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A review by kairosdreaming
Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World by Jeff Gordinier
2.0
*This review is part of the Amazon Vine program.
I've sat on this review for awhile just because I was having trouble with it. See, I wanted to like this book, it was about food and pushing the boundaries of cuisine. Seems like exciting stuff, right? And while it was for some of it, I just couldn't sink into the writing style or the story. It was too unapproachable for me.
Gordinier is offered the chance to travel and work with Redzepi, the chef of the famous Noma. Redzepi is looking to reinvent himself and the way people think about food again, and so the author gets to join him on his trips and discuss these ideas.
It's a very descriptive book, and I will say that I loved the descriptions of the food. Unfortunately those seemed to take a seat behind the arguments, worries, and other such human drama that is present when you're working with restaurants. While it adds color, it's also distracting sometimes. Especially when Gordinier himself inserts some of his personal drama in, but not enough to make you feel good about it. In fact, I feel kind of bad for his families as he mentions them, but the descriptions of them don't really hold any warmth (except for maybe an initial description of the new girlfriend, after she makes wife status that warm fuzzy feeling suddenly is removed from the mentions). I don't know, I know he's not the book's purpose, but that just kind of turned me off of it a bit because I couldn't stop feeling sorry for his kids. It just made it hard to focus on the food.
Memoir or biography, it's really hard to qualify this book. I think had it just been about Redzepi and the food and he left the memoir-ish parts out (as much as he could since he was traveling with the guy) it would have been a bit more engaging. More food descriptions, more travel, can't go wrong with that.
Not one for me unfortunately.
Review by M. Reynard 2019
I've sat on this review for awhile just because I was having trouble with it. See, I wanted to like this book, it was about food and pushing the boundaries of cuisine. Seems like exciting stuff, right? And while it was for some of it, I just couldn't sink into the writing style or the story. It was too unapproachable for me.
Gordinier is offered the chance to travel and work with Redzepi, the chef of the famous Noma. Redzepi is looking to reinvent himself and the way people think about food again, and so the author gets to join him on his trips and discuss these ideas.
It's a very descriptive book, and I will say that I loved the descriptions of the food. Unfortunately those seemed to take a seat behind the arguments, worries, and other such human drama that is present when you're working with restaurants. While it adds color, it's also distracting sometimes. Especially when Gordinier himself inserts some of his personal drama in, but not enough to make you feel good about it. In fact, I feel kind of bad for his families as he mentions them, but the descriptions of them don't really hold any warmth (except for maybe an initial description of the new girlfriend, after she makes wife status that warm fuzzy feeling suddenly is removed from the mentions). I don't know, I know he's not the book's purpose, but that just kind of turned me off of it a bit because I couldn't stop feeling sorry for his kids. It just made it hard to focus on the food.
Memoir or biography, it's really hard to qualify this book. I think had it just been about Redzepi and the food and he left the memoir-ish parts out (as much as he could since he was traveling with the guy) it would have been a bit more engaging. More food descriptions, more travel, can't go wrong with that.
Not one for me unfortunately.
Review by M. Reynard 2019