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roctothorpe's review against another edition
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
A catalog of some things I ate while reading this book:
- Six leftover shrimp, toast with mayonnaise and truffle hot sauce
- Peanut butter dumplings
- Sliced avocado with honey, lemon juice, flaky salt
- Olives straight from the jar
These essays on cooking and dining alone are quite short and I read a couple each day. Some are funny but most are more introspective. A lot of the pieces had a rather same-ish tone and premise: struggling writer living alone in New York apartment the size of a shoebox. I am quite fond of cooking on my own and so I was kind of shocked how sad (or at least melancholy/wistful) many of these essays were and how so many of the authors associate cooking for oneself with loneliness or shame. To the surprise of absolutely no one, I enjoyed Murakami's short story on spaghetti. The last essay "Food Nomad" is also great; it muses on the unique foods that evoke a sense of home. I don't think that any single piece will stay with me but the concept as a whole was lovely and I enjoyed sampling from this anthology.
josiezx's review against another edition
4.0
Being somewhat obsessive about food myself, it's nice reading about others' experiences and to know that I'm not the only one feeling a certain way about food and that there are those more obsessive and weird than I am.
lisawhelpley's review against another edition
3.0
This book was okay but just okay. The essays lacked inspiration.
matthewwester's review
4.0
If you think you might be interested in a bunch of reflections by talented writers on eating alone then you should definitely check out this book, it didn't disappoint. This is partially a book about food (beautiful descriptions, short recipes, etc.) and partially a book about the social dynamics of cooking or eating by yourself.
I read it because someone recently said I never cook. Challenge accepted! So I read this, glanced through a couple cookbooks, picked out a bunch of recipes to try out, and so there you go, time will tell. Anyway, good read.
I read it because someone recently said I never cook. Challenge accepted! So I read this, glanced through a couple cookbooks, picked out a bunch of recipes to try out, and so there you go, time will tell. Anyway, good read.
doubletroubledogmom's review against another edition
5.0
You can't get better than the title "Alone in the Kitchen with an eggplant" and you really can't get much better with us wrote essays for this book: Dan Chanon, Nora Ephron, Ann Patchett, Beverly Lowry......
If you've ever had to travel frequent and eat alone or your living single this is a fantastic book about cooking for one-- or trying to.
Interesting escapades on first time cooks to even some great receipes.
Please check out the essay entitled: Wild Chili-- it's fantastic. That's saying alot since I'm Chile purist.
Recipes include: Truffled White Toast, Salsa Rosa, Il Toast, Grilled Curried Shrimp Quesarito with Avocado Raita.
My favorite quote: It is certainly true that cooking is therapeutic, creative and all those other faintly creepy self-helpish words. I would love to tell you that learning to cook was part of my journey toward actualization. I would love to tell OPrah this.. I would love to tell Oprah this while weeping. But I learned to cook for a much simpler reason: in the abject hope that people would spend time with me if I put good things in their mouths. It is, in other words, a function of my desperations for emotional connections and acclaim.
If you've ever had to travel frequent and eat alone or your living single this is a fantastic book about cooking for one-- or trying to.
Interesting escapades on first time cooks to even some great receipes.
Please check out the essay entitled: Wild Chili-- it's fantastic. That's saying alot since I'm Chile purist.
Recipes include: Truffled White Toast, Salsa Rosa, Il Toast, Grilled Curried Shrimp Quesarito with Avocado Raita.
My favorite quote: It is certainly true that cooking is therapeutic, creative and all those other faintly creepy self-helpish words. I would love to tell you that learning to cook was part of my journey toward actualization. I would love to tell OPrah this.. I would love to tell Oprah this while weeping. But I learned to cook for a much simpler reason: in the abject hope that people would spend time with me if I put good things in their mouths. It is, in other words, a function of my desperations for emotional connections and acclaim.
jenmcmaynes's review
3.0
3.5 stars. A mostly enjoyable collection of essays about the act of cooking for one or dining alone. While most of the pieces offered similar words of insight concerning taking care of oneself, cooking as an act of love, and the guilty pleasures of pleasing one's self, a few pieces did touch on other aspects ("Thanks, but No Thanks" by Courtney Eldridge delves into classism and poverty; "White-on-White Lunch for When No One is Looking" by Anneli Rufus deals with weight issues; and "Instant Noodles" by Rattawut Lacharoensap looks at the ex-pat's longing and inability to get the food from home). I appreciated these pieces more, if only because they offered a different perspective from the general tone of the book. Not that the typical essay was bad; it was just that, after awhile, they tended to blend together. Perhaps this book would be best savored in small bites, instead of a giant gulp? ;-)