Entertaining (and Calorie-free) Culinary Memoirs

I found this book in a used bookstore, and became bound and determined to read everything that Laurie Colwin had published. Her books have such a friendly, conversational style I always felt like I was talking to a friend about food over drinks at my kitchen table. Sadly, Laurie Colwin passed away at the age of 48 in 1992. Read her books about food. You will thank me.

I can remember reading Julie Powell’s blog, and thinking what a fabulous, crazy idea-to make all 524 recipes from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

The eloquent, humorous, profane, tell-it-like-it-is Bourdain came to international attention with this tell-all book.

I don’t think I can say anything about this wonderful book except that it is about Julia Child’s life in France, and it’s written by the inestimable Julia Child.

Out of all of Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher’s books, this is by far my favorite. Ms. Fisher’s prose is so evocative I felt transported to 1930s France.

Nice memoir written by a former columnist from the New York Times and the author of The New York Cookbook.

Restaurant critic Ruth Reichl (Gourmet Magazine and the New York Times) weaves this laugh-out-loud tale of how she came to love food. I have a friend who isn’t a foodie, but loves memoirs and autobiographies, and she loved this one.

I love how the author organized her family history around food. You will fall in love with her family: the great-grandfather that brought pastrami to America, her funny aunts and her father who closed his garment district restaurant in 1988. An enjoyable read.