Women Who Eat: A New Generation on the Glory of Food (Live Girls) [Paperback]

Leslie Miller (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Live Girls | Publication Date: October 28, 2003

Move over, Betty Crocker. Women are reclaiming their pots and pans, but it’s a new era in the kitchen. Today’s generation of women is putting a fresh spin on the “joy of cooking”—and eating and entertaining. Women both in and out of the culinary profession share their stories about the many ways food shapes and enhances their lives. New York Times columnist Amanda Hesser praises the joys of simple food, and Food and Wine editor Kate Sekules discusses the importance of having a restaurant where you’re recognized. Theresa Lust, author of Pass the Polenta, vividly remembers a childhood making sauerkraut with her grandmother, and Michelle Tea describes her working-class Polish family’s meals as “tripe, kielbasa, shellfish and beer.” One woman owns up to her culinary ineptitude in an era when being a gourmet cook is all the rage, while another remembers preferring chicken nuggets from the cafeteria to mom’s homemade vegetable biryani. Women Who Eat not only presents an illuminating look at food today, but dishes out generous helpings of great prose that are sure to titillate the palate. Recipes are included.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

All the essays in this mixed collection serve to explode the myth that women are constant dieters, more worried about thinning their thighs than pleasing their palates, and several include recipes. Terez Rose's account of how fiercely she missed the most pedestrian American foods when doing a Peace Corps stint in Gabon offers both Mom's Egg Casserole and Terez's African Egg Casserole. The most successful pieces, like Cheryl Strayed's tale of learning to make the perfect pudding for a tapioca-loving man, hew closely to a single subject. Likewise, Lela Nargi's account of firing her therapist because she disapproved of the woman's insistence on seeing food as a problem is perfectly on point. Pooja Makhijani recalls how she traded the aloo tikis her mother packed for lunch (recipe included) for a newly arrived immigrant classmate's more acceptably American fare. Karen Eng writes about food in works of children's literature, such as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. Debra Meadow's exploration of her grandmother's mandelbrot-almond cookies that predated biscotti for most Jewish Americans-traces a love of cooking passed through generations. Hers is one of the few essays that focus on a family member (grandmothers, mothers and fathers feature heavily here) without losing its way. The impulse to reclaim food as a source of enjoyment is admirable, but the meandering tone of several of these pieces gives them the feel of a dish whipped up to satisfy hunger rather than to be savored.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"These essays explore the intimate side of food that comforts,transports, and takes us home. Entertaining and well written."--Library Journal -- Library Journal, October 4, 2003

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Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (October 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580050921
• ISBN-13: 978-1580050920
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Snack on This, February 19, 2004

By 

takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Women Who Eat: A New Generation on the Glory of Food (Live Girls) (Paperback)

This is one of the better food anthologies I have read. The quality of writing here is so consistently good that I suspect the hand of an especially competent editor is involved.

Among my favorite essays in this collection are Pooja Makhijani's School Lunch, in which a girl is embarrassed that her lunch box contains weird food, until a new girl comes to class. Also Camille Cusumano's Big Night, about a meal in Sicily that seems at first like heaven, until it turns aout to be quite the opposite. Rachel Fudge's remembrances of her parents' cocktail hour contrasts nicely with Christina Henry de Tessan's memories of family dinners in Paris.

One essay even made me cringe, the repulsive After Birth by Alisa Gordaneer. Powerful stuff.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, provocative, appetite inducing, November 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Who Eat: A New Generation on the Glory of Food (Live Girls) (Paperback)

Kate Sekules is a smart, delightful writer. I've been reading her for years in Food & Wine, so it's no surprise that her piece in this collection is wise and witty. And Amanda Hesser has been making food fun in the New York Times. Any book that contains the epicurean sagacity of these two women is sure to be good.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, and what else?, February 9, 2004

By 

alle hall (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women Who Eat: A New Generation on the Glory of Food (Live Girls) (Paperback)

Good for you! I am a big fan of anthologies, and this is one of the best put out by Seal Press. I particularly loved Amanda Sullivan's "My Mother's Kitchen," which so poingnantly caputures the part food can play in critical relationships. Screamingly funny with just the right touch of gross was Ayun Halliday's ode to working in a dive of an Italian place. Good work, Editor Miller. I'm off for a snack...