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/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/9591_audrey-gordons-tuscan-summer-audrey-gordon-2010-au http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/9591_audrey-gordons-tuscan-summer-audrey-gordon-2010-au#comments Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:01:46 +0000 Alison Vincent http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=9591 Audrey Gordon is a respected and prolific cookery writer. She has also been a long-time contributor to BBC radio, presented numerous television series and been voted ‘Britain’s Sternest Cook’ three times. She and husband Phillip recently closed their restaurant, audrey’s, and headed to Tuscany for a chance to take a break and of course write a book about it. The result is ‘Audrey Gordon’s Tuscan Summer’, a ’sumptuously photographed and lavishly over-designed book’ written for ‘the ordinary cook, stuck at home with insufficient bench space and a set of chipped mixing bowls’. Audrey Gordon's Tuscan Summer looks like a regular cookbook and the recipes are certainly workable if not necessarily authentic, but Audrey is not all she seems...]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/9591_audrey-gordons-tuscan-summer-audrey-gordon-2010-au/feed 0 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/8759_hestons-fantastical-feasts-heston-blumenthal-2010-uk http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/8759_hestons-fantastical-feasts-heston-blumenthal-2010-uk#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:22:59 +0000 Daniel Chan http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=8759 Heston Blumenthal’s “Fantastical Feats” is the companion book to the television series of the same name. In the book and series, Blumenthal creates six feasts, each based on a theme. His aim is to capture the spirit of each theme in the dishes he creates. As with his previous books, one of the principle joys of this book is reading about Blumenthal’s thought process as he turns abstract concepts into the form of food. He writes not only about the ideas that work, but the ones that don’t. The book is immensely entertaining. He writes with great humour, and he has a gift of finding experiences that allows him to connect with the reader and help them to see the food world as he does.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/8759_hestons-fantastical-feasts-heston-blumenthal-2010-uk/feed 0 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/7260_new-release-medium-raw http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/7260_new-release-medium-raw#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:15:51 +0000 admin http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=7260 Medium Raw explores changes in the restaurant subculture since Kitchen Confidential. Bourdain takes no prisoners as he dissects what he's seen, pausing along the way for a series of confessions and investigations of some of the most controversial figures in food.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/7260_new-release-medium-raw/feed 1 http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/584_how-to-be-a-better-foodie-sudi-pigott-2008-uk-full http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/584_how-to-be-a-better-foodie-sudi-pigott-2008-uk-full#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 08:28:41 +0000 Sarah http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/?p=584 Sudi Pigott’s fun little book, How to be a Better Foodie, is a tongue-in-cheek look at high foodie-ism. Bulging with tips, advice and foodie facts, in an extreme level of detail, it’s entertaining and informative in parts, but laughably bad in others. Pigott’s boundless enthusiasm comes across as pretentious numerous times, which often makes for painful reading.]]> http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/584_how-to-be-a-better-foodie-sudi-pigott-2008-uk-full/feed 2