The title of this book, and of Behr's quarterly newsletter The Art of Eating, notwithstanding, the real subject of the essays collected here is not eating or cooking but food itself—or, more accurately, specific foods—and, in Behr's view, ``very good food, the best'': how it develops, how to choose it, and sometimes how it has vanished. In the first piece, he defends salt against health bureaucrats' ``alarmist guidelines''; in the last, he reports on Seattle's serious coffee culture; along the way, he laments the passing of good cream and discourses on such topics as the varieties of apples, the difference between black and white mustard seeds, the relative merits of vanilla beans and extract, the superiority of farmed mussels over wild, and how to get good ham (``Smithfield'' on the label no longer means much). It all seems to flow along with no particular direction, but Behr's research, both field and library, is purposive enough. Neither scientific like Harold McGee's investigations nor lively like Jim Thorne's Simple Cooking (also from a newsletter on food), these pieces are still undemanding enough for casual browsing and substantive enough for serious food mavens.
Pub Date: Jan. 21, 1992
ISBN: 0-87113-500-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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