Welcome to Family Bites' book week! I'll be sharing a week's worth
of my favourite recent reads, giving you the chance to win a copy or
two, as well.
I loved every essay in Lisa Catherine Harper and Caroline M. Grant's The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage. From junk food to soul food, from busy weeknight meals to holiday feasts, from feeding a vegan to the kosher pantry, each story will bring you to the kitchens, tables, and hearts of real American families.
I'm not sure I can adequately detail how meaningful some of the writing is, but the following should give you an idea of the goodness you'll find tucked within the pages:
- "There are doubtless measurable benefits to dinner-table conversation. It’s a natural check on overeating, for example. Even if you’re talking and eating at the same time, you simply can’t generate the same food-shoveling velocity that you could if you were eating silently. Plus, I’m sure it’s good for mental health, for social health, for learning how to become a good date — although, my god, I’ll miss them when there’s someone they’re dating besides us. Bust mostly the benefits are immeasurable. What dinner table conversation gives us is time to stop and appreciate how much we have, right now, even as we imagine, deliriously, that it could go on forever." Catherine Newman, Talk with Your Mouth Full
- "I cannot imagine making cassoulet alone any more than I can imagine life without you. Please don't let a great tradition die." Deborah Copaken Kogan and Paul Kogan, The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage
- My Mom stood frozen, a glass of Prosecco in on hand, a plate brimming with salmon, potatoes, and asparagus in the other. She gave me a look that expressed first suspicion, then delight and pride. "Melissa," she said, "this is the best gift ever." Better than the massage I bought her last Mother's Day? Or the bouquet of roses the year before? Or the computer I chipped in on for her sixtieth birthday? The cashmere sweater from Barney's? A simple gift of food was better than all that? I suppose it was. But I was given the gift that day - understanding in my heart that food is love, family and community - and finally being able to create a meal that confirmed all of this, and so much more." Melissa Clark, Rachael Ray Saved My Life
See what I mean? I've highlighted passages, bookmarked recipes, and re-read certain stories more than a few times because I was laughing so hard I feared I may have missed something. In essence, this book makes you feel, and that alone is worth the purchase price.
I have a copy of The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage to give away to one lucky Family Bites reader. To enter, leave a comment letting me know your favourite book about food. Contest ends Friday May 10th! PS - If you're reading this via email, please click though and leave a comment on the blog.
My favorite book about food is Green Eggs and Ham! till this day my dad can still recite every word and i am we'll into my 40's!
Posted by: Gena | 05/07/2013 at 09:06 AM
I love the cover of this one. I have to say I'm enjoying Corey Mintz' How to Host a Dinner Party. I also love Martha Stewart's Cooking School as a reference book. Oh, darn, I gave more than one answer again. While I'm at it, I will read ANY book on preserving. I particularly like We Sure Can! by Sarah B. Hood.
Posted by: Amy @ Family Feedbag | 05/07/2013 at 01:57 PM
So funny to see this book here because it randomly popped on Amazon the other day in my recommendations and I was so tempted to buy it, but saved it for later when I counted my pennies. Sounds so good and I look forward to reading it.
Posted by: Allison | 05/07/2013 at 06:20 PM
Forgot to tell you my favorite book about food - really any food memoir, like A Homemade Life, My Berlin Kitchen, etc.
Posted by: Allison | 05/07/2013 at 06:21 PM
My favourite book about food (so far) is Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I'm not a vegetarian but this book is a must read!
Posted by: Danielle | 05/07/2013 at 08:10 PM
I'm a sucker for a good food memoir...Kitchen Confidential by that crazy Anthony Bourdain is my favourite. Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton is another fave. The excerpts you selected today are quite fabulous and I've no doubt I'd enjoy this book too :)
Posted by: Renee | 05/07/2013 at 11:48 PM
My favorite book about food has to be Kitchen Confidential. He is one crazy man!
Posted by: Sarah P | 05/08/2013 at 08:33 AM
Big Night: A Novel with Recipes
Posted by: Marissa | 05/08/2013 at 08:52 AM
I am a mystery buff. I really enjoy Julie Hyzy's series about the white house chef. There is humor, recipes and a who done it to solve. Fun, light reading.
Posted by: marsha | 05/08/2013 at 09:07 AM
I grew up loving cooking and baking with an intense desire to be creative (and not repeat those same old recipes that mom would use) and so would pull every cookbook out of the cupboard and thumb through them looking for that inspiration. At that point I always gravitated towards the Company's coming series - there were pictures, ingredients that my downhome parents almost always stocked and little 'quips' that amused me.
Funny though - now that I am running my own household I am begging my mom for those old boring recipes that she used to use. And just last week I found myself rearranging some cupboards - as I rarely crack the cover on my huge collection of company's coming I moved them to the 'awkward' cupboard. It was a bitter sweet moment as I realized how much I have grown as a cook and moved from Jean Pare's down home cooking style.
Posted by: Juliane | 05/08/2013 at 09:47 AM
Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking" is a beautifully written book about food and cooking and life. I find myself reaching for it again and again.
Posted by: Maria B. | 05/08/2013 at 11:45 AM
I feel a little guilty in leaving a comment here because my favourite book about food is this book! I heard about it on-line and then took it out from the library and ADORED it - but I would love, love, love to have my own copy so that I could read it again and again, but also so I could have the ability to press it into friend's hands and say "Read this!".
Posted by: Mary-Ann Setterington | 05/08/2013 at 10:25 PM
For as much as read recipes from blogs and books and magazines or where ever I spot them, I've barely touched on books about food. This must change! I'd have to say the last one I read was, Like Water for Chocolate? Thanks for the chance to win a very cool book!
Posted by: Krista Sanderson | 05/09/2013 at 03:32 AM
My favorite book about food is Breaking The Vicious Cycle.
Posted by: Janet | 05/09/2013 at 07:24 AM
Ooh this looks like a goodie. My favourite book about food is/was Comfort me with Apples by Ruth Reichl. It was the first book I read about food and was smitten with food writing from that moment on.
Posted by: brandy | 05/09/2013 at 03:58 PM
This is difficult; I love so many books about food. If forced to chose I would have to say Dom DeLuise's "Eat This: It Will Make You Feel Better" which was published in the 80s. Hilarious stories are interspersed throughout the book, which is common now, but original then. Also, it was the first cookbook that my Dad gave to me.
Posted by: Carlinne @Cook with 2 Chicks | 05/09/2013 at 05:22 PM
I really like Dinner A Love Story. Made me feel a little less frazzled about dinner time.
Posted by: Frances | 05/09/2013 at 06:15 PM
As I recall, the first book I read about cooking was On Rue Tatin by Susan Hermann Loomis. It is still one of my favourites, though I've now quite a few on the shelf. I seem to go back often to read them again and again.
Posted by: Jacqueline | 05/10/2013 at 11:15 PM