One of the best thing about summer holidays is not just the jetting off to exotic locales, but also finding the time to really get stuck into a good book; whether that is on a long-haul flight or just lying on the beach. In the first part of our series, we suggested weighty offerings by Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adria. To round out our list, we include this year's best selling chef's memoir, as well as a childhood classic. So sit back, relax and happy reading!
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is one of the best food writers of our time and his groundbreaking cook, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, addresses the topical issues of sustainable farming, organic produce, factory feedlots and fast food through four meals. It may sound pedantic, but Pollan’s concise writing style makes this book a real eye-opener about everything that we put into our mouths and how it got there in the first place. Informative without being preachy, it is guaranteed that you will never look at your food the same way again.
Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
The chef's memoir genre has long been associated with the likes of Anthony Bourdain, which is why this year’s publishing of Gabrielle Hamilton’s memoir was as refreshing as a cool breeze in a hot kitchen. The book starts at her childhood on a farm in rural Pennsylvania and culminates in the opening of her restaurant Prune in New York City. Hamilton writes with unexpected grace and tenderness and her tenacity throughout the sheer slog of her journey is so impressive that even the macho Bourdain wanted to “crawl under the bed, retroactively withdraw every book, every page” he’d ever written after reading Hamilton’s memoir.
The Kitchen Book and The Cook Book by Nicolas Freeling
Originally two separate books that have now been repackaged into one, with the original illustrations intact, The Kitchen Book and The Cook Book by Nicolas Freeling is an homage to the author’s love of gastromomy. Although Freeling is better known as a writer of crime fiction, he got his start working in a large French hotel before moving around different restaurants and hotels in Britain, most memorably at a grandiose restaurant that was doomed to failure from the start. Old-fashioned and charmingly European in parts, the two-in-one book is also chock full with recipes for French classics such as bouillabaisse and lamb navarin?
Soul of a Chef: The Journey toward Perfection by Michael Ruhlman
Not so long ago, a chef was seen as just someone who prepared your meals. It was not a glamourous career and chefs were seen as rough men who had very little to say outside of the kitchen. But in the past decade, society has elevated chefs into demi-gods, artists whose masterpieces are just as raved about as any New York Times bestseller. So what separates the artists from the regular line cook? This is what journalist Michael Ruhlman aims to find out in his Soul of a Chef, published in 2001. In the book, Ruhlman reminisces about his experience as a student at the Culinary Institute of America before going into the kitchens and lives of two American chefs: Michael Symon and Thomas Keller. In his journey, he finds out what just how much commitment, passion, eye for perfection and sheer hard work there is to become today’s celebrity chef.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Just as a healthy diet consists of variation, so does a good reading list. So if you’ve just made your way through the cerebral discussions of Heston Blumenthal, what better palate cleanser can there by than this childhood classic by Roald Dahl? Despite the big-name movie adaptations with Gene Wilder and more recently Johnny Depp, somehow neither film are as satisfying as curling up in bed with a giant bar of chocolate and following the adventures of Charlie Bucket and the fantastically named Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde, Veruca Salt and Mike Teavee, page by glorious page.
