A Slice of Life (Hardcover)

~ Bonnie Marranca (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A Slice of Life is a collection of contemporary food writing that readers can really sink their teeth into: one that examines the ineluctable link between nourishment, literature, and society. Represented here are some of the world's best known writers, many of whom-like Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, and Anthony Bourdain-are well known for their alimentary musings, while others, like Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag are better known for their writings in other genres; all speak eloquently on the nature of food, language, and the adaptability of social customs.

Organized into chapters addressing descriptions of actual meals, autobiographical memories, the cultural spectacle of eating, the concept of want, the celebration of good food, and the philosophical, spiritual, and ethical aspects of food, author Bonnie Marranca has cooked up a tempting meal of writing that reflect on how the consumption of food-or the lack of it-takes on larger social significance. Charles Simic eulogizes tomatoes and questions bioengineering, Wole Soyinka delves into the nature of fasting, Umberto Eco declaims on in-flight dining, and Emily Prager reminisces, in an original essay, about Swedish food and the rejuvenating possibilities of a trip to Ikea-among others.

Garnishing the feast are Marranca's tantalizing introduction and Betty Fussell's meditation on the essential connection between food, existence, and writing. A Slice of Life is a banquet that readers will savor through its many courses.

About the Author

Bonnie Marranca is the editor of American Garden Writing and The Hudson Valley Lives and has written extensively about the theater. The recipient of many awards and fellowships, she divides her time between New York City and the Hudson Valley. Betty Fussell writes frequently about food for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appetit, and Vogue. Her many books include I Hear America Cooking and My Kitchen Wars.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (October 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585674729
• ISBN-13: 978-1585674725
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,571,051 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Anthology, March 9, 2004

By	takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I can't resist a good anthology. Honestly, I can't resist any anthology on food or travel, but so many are disappointing. A Slice of Life does not disappoint.

A Slice of Life is subtitled "Contemporary Writers on Food" and the essays range in time from the early 1950s to 2003, with the majority from the 1990s. Note also the emphasis on "writers." With a few exceptions, these pieces are written by people who make their living writing, not by cooking or eating. Therefore, the standard is high, and the result is impressive. Russell Baker, Umberto Eco, Calvin Trillin, Isabel Allende, and Jane Kramer are among the fine essayists whose work is represented here. However, even the exceptions, such as Julia Child's memory of her first TV shows, are superb.

I enjoyed revisiting favorite authors: Anthony Bourdain, Adam Gopnik, Jeffrey Steingarten, Sallie Tisdale. And I always hope to discover writers I've never read. Now that I know about Nigel Slater and Jay Parini, I will be looking for more of their work. This is what I love about anthologies.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riffs, meditations and memories, November 16, 2003

By	Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This impressive collection features meditations on life and food from writers as diverse as M.F.K Fisher, Russell Baker, Isabel Allende, Maxine Kumin, Ntozake Shange and lots more stars of the literary and culinary firmament.

There are some breathtakingly poignant pieces, chief among them Cara de Silva's story of the cookbook compiled in a concentration camp, which made its way across a quarter century and through numerous hands to reach its author's daughter. Or Chitrita Banerjee's essay following her mother's Bengali widowhood, a cultural sentence of privation.

Some are actually about food itself - Elizabeth David's piece on herbs, Nigella Lawson's sensual celebration of cooking, Corby Kummer's sojourn at a coffee plantation, New Hampshire poet Charles Simic's ambivalence about the bio-engineered tomato - but most are about life's associations with food.

Jay Parini began a career of writing in restaurants in the hubbub of Lou's diner in Hanover, NH. Putting together a New Year's feast for her young daughter inspires a tirade of cultural memory in Ntozake Shange. Historian Rachel Laudan dispatches the nostalgia for "slow food" with a healthy dash of historical reality. Roland Barthes meditates on chopsticks and Umberto Eco muses on the psychology of airplane food.

Editor Marranca has chosen, above all, writers. Wide ranging in subject, mood and style, these pieces all share a commonality of quality. A repast to sample and savor.