Move over, Betty Crocker. Women are reclaiming their pots and pans, but it's a new era in the kitchen. Today's generation of women is putting a fresh spin on the "joy of cooking"--and eating and entertaining. Women both in and out of the culinary profession share their stories about the many ways food shapes and enhances their lives. New York Times columnist Amanda Hesser praises the joys of simple food, and Food and Wine editor Kate Sekules discusses the importance of having a restaurant where you're recognized. Theresa Lust, author of Pass the Polenta, vividly remembers a childhood making sauerkraut with her grandmother, and Michelle Tea describes her working-class Polish family's meals as "tripe, kielbasa, shellfish and beer." One woman owns up to her culinary ineptitude in an era when being a gourmet cook is all the rage, while another remembers preferring chicken nuggets from the cafeteria to mom's homemade vegetable biryani. Women Who Eat not only presents an illuminating look at food today, but dishes out generous helpings of great prose that are sure to titillate the palate. Recipes are included.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Snack on This:
This is one of the better food anthologies I have read. The quality of writing here is so consistently good that I suspect the hand of an especially competent editor is involved.
Among my favorite essays in this collection are Pooja Makhijani's School Lunch, in which a girl is embarrassed that her lunch box contains weird food, until a new girl comes to class. Also Camille Cusumano's Big Night, about a meal in Sicily that seems at first like heaven, until it turns aout to be quite the opposite. Rachel... more info
Good, and what else?:
Good for you! I am a big fan of anthologies, and this is one of the best put out by Seal Press. I particularly loved Amanda Sullivan's "My Mother's Kitchen," which so poingnantly caputures the part food can play in critical relationships. Screamingly funny with just the right touch of gross was Ayun Halliday's ode to working in a dive of an Italian place. Good work, Editor Miller. I'm off for a snack...
Fun, provocative, appetite inducing:
Kate Sekules is a smart, delightful writer. I've been reading her for years in Food & Wine, so it's no surprise that her piece in this collection is wise and witty. And Amanda Hesser has been making food fun in the New York Times. Any book that contains the epicurean sagacity of these two women is sure to be good.
