Customer Reviews

The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food

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Judith Jones has led a remarkable life out of the range of most people's awareness. She seems to always have had a smart, sensitive ear for good opportunities; enormous talent; and often the great good luck of being in the right place at the right time. An episode in the book regarding Edna Lewis seems especially revealing; I think that perhaps one key to Judith Jones's success is that even though many of her authors wrote cookbooks, which are essentially long lists of instructions, she was always insistent that the author's voice shine through, just as she would insist on it were the author writing a novel. For Julia Child, of course, the voice not only shone through--it became one of the most recognizable voices ever to float across the airwaves. Most of America is only just beginning to "get" what other, older countries have always known and Jones has always believed --that faster food is usually not better food, that seasonal is smart, and that cooking is an art and a labor of love, not a chore. If you agree, you'll love this book. As an editor at Knopf, Judith has been instrumental in finding and sharing the talents of some extraordinary cooks who wish to share their love of the art with the rest of us foodies and kitchen clods. She has led the life I would love to have led. Her memoir is a joy to read, and the recipe section is just as good as the memoir part. Not a blockbuster book, but a sweet memoir by a woman to whom we owe more than we know. Immensely readable and highly recommended.

Her mother, "well into her nineties", had an urgent question: "Tell me, Judith, do you really like garlic?"

Sadly, Judith Jones did. And she also loved the foods of her youth that her mother's cook had lovingly produced:

I still feel nostalgic for the warm chocolate steamed pudding with foamy sauce, the bread pudding with its crusty top and raisins bursting inside, the apple brown Betty made with good tart country apples, the floating island with its peaks of egg white swimming in a sea of yellow custard. Then, when summer came, there were the summer puddings, a bread-lined mold steeped in just-cooked blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries as each came in season, pressed, chilled, and unmolded, with thick unpasteurized cream poured over each serving. Edie had some specialties of her own, such as individual warm nut-and-date cakes, and meringues (which we called kisses) topped with bananas and slathered in hand-beaten whipped cream.

When I was asked during my middle-school years what I would like for lunch on Fridays --- the day when we had to stay in school until only one o'clock --- I knew exactly what I wanted: a whole artichoke, spaghetti and cheese, and fresh fruit or applesauce for dessert. The spaghetti and cheese that Edie made was more sauce than pasta (a term we didn't even know then --- it was either spaghetti or macaroni), enriched with massive gratings of good Vermont Cheddar cheese, then baked in a casserole with buttered crumbs and more cheese on top. I made a ritual of slurping down those hot creamy strands of spaghetti and alternately picking off artichoke leaves, one by one, dipping them in lemony butter or hollandaise, and scraping off the flesh with my teeth. I did it slowly, often turning the pages of a book. Then, when I got to the heart, I would carefully pull off all the thistles and revel in that concentrated, slightly grassy-tasting artichoke flesh.

This is writing of a fairly high order, and if it is about food --- one of the universal equalizers --- even better.

So who is this Judith Jones?

One of the most important people in publishing --- and, to what must be her pleasure, almost unknown outside it.

Judith Jones, now in her 80s, is the queen of cookbooks at Knopf, our most prestigious publisher. Julia Child? Her landmark first book was languishing at another publisher; Jones took it over and was Child's editor ever after. Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden, Edna Lewis and Marion Cunningham --- she found or edited them all. Oh, and on the side, she edited literary fiction. Like...John Updike.

But now she's written a memoir, and while no great secrets are revealed, many great stories are told --- all of them proof that if you're gifted and determined and attractive, you might also get lucky. So....

In 1948, after a privileged New York childhood, she rushes off to Paris, and has exactly the kind of problem that A.J. Liebling encountered two decades earlier --- not enough money to eat three good meals a day. LIFE Magazine does a feature on "Young Americans in France" and she gets to enjoy, at the magazine's expense, a Mere Poularde omelette at Mont-Saint-Michel. Back in Paris, she runs into a friend who just happens to living in the apartment of his aunt, an Italian countess. (Their other roommate: the painter Balthus.) To make ends meet, they turn it into a restaurant. And all's well until....

In order to stay in Paris, she moves on to odd jobs with occasionally unsavory characters (a "must" on the resumé of any proper young woman), meets the married man of her dreams, waits out his divorce, gets the ring, and, along the way, discovers a book by a murdered young Jewess named Anne Frank and arranges to have it published in America.

