http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com collaborative book reviews about all things food and wine Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:58:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/11807_the-sorcerers-apprentices-lisa-abend-2011-us http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/11807_the-sorcerers-apprentices-lisa-abend-2011-us#comments Sun, 16 Oct 2011 05:50:56 +0000 Duncan Markham http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=11807 The Sorcerer's Apprentices is the only reasonably unvarnished account of what it was like to work at el Bulli. Alongside occasional descriptions of the creative process involving Adrià and his key chefs, the book's main focus is on the life of the unpaid apprentices lucky enough to have been selected to spend a season at the restaurant. The book provides interesting insights into the workings of this very special restaurant and the experiences of the people involved, but I found it long and heavy reading. Opinions of this book are likely to vary greatly.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/11807_the-sorcerers-apprentices-lisa-abend-2011-us/feed 0 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/10410_penguins-great-food-series-4-reviews http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/10410_penguins-great-food-series-4-reviews#comments Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:25:02 +0000 Duncan - admin http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=10410 Penguin Books has released a set of 20 books of writings by authors who penned their food wisdom anywhere between 400 and 20 years ago. Slim paperbacks with pretty covers, the GREAT FOOD series is a hit with many food lovers. We asked our reviewers to have a look at a number of them and give their thoughts. Part 1 features reviews of books by Alexandre Dumas, Samuel Pepys, Pellegrino Artusi and Alice B. Toklas.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/10410_penguins-great-food-series-4-reviews/feed 0 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/10140_reinventing-food-colman-andrews-2010-uk http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/10140_reinventing-food-colman-andrews-2010-uk#comments Sun, 01 May 2011 10:59:37 +0000 Duncan Markham http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=10140 Colman Andrews paints a sympathetic and informative picture of Ferran Arià, a chef who, through passion, obsession and creative focus, almost accidentally made the culinary earth move. Reinventing Food is worth reading both for the interested and the unbelievers. Especially for the latter group, frequently sceptical of modernist cuisine because of the media depiction of it being laboratory food lacking soul but oozing "cleverness", Reinventing Food might shed more light on what really is significant and fascinating and (perhaps) delicious about so many aspects of Adrià's contribution to the culinary world.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/10140_reinventing-food-colman-andrews-2010-uk/feed 0 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/8038_medium-raw-anthony-bourdain-2010-us http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/8038_medium-raw-anthony-bourdain-2010-us#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:05:32 +0000 Daniel Chan http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=8038 In the introductory chapter of his new book, “Medium Raw”, Anthony Bourdain asks “What the fuck am I doing here?” While that statement is made in the context of a dinner with chefs that he admits are countless levels above his own abilities, he also intends as a question about how he has ended up as a fulltime writer and television presenter. While he puts it down to a series of lucky breaks, the other factors he doesn’t mention are a combination of keen observation and very good writing skills. “Medium Raw” is promoted as a sequel to “Kitchen Confidential”, and in one sense it fulfils that with chapters that update us on the lives of the people in that breakthrough book. But the book also offers writing about his own life, the food world as he sees it and, to his credit, saying how some of his views have changed over time. The usual Bourdain elements are there: the gonzo style of writing, his refusal to sugar coat his opinion, and a healthy splash of swearing. But with marriage and parenthood, a gentler and more sentimental Bourdain emerges too.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/8038_medium-raw-anthony-bourdain-2010-us/feed 0 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/957_trail-of-crumbs-kim-sunee-2009-us-review http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/957_trail-of-crumbs-kim-sunee-2009-us-review#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:12:40 +0000 Sarah http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=957 In Kim Sunée’s coming-of-age-memoir, she travels the world and uses food to find herself and the home she never felt she had. Sunée’s narrative is an intensely honest, earnest telling of her story, with a poetic, yet unfussy writing style. Trail of Crumbs details Kim’s life, from early memories of her childhood abandonment in Korea, to her adoption and upbringing in New Orleans, to her travels around the world. Most chapters conclude with a few recipes, appropriate to the setting. The recipes don’t necessarily inspire the reader to jump into the kitchen, but they are a nice touch and complement Kim’s journey in this heart-warming story without a classic happy ending.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/957_trail-of-crumbs-kim-sunee-2009-us-review/feed 0 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/600_cooking-lessons-daisy-garnett-full http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/600_cooking-lessons-daisy-garnett-full#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:13:33 +0000 Lucy http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=600 Daisy Garnett roasted her first chicken at thirty. It was the first meal she had ever actually cooked, something repeated – and often – throughout the pages of Cooking Lessons. A memoir by a young, emerging cook, Garnett’s recently formed kitchen wisdom is imparted with a refreshing, conversational ease. Her recipes ooze charm and wit. Unleashing this passion during a life-affirming yacht trip across the Atlantic with friends, Garnett is something of a poster girl for the still-growing movement toward reconnection with the simple pleasures of cooking. Here is someone, with the zeal of the newly converted, clearly in love with her subject.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/600_cooking-lessons-daisy-garnett-full/feed 0 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/86_maggies-harvest-maggie-beer-2007-au-full http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/86_maggies-harvest-maggie-beer-2007-au-full#comments Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:10:51 +0000 Duncan Markham http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=86 Beautiful. This is a stunning production imbued with the personality of the author, local context, and an appealing warmth, packaged with style and a sense of understanding of the author's values. Maggie's Harvest is, in keeping with the author's own philosophy and the prevailing food ideology, organised by season. And in what feels quite Australian, it starts with summer and ends with spring (take that you northern hemispherics!). The only downside? There's some content reproduced from Maggie Beer's previous books, but this isn't revealed.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/86_maggies-harvest-maggie-beer-2007-au-full/feed 1 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/203_secrets-of-the-red-lantern-pauline-nguyen-2007-au-brief http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/203_secrets-of-the-red-lantern-pauline-nguyen-2007-au-brief#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:32:33 +0000 Duncan Markham http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=203 An attractive book presenting the story of the family of an Australian Vietnamese restaurateur and the Red Lantern restaurant in Sydney. It combines narrative with recipes. The photography is warm. Decorative patterns add a great deal to the appeal of the pages and to the fabric cover. The book is both saddening and frustrating. Despite the visual attraction and the promise of delicious food, Secrets of the Red Lantern presents a bleak narrative and has serious flaws which greatly mar the experience for some readers. Few Australians have much understanding of the refugee experience or, more to the point, the Australian Vietnamese experience. It is good to see an attempt to recount the situation of people escaping Vietnam to seek a new life, the treatment as refugees in camps and then Australia, and how they have struggled and changed over the last thirty years. Combining this with the theme of food is logical. Many evocative books on food combine personal experience with the web of memory and emotion sustained by food. However, the story of this family involves so much suffering — largely at the hands of the writer's father — that I found it uncomfortable to read this in what is clearly meant to be a cookbook. By 'uncomfortable' I don't mean confronting; instead, I felt the narrative was out of place in this book.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/203_secrets-of-the-red-lantern-pauline-nguyen-2007-au-brief/feed 0