Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I celebrated my arrival in Kyoto with a dinner of grilled eel, a sublime delicacy in Japan..." (more)
Key Phrases: tea kaiseki, whipped green tea, cedar tray, New Year, Grand Tea Master, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1986, two years out of college and restless at her job with an ad agency, Riccardi left New York to spend a year in Kyoto, where she lived with a Japanese couple and attended an elite school devoted to the study of kaiseki, a highly ritualized form of cooking that accompanies the formal tea ceremony. From her adoptive "family" she learned about Japanese home cooking and Kyoto's food markets. At the kaiseki school, she was introduced to an art form in which everything is symbolic, from the food and utensils to the colors of the guests' kimonos. Immersion in Japanese cuisine taught her about the country's history, culture and art as well as its cooking, so that even a meal in an ordinary restaurant left her feeling that she had "visited a museum, heard a fascinating lecture, opened several gorgeously wrapped gifts, and consumed the essence of spring in Kyoto." In her delightful and unusual culinary memoir she includes 27 recipes. A few, such as summer somen with gingered eggplant, are for dishes she was served at a Zen temple. Some, including miso-pickled romaine stems wrapped with smoked salmon, and red and white miso soup with sea greens, are from kaiseki meals in which she participated. Others, such as chicken and rice egg bowl, "Japan's quintessential comfort food," are representative of everyday fare. Although many of the ingredients used in these recipes are unusual, Riccardi, who writes for such magazines as Eating Well and Bon Appetit, makes them sound worth searching for.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

?I relished every page. Victoria Riccardi?s prose reflects the same spirited, nuanced, intelligent style that she discovered on a pilgrimage to the heart of Kyoto?s tea kaiseki cuisine.?
--Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun

?As Victoria Riccardi goes in search of culinary enlightenment in this intimate and beautifully crafted memoir about living, cooking, and falling in love with Kyoto, the reader is seduced and transported by the scenes and flavors she paints with words. Riccardi writes with a sensuous eye for detail that brings alive the extraordinary beauty of Japan and the sumptuous pleasures of its table.?
--Lora Brody, author of Growing Up on the Chocolate Diet

?Victoria Riccardi writes from the heart. A personal story of determination and discovery, Untangling My Chopsticks offers a refreshing glimpse into the tastes, intrigues, and traditions of modern and ancient Japan.?
--Elizabeth Andoh, Japan correspondent, Gourmet magazine, and author of At Home with Japanese Cooking

?Victoria Abbott Riccardi?s Untangling My Chopsticks folds back the screen on a city and its traditions just enough to satisfy our curiosity without diminishing the mysterious allure. Her friendships and experiences are recounted with delightful delicacy, and the kaiseki meal and tea ceremony come alive not only as cultural rites but also as delectable gastronomic and esthetic experiences.?
--Susan Herrmann Loomis, author of On Rue Tatin -- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (May 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767908511
• ISBN-13: 978-0767908511
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #263,208 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discover Japan Through One Woman's Delicious Journey, May 22, 2003

By A Customer

Wow! I loved Untangling My Chopsticks. It is a delicious book from beginning to end. Victoria Abbott Riccardi's beautiful writing style made me feel like I was a part of her journey, discovering the foreign culture, customs and lifestyle of Japan. Through her detailed descriptions she gives the reader a very true sense of the people, the food and the natural beauty of the country. I loved learning about tea kaiseki and the foods that revolve around it. I craved Japanese food as I read the book and was thrilled to discover that each chapter ends with delectable recipes that are quite simple to prepare.
This book has everything I love to read about from travel, to cooking, to history, to love (yes, it is a bit of a love story!). In summary, it is a fantastic book that captures the reader's attention through wisdom, humor and beauty.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life lessons learned & ritual-imbued meals cooked & eaten, May 19, 2003

By	christine piccin (santa rosa, ca United States) - See all my reviews

Three culinary trends today include drinking green tea, dining on meals composed of many small dishes, and exploring exotic gastronomic customs. I just read a book that brings those three together beautifully. It's called Untangling My Chopsticks, A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto, by Victoria Riccardi.
Trained in Western culinary tradition and a veteran of a Parisian restaurant kitchen, Riccardi was on the classic culinary track. Until an employee of the Japan Society in New York mentioned kaiseki to her, that is. Victoria's trip to Japan to learn about kaiseki changed her life as her Cordon Bleu training never would.
Kaiseki, I learned, is an elegant, ritualistic cuisine, a degustation of small, seasonal dishes, which developed in Zen monasteries to accompany the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. From page one Riccardi plunged me into exotic Kyoto, the acknowledged birthplace of kaiseki, with tales of her new home dubbed the "bedroom of eels," and her first meal, in a neon-yellow-splashed restaurant under the Kyoto train station. Her story unveils Japanese culture, taste, and tradition in prose that sparkles like the morning sun on a breeze-rippled pond.
Before Untangling my Chopsticks, my knowledge of Japanese food culture could be summed up in a paragraph, the one dubbed "sushi etiquette" sometimes printed on the back of American sushi menus. The story of Victoria's sojourn was like a gift to me: lush with details of friendships forged, life-changing lessons learned, and deeply symbolic, ritual-imbued meals cooked and eaten. It opened my mind.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't read this while you're hungry!, April 9, 2004

By	Mark Meyer (Kenmore, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

and after you do read it, you'll need to find a Japanese grocer in your city, because you'll be inspired to hunt all over for soba sauce and azuki bean paste.

What a delight this book is! It veritably sparkles like diamonds and rubies, and in fact she compares tea kaiseki with jewels.

I borrowed a copy from a friend to read, but now I'm inspired to buy my own copy so I can re-savor it and also contribute to Victoria's royalties. She deserves so much for this splendid book.

Her insights into the spirituality of food, even simple things like wrapping packages carefully like the Japanese do, make it a book that you can apply to your daily life, even if you never attend a tea ceremony.

My *ONLY* gripe, and I really hate to say this, is that her connection with Zen Buddhism was tenuous. She does go to Mount Hiei toward the end of the book and tries to sit with the monks, but she spends a lot more time talking about recipes again. But really that's okay because her main emphasis is not to meditate until satori, but to appreciate the food connection.

I can't think of anyone who would not fall in love with this book! Thank you, Bi-cu-to-ri-ha! (That's Japanese for her name, as heard from the lips of children.)