A fascinating, prismatic look at the legacy of one of America’s most beloved chefs.
A collection of essays on the life and influences of pioneering chef Edna Lewis (1916-2006).
Editor Franklin, a food studies scholar, gathers the thoughts of a wide variety of contributors, including John T. Edge, Alice Waters, Michael W. Twitty, and others. Known for her poignant depictions of Southern folklore, Lewis was not one to shy away from other people’s misconceptions and prejudices. She made it her mission to combine food culture with sociopolitical issues, to interweave notions of racial tolerance and peaceful cohabitation in the dishes she served and in the stories she told. Franklin divides the book into three parts. In the first, essayists recall their first impressions of Lewis. In the second part, writers reflect on the impact Lewis has had on the sociopolitical climate and how both her writing and cookbooks greatly contributed to the dialogue. In the third section, contributors evaluate Lewis’ legacy in today’s world—Twitty writes, “my purpose here is to look at the life of chef Lewis as a continuum of a specific culinary and cultural legacy rooted in a particular regional and familial past.” Franklin’s laudable project sheds much-needed light on the significance of this singular culinary figure. “There is something about the South,” wrote Lewis in an essay, “that stimulates creativity in people, be they black or white writers, artists, cooks, builders, or primitives that pass away without knowing they were talented.” It’s precisely that creativity that Lewis captured and embodied and that many of the anthology’s contributors highlight throughout. Regarding Lewis’ Taste of Country Cooking, Patricia E. Clark writes, “Lewis as subject and author of her own work is rendered with an intimate familiarity and a peculiar anonymity all at once.” Franklin’s work is a compelling examination of Lewis’ identity that will appeal to food historians, racial studies scholars, and anyone seeking to learn more about Southern food.
A fascinating, prismatic look at the legacy of one of America’s most beloved chefs.Pub Date: April 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4696-3855-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Univ. of North Carolina
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.
In which the veteran humorist enters middle age with fine snark but some trepidation as well.
Mortality is weighing on Sedaris (Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002, 2017, etc.), much of it his own, professional narcissist that he is. Watching an elderly man have a bowel accident on a plane, he dreaded the day when he would be the target of teenagers’ jokes “as they raise their phones to take my picture from behind.” A skin tumor troubled him, but so did the doctor who told him he couldn’t keep it once it was removed. “But it’s my tumor,” he insisted. “I made it.” (Eventually, he found a semitrained doctor to remove and give him the lipoma, which he proceeded to feed to a turtle.) The deaths of others are much on the author’s mind as well: He contemplates the suicide of his sister Tiffany, his alcoholic mother’s death, and his cantankerous father’s erratic behavior. His contemplation of his mother’s drinking—and his family’s denial of it—makes for some of the most poignant writing in the book: The sound of her putting ice in a rocks glass increasingly sounded “like a trigger being cocked.” Despite the gloom, however, frivolity still abides in the Sedaris clan. His summer home on the Carolina coast, which he dubbed the Sea Section, overspills with irreverent bantering between him and his siblings as his long-suffering partner, Hugh, looks on. Sedaris hasn’t lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters. For example, cashiers who say “have a blessed day” make him feel “like you’ve been sprayed against your will with God cologne.” But bad news has sharpened the author’s humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it’s increasingly filled with Trump and funerals.
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-39238-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
PROFILES
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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