REVIEWS FOR FOOD & BOOZE

“These essays are pure fun, pure joy, every last honey-colored, 80-proof, diet-be-damned one of them.”
—Debbie Vankin, The Los Angeles Times

"Foodies who like to read have had an abundant year: They’ve been able to sink their teeth into the likes of David Kamp’s The United States of Arugula, Julia Child’s My Life in France and, of course, Bill Buford’s Heat. Those books are great at capturing food trends and superchefs, but they don’t have the personal touch or accessibility of Food & Booze, a collection of 25 pieces harvested from the literary journal Tin House, in which a group of mostly superb authors reflect on the pleasures of cooking, drinking and sitting down to eat."
—Kelly McMasters, Time Out New York

"Tin House magazine contributor Wildgen collects essays on apples and odes to martinis. In the provocatively titled "Up Your Goose with a Boneless Duck," Chris Offutt describes an unusual dish he wanted to prepare for "a grand autumn feast" in Missoula, Mont. In "The End of Laughter," Lan Samantha Chang recalls meals with an unnamed friend: "We ate for love, for sympathy and fun. We ate out of confusion and emptiness and lust. We ate our meals in public and kept our true hungers a secret." Essays are supplemented with recipes for, among others, Steve's Ultimate Maple Crunch Chicken Salad, Eggs with Mushrooms and Truffles, Khoresht Bademjan and Oxtail Soup with Porcini Mushrooms...the collection is a gourmand-worthy spread.
—Publishers Weekly

“This strange, dark, proudly literate collection is a triumph of unapologetic debauchery—after so much prudish, hothouse food writing, Food & Booze is as refreshing as an ice-cold Tin House Martini.”
—Julie Powell, author of Julie & Julia

“I opened this neat little volume intending to read about solid, square meals, but then I found myself getting blitzed on absinthe cocktails in Portugal with Elissa Schappell, downing shots of mezcal in a Oaxacan cantina with Mark Statman, and cruising around in Sara Roahen’s family car sipping huge travel mugs of brandy and 7-Up (what are these people thinking?). So I can only tell you that the booze half of the book is a blast. And now I’d like to lie down for a while, if you don’t mind.”
—Pete Wells, Food & Wine columnist and winner of five James Beard Awards for writing on food and drink “

"Though I have a few more food-filled memoirs in a heap beside me, I shall pass over them and move on to Food and Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast, a collection of 23 essays on food and drink by various writers. Among them is Matthew Batt's very funny account of making sourdough bread according to the dictatorial precepts of Nancy Silverton, a tour de force that conflates baking with child-bearing and -rearing. 'The Path of Righteousness' begins with Batt following Silverton's minute instructions and making sourdough starter from decomposing grapes. After that he moves on to her recipe, 'which is all micromanagement and brutish condescension.' For a while he feels very much put upon by being made to 'weigh and measure and clean and fuss over everything like I'm running a fertility clinic.' But after the course of a summer and 300 pounds of flour, he finds not only that he can bake excellent bread, but that his entire life revolves around it—though fortunately not at book length."
—Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Globe