Yes, Chef - Gravlax

Yes, Chef: A Memoir

By Marcus Samuelsson and Veronica Chambers

336 pages, Random House, 2013

Chef memoirs can get repetitive after a while. The chef-to-be is initiated to the pleasures of cooking at a young age, either by an untrained yet gifted older relative, or through a multitude of influences. They go on to study in some culinary institution, where at some point they are yelled at, then do grunt work in a kitchen, where they get yelled at some more and learn to deal with the gruelling physical labour and surrounding machismo that come with the job. Then comes the reward, in some form or another, for all their hard work and daring.

I am, of course, exaggerating. Yet the chef’s journey, by this point, has become familiar to most readers interested in the genre. How, then, can one stand out? After all, not everyone has Gabrielle Hamilton’s insight and talent, or Anthony Bourdain’s bravado. Marcus Samuelsson’s memoir, Yes, Chef, stands out through the sheer uniqueness of its author’s personal journey, as well as the warmth and family love that pervades it.

Delicious! - Gingerbread Cake

Delicious! A Novel

By Ruth Reichl

400 pages, Random House, 2014

I have mentioned previously that I am a great fan of Ruth Reichl’s work. I was deeply moved by her first memoir, Tender at the Bone, and very much enjoyed Garlic and Sapphires, in which she reveals her backstage adventures as a food critic. I like her as an author and as a narrator, the way her voice strikes a balance between kindness and no-nonsense. I have tucked away her other two memoirs for a rainy day, and look forward to reading them.

So I was very excited about her first novel, Delicious!, which came out last year. I was prepared to love it. I wanted to love it.

The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry- Fish in Fragrant Coconut Sauce

The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry: Love, Laughter and Tears at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School in Paris

By Kathleen Flinn

304 pages, Penguin Books, 2007

I have always known I could never cook professionally. I lack the drive and the discipline, not to mention the palate. More importantly, I have no wish to turn yet another hobby into a job, because jobs can turn into chores, and I have enough chores in my life. 

And yet… Who, among those of us who love to cook, hasn’t daydreamed about going to a culinary academy, of learning how to really do things properly, and eventually earning one’s living brightening people’s day thanks to bold flavours and luscious textures? Even though we’ve read Kitchen Confidential and know how tough cooking professionally is, we still hold on to that vision of the radiant, fulfilled culinary student, happily whisking meringue in her luminous kitchen.

Kathleen Flinn turned her daydreams into reality in 2005, when she lost her job and made the spontaneous decision to attend Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. Predictably enough, reality turned out to be much harsher, but The Sharper Your Knife is ultimately more fond reminiscence than cautionary tale.

Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger - Jam Tarts

Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger

By Nigel Slater

247 pages, Fourth Estate, 2003

If there is one thing Nigel Slater’s memoir makes clear from the beginning, it is that we do not necessarily love the foods of our childhood because they tasted good objectively, or were well prepared. Case in point: his mother, described as “not much of a cook,” served him burnt toast every morning. Despite that, Slater writes:

“It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you. People’s failings, even major ones […], fall into insignificance as your teeth break through the rough, toasted crust and sink into the doughy cushion of white bread underneath. Once the warm, salty butter has reached your tongue, you are smitten. Putty in their hands.”

This opening page sets the tone for the remainder of this beautiful memoir. Slater, a British food writer and journalist, recounts his childhood in 1960s England through the prism of food. The book is organized into vignettes, most of which revolve around a specific item of food, from tinned ham to prawn cocktail. But food, however central it is to the book, also works as both a backdrop to Slater’s mostly unhappy childhood and as a path into the most intimate nooks of his memories.