Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet (Modern Library Food) (Hardcover)

~ Gourmet Magazine Editors (Author), Ruth Reichl (Editor) "I remember three restaurants in Switzerland with a special clearness: one on the lake near Lausanne, another behind it in the high hills toward Berne,..." (more)
Key Phrases: piki stone, pueblo bread, tricycle boy, New York, Auntie Bella, Low Country (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet, part of the Modern Library Food series, is a fascinating compendium of Gourmet magazine food and travel pieces spanning six decades--a collection that mirrors our dining habits over the years but is timeless in its underlying theme: we are what we eat. The assembled cast is tops: James Beard on pasta; Elizabeth David lauding epicure Edouard de Pomaine; M.F.K. Fisher on her favorite Swiss inns; Paul Theroux writing about crossing the Rockies; Anita Loos evoking cocktail parties of the 1920s. Compiled by Gourmet editor-in-chief (and series editor) Ruth Reichl, and with recipes from the contributors' pieces--including hobotee, North Carolina's famed meat custard, and Katherine Hepburn's brownies--the book will delight armchair and meal-chasing foodies alike.

Most readers will discover new voices among the more familiar. Present, as noted, is M.F.K. Fisher, offering one of her most splendid sun-and-shadow portraits, but there's also the underread (and magnificently dry) Ruth Harkness providing glimpses of a World War II winter spent in a crumbling Tibetan Lamasery, where she devoured $10,000 worth of rare pheasants; the drolly avuncular Joseph Wechsburg on Austria's legendary patisserie, Demel's ("the loudest sound you hear there is the breaking of crisp strudel dough"); crusty Maine poet Robert P. Coffin on Down East breakfasts and lobstering ("a night like a night of marriage"); and the reportorial, unblinking Jay Jacobs on Beard himself ("the man remembers in minute detail every one of the eighty-seven-thousand-odd meals he has eaten since his birth"). The quality of the essays varies, of course, but the book overwhelmingly gladdens in its rich breadth of time and place and evocative storytelling. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

For Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet, Ruth Reichl (Comfort Me with Apples) serves a banquet of portraits and reminiscences, from eminent writers such as Anita Loos, James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Madhur Jaffrey and Laurie Colwin. William Hamilton's childhood encounter with betrayal, in which jellied consomm‚ is promised as a reward to the unsuspecting, and Paul Theroux's blissful journey from Denver to San Francisco by luxury railcar will entertain and refresh.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library; Modern Library Ed edition (April 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679642501
• ISBN-13: 978-0679642503
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #456,110 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Modern Library Food Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous feast of writing, June 6, 2002

By	Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

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"Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet" is a fine sampler of essays that appeared in Gourmet Magazine. This magazine, which deals with cuisine and travel, offers some of the best prose outside of literary magazines like the New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly.

I already am a fan of M.F.K. Fisher (who isn't?), Paul Theroux and Laurie Colwin. But there are many other authors here whose work I wasn't as familiar with. I was very very glad to read Mary Cantwell and William Hamilton in particular.

If you love travel and food, this book is sure to appeal to you. But these authors are SO good that really, this book is about how we react to the most basic of activities, eating and drinking and how they are inextricably mixed with our emotions and memories.

The list of authors reads like a literary prize list, not only those authors I previously mentioned, but Anita Loos and E. Annie Proulx as well. The essays may deal with eating and drinking in some way, but each of the authors has a very unique way of dealing with the subject. In particular, I loved the story by William Hamilton. His childhood memory where he was promised a mysteriously alluring treat "jellied consomme" is one that recreates childhood emotions with uncanny accuracy and a lot of wry humor.

I happen to be a fan of the publisher, Modern Library. I love their compact format, and the typeface clear and readable. If you love good writing, this book is a real treat.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious tidbits from well-known food writers, July 12, 2004

By	Marcos Helms (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This collection of essays from food writers of Gourmet magazine brings the reader to different places and times, from the summer of 1939 when M.F.K. Fisher stumbled upon a cozy Swiss inn, to 1970 when Richard Cassin writes about a dinner intivation in Taos, New Mexico.

