Eat, Memory
The pleasures of food and drink have been the basis for some terrific memoirs. In the best food writing, the personal, revelatory story of an individual’s relationship with food is combined with sociological analysis, placed in historical context, and served up with humor and insight. Jennifer 8. Lee’s new book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food, is a nice, light entry into the foodie memoir category. Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and formerly restaurant critic at the New York Times, has written three very good memoirs, and Anthony Bourdain’s no-holds-barred Kitchen Confidential launched him into the wide, wild world of food travel. Two beautifully written autobiographies are Julia Child’s My Life in France, and Madhur Jaffery’s Climbing the Mango Trees, both of which trace the early development of a master chef.