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boggremlin's review against another edition
4.0
A little disjointed but extremely dear and companionable. I felt as though I were listening to Deborah as she talked her way through her life, and it was a cozy and comfortable experience.
pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
”So the goodness of plain rice, miso soup, and daikon pickle was truly startling. It seemed to me that this goodness resided in my mouth and my attention as much as it resided in the food itself. …Hunger, simplicity, and attention, not special ingredients, were all one needed to put aside obsessions and anxiety concerning food and to experience it in a more deeply nurturing way.”
I am a sucker for a good food memoir. When I look over the books I have read since 2008, I am not sure that autobiographies about food even must be that good. I just devour them as I find them. So, I was grateful to run across this autobiography by Madison.
I like Madison’s cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, although I don’t cook from it a lot. Cooking has changed so much since Madison first wrote that book. The internet has a lot of recipes and many of them are vegetarian. I don’t use my cookbooks as much anymore.
It is this change in how we eat that makes this book so interesting. Madison was in San Francisco at just the right time. I imagine it is very hard to get to be cooking at Chez Panisse now, but it was easy for Madison to go work there. Also, she founded one of the landmarks of vegetable cooking – Greens Restaurant. When Madison writes of her life, she is also writing about the food revolution of the United States. The Bay Area is one of the places that American cuisine was born.
Madison is a straightforward author. Maybe this comes from writing so many cookbooks. For whatever reason, this book is candid, but blunt. There aren’t a lot of frills. I enjoyed learning about Madison’s life, and I did get out her cookbook again. I hope to use some of her recipes this summer.
I am a sucker for a good food memoir. When I look over the books I have read since 2008, I am not sure that autobiographies about food even must be that good. I just devour them as I find them. So, I was grateful to run across this autobiography by Madison.
I like Madison’s cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, although I don’t cook from it a lot. Cooking has changed so much since Madison first wrote that book. The internet has a lot of recipes and many of them are vegetarian. I don’t use my cookbooks as much anymore.
It is this change in how we eat that makes this book so interesting. Madison was in San Francisco at just the right time. I imagine it is very hard to get to be cooking at Chez Panisse now, but it was easy for Madison to go work there. Also, she founded one of the landmarks of vegetable cooking – Greens Restaurant. When Madison writes of her life, she is also writing about the food revolution of the United States. The Bay Area is one of the places that American cuisine was born.
Madison is a straightforward author. Maybe this comes from writing so many cookbooks. For whatever reason, this book is candid, but blunt. There aren’t a lot of frills. I enjoyed learning about Madison’s life, and I did get out her cookbook again. I hope to use some of her recipes this summer.
scarletohhara's review against another edition
3.0
This is a collection of essays, most of which I enjoyed reading. But I didn’t care for the book or the author’s experiences in life, maybe coz I didn’t know about this author before I picked up the book.
I picked up this book at first to read a memoir of an ex-monk’s experiences with food from a Buddhist monk’s perspective. I hadn’t signed up to read about her life & good experiences post being a monk , which is what I felt this book focused more on.
TBH, I didn’t care enough about her experiences in running Greens or Chez Panisse. I would’ve loved if she wrote more about her experiences in and around the kitchen in the Zen center, I enjoyed those essays better.
For a while, while reading the essays set in her childhood & early adulthood, I felt like I might want my memoir to sound like this too, coz I enjoyed reading those. The rest were passable, to me.
I picked up this book at first to read a memoir of an ex-monk’s experiences with food from a Buddhist monk’s perspective. I hadn’t signed up to read about her life & good experiences post being a monk , which is what I felt this book focused more on.
TBH, I didn’t care enough about her experiences in running Greens or Chez Panisse. I would’ve loved if she wrote more about her experiences in and around the kitchen in the Zen center, I enjoyed those essays better.
For a while, while reading the essays set in her childhood & early adulthood, I felt like I might want my memoir to sound like this too, coz I enjoyed reading those. The rest were passable, to me.
bridge_enginerd's review against another edition
1.0
I had really hoped this would be like The Everlasting Meal or Salt Fat Acid Heat, but this book really left me wondering if Deborah Madison actually likes food. She certainly likes being a sanctimonious, name-dropping, fatphobic white woman.
minty's review against another edition
5.0
Such a lovely and interesting memoir. I learned much about life as a zen practitioner, which I had not known before! It's so interesting that she and Ruth Reichel came up in similar ways--odd parents, hippie communal living--and both ended up with careers in food. This memoir was so much better than Ruth's recent ones.
harby's review against another edition
4.0
3.75/ I love Deborah Madison, I started working with her cookbooks while teaching myself to cook in college. I would say the memoir is really only for “fans” or people specifically interested in Zen Buddhism or food culture of the West Coast in the 70s and 80s.
Some of the most engaging aspects of the book were Madison tracing food trends through the decades and her recounting the limitations of running a vegetarian Zendo and later a famous San Francisco restaurant due to the availability of ingredients in those decades. I also found the descriptions of making the various cookbooks interesting.
Some of the most engaging aspects of the book were Madison tracing food trends through the decades and her recounting the limitations of running a vegetarian Zendo and later a famous San Francisco restaurant due to the availability of ingredients in those decades. I also found the descriptions of making the various cookbooks interesting.
jennybeastie's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyable memoir. I had no idea who Deborah Madison is, but I love hearing about the different ways that chefs become chefs and that foodies are drawn into their lifestyle. This book was particularly interesting because of Madison's pivotal and yet cranky relationship with vegetarianism. I love her message -- that vegetables are for everyone -- and that often the most memorable food isn't about the food, it's about the kindness of the person who prepared it. It's an episodic work, and somewhat non-linear, but I enjoyed that as well.
Advanced reader's copy provided by edelweiss.
Advanced reader's copy provided by edelweiss.
dray's review against another edition
4.0
A very readable memoir about an influential cook and cook writer. having used many of her cookbooks it was nice to get to know the person behind them as well as watch her development over the decades.
heres_the_thing's review against another edition
4.0
A little disjointed but extremely dear and companionable. I felt as though I were listening to Deborah as she talked her way through her life, and it was a cozy and comfortable experience.