My favorite essays were "The Garlic War" by E. Annie Proulx (author of The Shipping News), where the author recounts her Uncle Herbert's eventual acceptance of garlic, and "An Indian Reminiscence" where Madhur Jaffrey fondly writes about her experiences with food as a child growing up in North India.

To keep the historical accuracy of the essays, recipes that are included in the book have been kept as they were first printed. This provides us with a peek into what people ate and how they liked their food through the years. This book will definitely be a great addition to a food-lovers' library.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Sampler for idle moments., September 17, 2005

By	B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet (Modern Library Food) (Paperback)

`Endless Feasts' is a collection of writings about food, drink, travel, biography, and fiction from the pages of `Gourmet' magazine from the magazine's founding in the late 1930s to the present. The selections were made by the magazine's current editor, Ruth Reichl, who has, in many ways taken over the throne of leading American culinary editor long left vacant after the passing of Craig Claiborne.

My first reaction, as someone who very much likes to read about food, cooking, and culinary personalities, is that this collection shows the ephemeral nature of a lot of magazine writing, especially some pieces written under less talented editors than Ms. Reichl. In a nutshell, I found this book difficult to read from front to back. In this day of the Food Network, the Discovery Channel, and the Travel channel, pieces written about Umbria or Mexico, or Tibet or Shanghai seem just a bit lifeless on the page. When they were written, most pieces were not intended to be memoirs, but the passage of time has turned them from travelogues of today into faded snapshots of a world which is no longer there.

That is not to say there are no good pieces here. There are selections written by M.F.K. Fisher, Madhur Jaffrey, Pat Conroy, Ray Bradbury, Anita Loos, James Villas, Paul Theroux, Elizabeth David, George Plimpton, and James Beard. Part of the problem is that pieces by these writers are in the minority. It is also true that in some cases, as with Madhur Jaffrey, for example, her travel memoir takes her out of her primary area of expertise, so I found her piece on India to be just a bit on the dry side. Many of the pieces by the less well-known writers are good, but maybe not great. Part of the interest of a piece by Elizabeth David is that her great reputation for being a superior culinary writer will mean that when you read her piece, if you encounter a questionable statement, you are wise to question your own judgment on the matter rather than question the author. For most other authors, if you encounter a questionable statement, you may feel a bit up in the air unless you have an unimpeachable authority for your opinion.

While I consider this a forest of trees with a wide variety in their value, one may also raise the issue of the value of the forest. How does an interest in Epicurean pleasures fit into a complete life? Is it possible that `Gourmet' interests by their nature influence a life to wander into a less than productive fields? One piece of evidence is Jim Villas' piece on the life of Lucius Beebe, who was a wealthy epicure who turned himself into a journalist with a disdain for the ordinary which makes H. L. Menchen's poor opinion of the boobiesee (sic) look like a mild tic. Since Beebe embraced a style that required the support of significant wealth, are we of normal means to admire or disdain this sybaritic aesthete. Is not a life made good on average means much more interesting to study?

In a sense, I'm just thinking out loud here. There is definite value in knowing about the lifestyle of Lucius Beebe, just as it is interesting to know of the dinosaurs that took evolution in a direction that could not adapt to a cataclysmic change in their environment. Beebe's preferences for value and competence are commendable. They are also taken in the wrong direction by reliance on great wealth.

One problem with this book for the dedicated reader of culinary writing is that we are likely to have encountered many of these pieces, or many of the same material in other sources. Does one really want to know what James Beard has to say about pasta when we have read everything that Marcella Hazan has written on the subject?

Ultimately, I think this is not the kind of book you read from cover to cover. It is the book you take with you to doctors' waiting rooms when you are between novels or your interest in that latest Rose Levy Beranbaum `bible' is flagging.

Thus, I recommend this book with a caution. A great book to buy at a discount. A not so great book at full list price. For great culinary writing, be sure to complete your reading of M.F.K. Fisher or Elizabeth David or James Villas or even Ruth Reichl herself before spending money here.