And so it goes. You could say there's a lot of name-dropping here, but that's to miss the point --- Judith Jones was there, she did these things, cooked these meals, "created" these people. But she is crusty and matter-of-fact about all of it ("Then I underwent a mastectomy"). Practical to the end: The recipes at the back of the book include a section called Cooking for One. Still looking forward: With her cousin, a farmer in northern Vermont, she's invested in Angus beef cattle who will "be raised on local grass with tender loving care." And still tart: "I get so sick of the Food Network thing --- `We're more than just about food.' Who wants it to be about more than just food? Food is a wonderful subject, endless."

Garlic. It's very good for you --- for Judith Jones, anyway.

This is a recently published book written by the illustrious food editor at Knopf publishing house. She was the muse behind gastonomical luminaries such as Julia Child, James Beard, Maddhur Jaffrey, Edna Lewis and many others. More than editing, she coaxed the intimate voices out of cooks whose lives have been intertwined some of worlds greatest culinary traditions. The wonderfully enticing stories of meeting people, cooking with them and sharing delicious results are a beautiful framework for the life she lives and shares, exemplified by her tales of learning and aligning with earth's seasonal rhythms. The stories of her life in Vermont are particularly fascinating and I felt as if I knew her. This is a great read whether one is vegetarian or not and is inspiration to someone like myself who is cooking and writing.

Judith Jones has written the book i wish I could have read a long time ago. She is thoroughly entertaining, informative and the stories are lightly spiced with juicy gossip. Good recipes. I wish she lived next door.

I am so glad to see that some others felt the same way I did about this book. After all the praise lavished on it, I was eager to read this. I was surprised to be so disappointed. It's not that she lived a dull life, surely, but this is an awfully boring and uninspiring version of it. I collect cookbooks but even still, I had to google some of the authors she name dropped. I'd never heard of them, and it's clear she assumed they were so famous that she did not have to put their relevance into any context. The bits about Julia Child are the shining moments, but they're fleeting.

I wanted her to open up, share something intimate. I wanted her to seem human and inperfect, especially since I couldn't relate to her privileged life at all, from her upbringing in a wealthy home with servants to the casual purchase of a large second home in Vermont. She always felt remote. I was surprised how she glossed over the fact that she lived with a married/separated man in the days that sort of thing wasn't done. I'd like to have seen more about her feelings about that, how her family felt, something. About halfway through, this falls into a pattern of "I worked with this writer, I made her book better this way," and "I worked with this writer, we edited her book in her kitchen."

I missed the story and narrative that you find in so many food memoirs, such as in Ruth Reichl's books, notably Tender to the Bone. I still have a lot of respect for Ms. Jones, even if I wasn't crazy about her book.

I spent a happy weekend reading Ms. Jones' book. The stories are told in a loving manner and gives us an insight into writers/cooks who have helped us gain greater expertise in the kitchen.

It may be a book for older readers in some ways, but my grandaughter enjoyed it as well.

If you enjoy cooking, if you enjoy browsing through cook books, if the secrets of great meals excite you, and above all if love good food then this is a book for you. It is not only about good food and cooking, it is a memoir of a fascinating woman who lives an interesting life, and has the writing skills to make her account a page turner.

For me Julia Child is a hero. When my wife and I talk about cooking, my wife often says, "Yes, I know Julia Child said to do it this way therefore that is the way it must be done, right?" Fortunately my wife has a will of her own.

I had to read about the woman who discovered my hero and helped to make her famous. There are insights into a lot of other wonderful cooks that Judith helped to get published.

If you are a cooking freak this is a must read book, if you just love to cook and to read about cooking this is a must read book, if you enjoy an interesting story about an interesting woman this is a good book for you.

Why only four stars? There are some parts of the book that I feel could have been left out, but that is an opinion with which many will differ.

Judith Jones tells the story of her life's passion with cooking, which includes editing the cookbooks of legendary cooks such as Julia Child, Madhur Jaffrey, Marion Cunningham and Lidia Bastianich. Her tale begins with an anecdote that illuminates her mother's attitude toward food. Jones's elderly mother asked her to give her an honest answer about something important. Jones expected a larger topic than her mother's rather surprising question: "Tell me, Judith, do you really like garlic?" After admitting that she loved garlic, Jones's mother appeared thoroughly disheartened.

