Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl

Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth Reichl

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Comfort Me with Apples is a memoir written by Ruth Reichl, a well-known restaurant critic, with a few recipes thrown in. Reichl was once a chef and this book covers her transition from cooking food to writing about it for a living.



As with most of the best food writing, Comfort Me with Apples shows how good food is intertwined with your life experiences rather than separate from them. There is so much focus on diets these days that it was nice to read a book about people who love food and never mention calories. Reichl doesn't color events to make herself look good, either. She makes the reader laugh and cry with her over the mistakes she's made at work and in her life.



The only quibble I have with this book is that if feels like it is actually a section pulled out of the middle of a larger tome. I know that Reichl wrote another memoir before this one (Tender at the Bone) and after this one (Garlic and Sapphires), which gives this one an abrupt beginning and end. It didn't take me too long to fall into the flow of things so this is a minor quibble.



Overall, I would recommend this book. It is short and the narrative flows quickly. That makes it perfect reading for waiting in queues and doctor's offices.


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