manate.jpg   Jeffrey Steingarten 5 out of 5

A collection of Jeffrey’s writings as food critic of Vogue USA….and definitely not a selection of expense accounts write-ups of swanky Manhattan and L.A. restaurants, some of the food discussed is miles away from the world that the Vogue brand epitomises.

From travels to European and Asian locations to discover perfect examples of local delicacies to subsisting for a week on peanut butter, brown bread and dried milk, this book has a lot of variety, from gourmet, through health and nutrition to domestic food industry and the products the corporations are trying to force on us (Olestra).

His writings are insightful, thought-provoking and above all hilarious, he’s also not scared to say exactly what he thinks or ask difficult questions.

I loved reading this book and couldn’t put it down, the opening chapter about baking home made sour-dough bread sounds pretty mundane but it was impossible not to get caught up in his enthusiasm and as a result I too went through the same frustrations and rewards, inspired to make my own sough dough bread.  (Sour dough bread or more specifically “Poilane” is one of the latest trendy exclusive foods in “nice” areas of London….when I lived in Paris, I was lucky enough to have Poilane as one of my local boulangeries and “fait au levain, cuit au bois” signs were everywhere.)

Favourite articles on the French anomaly (they eat loads of saturated fat and rich food, but have a low mortality rate from heart disease) bottled water, salt and it’s true affect on your health and sauerkraut are constantly recalled my me in conversations and my copy of this book is full of dog ears ( I don’t look after my books very well) where I want to not forget some essential piece of information, cooking tip or soundbite.

Reading the book I began to Trust Jeffrey Steingarten’s opinion and paid quite a lot of money to have “Japanese cooking: a simple art” and Marcella Hazan’s “The essentials of Italian cooking” sent over to the UK (they are available here now…damn!) and they are two of the best cooks books I’ve ever owned.

If you are a foodie and want to read something more than a recipe book, something that will make you think, laugh and go  and try something new this is definitely the book for you.

Jeffrey has a new book out, “It must’ve been something I ate” which is a further selections of his writings….my copy is already ordered! we’ve listed both these books in our amazon store, click below:

Buy now from Amazon UK Amazon USA

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