Customer Reviews

Rogues, Writers & Whores: Dining With the Rich & Infamous

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This book was fun. The illustrations are absolutely perfect and the vignettes are fun. This book would be worth purchasing just for the illustrations.

Daniel Rogov presents mini-biographies of 69 famous people; the essays are devoted to some of their culinary interests: Louis de Bacameil, Esscoffier, Hemingway, Proust, Franz Sacher, Marquis de Sade, Suzette, and Zola, among others. Each entry is accompanied by a recipe either created by or named for the subject, and the illustrations by Yael Hershberg greatly enhance the prose.

Rogov writes: "It is true that without great chefs there would be no great dishes, but one has to bear in mind that such dedication to the preparation of fine food demands to be matched by equal dedication to its consumption and appreciation."

Many of the recipes are easy enough for this intermediate cook to handle, but the cost of the ingredients in some are too much to hazard. Nonetheless, "a gourmet knows one can extract as much pleasure from the reading of such a recipe as one could in dining upon the dish."

Rogov has been an Internet institution for several years; recently he moved his site to Robin Garr's WineLovers Page, with this introduction:

"Let us start of by saying that even though I taste more than 1,00 wines monthly and dine in restaurants anywhere from 6 - 10 times weekly, I am neither wealthy nor fat. Nor do I have a red, bulbous nose.

"The truth of the matter is that I enjoy wine and food so much that I consider it foolish to abuse either of them. Let us continue by admitting that for more years than I care to admit in public, my joint passions for wine and gastronomy (can they be separated?) have provided me with a very comfortable and pleasant way of making a living.

"Currently, for example, I am the wine and restaurant critic for the Israeli daily newspaper "HaAretz" and for the Israeli version of the "International Herald Tribune." I ... am the author of the annual Rogov's Guide to Israeli Wines, 2009 which is now going into its fifth edition. I also contribute annually to Tom Stevenson's Wine Report and am a consultant to Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book.

"As a young colleague once put it, I always travel first class, have no choice but to taste the world's best wines, dine in the world's best restaurants and stay in the world's best hotels. To add insult to injury, I am even paid for my efforts. I have other passions as well. Those, however, are best not discussed in public."

I've included one of Rogov's recent online essays on Giuseppe Tortoni in the first Comment; his publishers provide another from the book at the link in the Comment. If you enjoy food, wine and literature, you will find many delights in these pages.

Robert C. Ross 2008