-scenes expose of cook offs and recipe contests. From the outside, such contests seem rather boring, with middle-aged housewives preparing grandma's handed-down recipes. However, much more is percolating under the surface! Sutherland traveled around the country for over a year, attending cook offs and interviewing numerous contestants to write her book. She covers many of the biggest contests, such as the Pillsbury Bake-Off, as well as smaller ones, including State Fairs and chili cook offs. These cook offs, some of which have been around for decades, have become big business with huge purses and prizes, leading to increased drama. Sutherland details the cooking disasters, failed recipes, and occasional squabbles. Sutherland also paints a vibrant portrait of the cook-off regulars, who calls themselves "contesters." These contesters enter numerous cook offs, make many of the finals, and are absorbing to read about. At the end of most chapters, she includes winning recipes from the contests she discusses - so don't flip ahead or the suspense will be ruined! The final chapter gives practical advice to readers about recipe contests and cook offs. After reading this book, I'm eager to enter a contest on my own. A most enjoyable book - highly recommended!
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42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Can she cook? A better question: Can she write???, December 31, 2003
This review is from: Cookoff: Recipe Fever in America (Hardcover)
The best way to read this book is quickly, lightly, and without too big of a literary appetite. Ruth Reichl it's not - but it's an entertaining read nonetheless. I found *Cook-Off* to be an amusing set of stories about a quirky, feel-good slice of Americana. The chapters read like a set of feature articles culled from the front page of the "Lifestyles" section of any small-town newspaper. The content is the main draw here: Sutherland makes a nice effort to draw together the disparate characters and dispersed narratives of this little-known cookery circuit. It's fun --wholesome, lighthearted fun. And if the writing is at times amateurish, the syntax is frequently tortured, and the grammar and vocabulary shockingly off-the-mark... well, that's the downside to small-town newspaper-ish writing, I suppose. One example:
"Only two people have won the International Chili Championship cookoff, the bigger of the two national chili cookoffs held in Terlingua, Texas, each year, twice in its long history." Another example:
"Americans cross spatulas at approximately more than 1,300 such competitions annually.... Chili alone accounts for more than 750 cookoffs nationwide. In Texas alone a chilihead willing to travel...." In Chapter 2 "alone" Sutherland gives us "approximately more than" 3 occasions per page to wince at her clunky sentences and poor grammar. This would have been an excellent read if the book had attracted a better editor. As it is, it is an entertaining read - as long as you don't read too closely. The story is nice, such as it is. The writing is a distraction, but not so much of one that it stands in the way of getting to the meat of the cooks' narrative.
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