As a young girl, not only was garlic banned from the house, but onions could be used only when a particular stew was being prepared by the cook. The family did not eat adventurously, although the family cook did turn out some wonderful, homey "plain food"-type dishes (the descriptions of which might possibly make readers drool upon the book). In the winter, their produce consisted of "overgrown root vegetables," potatoes and cabbage. Yet young Judith managed to be a bit of a foodie, requesting not only a spaghetti and cheese dish but also artichokes for special lunches.

During her childhood, Jones delighted in spending time with relatives who loved to cook and with her father who treated her to lunches at a favorite French restaurant. There, she happily nibbled crepes, exotic sauces, onion soup and seafood. As a young teen, Jones delighted in cooking for her father while her mother vacationed. Although her first experiments were less than successful (thanks to broiling, instead of baking, dishes), she was undeterred in her determination to become a good cook. However, her joy in eating was sadly curbed by female relatives discussing her plumpness. While she was soon snacking on carrots, eventually Jones learned to balance her love of good food with a bit of discipline.

Jones began working at Doubleday in New York when she graduated from college. But she dreamed of Paris. Happily, she was able to leave her job to travel there, where she found not only luscious meals to devour but also food-loving friends who were thrilled to educate her in food and cooking. When her traveling companion returned to New York, Jones decided to stay on in an inexpensive hotel. She could only afford one meal a day, so she made that meal an adventure, experiencing delicacies such as veal brains. Her escapades in France included losing every penny she owned, opening an informal restaurant with a friend and meeting her husband, Evan, who enjoyed food and cooking as much as she did. When she worked for Doubleday in Paris, she discovered the French edition of ANNE FRANK: THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL, which she urgently (and successfully) recommended Doubleday publish.

Jones and her husband returned to New York eventually, where they were frustrated by the lack of quality ingredients in markets but persevered in their cooking adventures. She went to work as an editor for Knopf, where she discovered Julia Child, publishing her classic cookbook, MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING. Then, she went on to publish the work of many fine chefs, as well as to write cookbooks with her husband.

Jones's story is a gripping, well-paced page-turner filled with an infectious passion for food and cooking. Her own life is fascinating, and she brings legends such as James Beard, Craig Claiborne, Julia Child and many more to life through descriptions of their appearance and quirky personalities during her collaborations with them. Of course, the heart of the book is Jones's philosophy and respect for fabulous food, which she describes in luscious detail, sharing many of her favorite recipes. Reading her delicious prose should turn any reader into a more discerning eater and adventurous cook.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

Judith Jones is a very interesting person. I have followed her career since Julia Child and her manuscript, which was re-written many times. Ms. Jones book " The Muse", tells us more about her and confirmed what has been written about her. AS soon as I saw her name come up on Amazon, I knew I would order the book. I only hope she continues to write and perhaps more in depth.

The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food belongs on your shelf with Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun and Bill Buford's Heat. It will awaken your senses and make you long for a crusty bread, an artisan cheese and a fresh peach.

Author Judith Jones is a longtime editor at publisher Alfred A. Knopf Inc. and a lifetime epicurean. It would be a mistake to dismiss Jones as "just a cookbook editor," even though her authors include Julia Child, Marion Cunningham, and Lidia Bastianich. She's responsible for publishing The Diary of Anne Frank, and she edited the work of Anne Tyler and John Updike, among others.

It's apparent that her two loves, great literature and food, converged in a special way when she worked with Child and the other chefs. Jones gives her readers a glimpse into how she brings a cookbook to life as well as how she coaches a cook into a writer. Giving each chef a unique culinary viewpoint with the food and a unique voice as a writer was Jones' primary focus.

Starting with a childhood of bland English and New England fare, Jones recounts how she was born wanting more. More flavor, more variety, more goodness. After college and WWII she lived in Paris for several years where she met her late husband Evan Jones. Together they explored the food of different cultures and brought the best of it home to New York, then Vermont. They also excelled at finding the best local food available.

Personal details are sparse. Readers craving gossip about why she and Evan never had children or whether their relationship played a part in his divorce will be disappointed. But foodies who want to know if she really ate beaver liver and tail will get their answer.

Jones concludes the book with recipes from childhood, later discoveries including French and Asian favorites, and her newest passion: cooking for one. Pictures of Jones, her husband, and many of her authors are sprinkled throughout.

The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food is part memoir, part travelogue, part cookbook and is easily more than the sum of its parts.

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