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Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, April 20, 2018 Permalink 0

TRE Book-a-Month: Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life

NOTA: For technical reasons (I am not sure to have WiFi for the next week or so), I have moved the dates to May 10 through May 31. Do you have any particular topics you would like to bring up in the discussions?

Join us in our Facebook group The Rambling Epicure, Mastering the Art of Food Writing, from May 3 to May 17 for the TRE Book-a-Month reading, discussion and, if you like, cookalong, of a biographical cookbook about legendary food authority Paula Wolfert, which includes 50+ recipes, by Emily Keiser Thelin.

“All recipes are, in some way, an exploration of the link between food and memory. We cook the food we remember loving and, in so doing, make new connections and bonds. The amount of love, through food, Paula has given so many over the years makes this biography-cum-cookbook a truly wonderful project. — Yotam Ottolenghi

“Every serious food person knows that Paula Wolfert changed our world, but in this book we learn what a fascinating time she had while she was doing it. Part biography, part cookbook, part history, Unforgettable introduces our greatest cookbook writer to the wider audience she deserves. There has never been a book quite like this one. — Ruth Reichl

“Unforgettable is a brilliant summation of the resilience, exuberance, and expertise that we know and love of Paula Wolfert. — Mario Batali

“We’re all truly indebted to Emily Kaiser Thelin, Eric Wolfinger, Andrea Nguyen, and Toni Tajima for capturing these beautiful, inspiring, and very important memories of Paula’s life and travels. — April Bloomfield

“Unforgettable is the story of the exacting, passionate, genuine, driven and indefatigable Paula Wolfert, the ultimate expert on the cooking of the Mediterranean. Emily Kaiser Thelin’s well-written and poignant narrative recounts the tale of this true pioneer of American culinary history. — Jacques Pépin”

Excerpts from Goodreads

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, September 5, 2013

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, September 5, 2013 Permalink 0

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, September 5, 2013

by Simon de Swaan

Everything tastes better outdoors.–Claudia Roden

Claudia Roden is a cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist based in the United Kingdom. She was born in 1936 in Cairo, Egypt. A Book on Middle Eastern Food is a classic in the world of cookbooks, and James Beard referred to it as “a landmark in the field of cookery.”

David Downie: The Tale of the Two Labyrinths of Chartres

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, July 11, 2013 Permalink 0

David Downie: The Tale of the Two Labyrinths of Chartres

by David Downie

Introduction by Jonell Galloway

Chartres is not only my home, but remains one of the most mystical places on earth, even after years of living there. It has everything I need in a city: a spiritual atmosphere, good food, good wine, beautiful stained glass, a beautiful cathedral and 128 or so other beautiful churches, and honest people who, being from the bread basket of France, have never lost their work ethic and healthy attitude. People were already making pilgrimages to Chartres long before the Christianized Romans appeared on the scene, and they continue to do so in droves today.

Chartres labyrinth (Photo credit: Steve Snodgrass)

I was pleased to see Rambling Epicure contributor David Downie’s article on Gadling about the labyrinths of Chartres, the city that may just have more history than any in Europe, and about how its sacred sites continue to inspire people of many denominations and beliefs who travel from all over the world to soak up its telluric energy.

Labyrinth reproduction in the garden below the cathedral (Photo credit: hdes.copeland)

Outdoors in a panoramic park behind the famous cathedral of Chartres a teenage girl skipped along the concentric pathways of a grassy labyrinth. Other kids shouted and kicked a soccer ball. Young lovers simultaneously pecked at each other and the touchpads of their handheld devices, observed by curious onlookers.

Most such onlookers in Chartres are day-trippers from nearby Paris: The capital is an hour’s ride east on a commuter train.

Click here to read rest of article.

Stained glass in Chartres Cathedral

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, May 7, 2013

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, May 7, 2013 Permalink 0

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, May 7, 2013

by Simón de Swaan

Almost every person has something secret he likes to eat.— M.F.K. Fisher

Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was a preeminent American food writer. She was also a founder of the Napa Valley Wine Library. She wrote some 27 books, including a translation of The Physiology of Taste by Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, an authoritative classic about eating as a sensory experience. Two volumes of her journals and correspondence came out shortly before her death in 1992, Stay Me, Oh Comfort Me: Journals and Stories, 1933-1941.

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, September 19, 2012

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, September 19, 2012 Permalink 0

by Simón de Swaan

Cuisine is when things taste like themselves.–Curnonsky

Maurice Edmond Sailland, better known by his pen-name Curnonsky, and dubbed the Prince of Gastronomy, was the most celebrated writer on gastronomy in France in the 20th century. He wrote or ghost-wrote over 65 books and enormous numbers of newspaper columns, included his most famous book, La France Gastronomique: Guide Des Merveilles Culinaires Et Des Bonnes Auberges Fran Aises (Gastronomic France: Guide to Culinary Marvels and Good French Inns).

Would you like to join The Rambling Epicure team?

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, July 5, 2012 Permalink 0

Join The Rambling Epicure Team

The Rambling Epicure is a daily international food chronicle, and the first online newspaper to follow global food trends and news.

Based in Switzerland, The Rambling Epicure joins the voices of some of the best food and wine writers and artists from around the world interested in promoting a mindful, responsible approach to real food shopping, cooking, and eating, as well as food politics, safety, history, art, literature and philosophy.

Our ambition is to feature contributions in numerous languages, with all articles being translated into the common language, English, conveying the differing points of view of chefs, home cooks, and diners of different cultures.

Our ambitious goal is to cover food and wine from every corner of the globe. We are still looking for writers and artists/photographers.

Continue Reading…

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, December 16, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, December 16, 2011 Permalink 0

by Simón de Swaan

In my experience, clever food is not appreciated at Christmas. It makes the little ones cry and the old ones nervous.–Jane Grigson

Jane Grigson was a notable English cookery writer who wrote over 20 cookbooks and whose growing interest in food and cooking led to the writing of her first book, Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery (1967), which was accorded the unusual honour for an English food writer of being translated into French.

Continue Reading…

French Food Quote: Daily Food Quote, August 22, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, August 22, 2011 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Thus it is Gastronomy, to tell the truth, which motivates the farmers, fineyardists, fishermen, hunters, and the great family of cooks, no matter under what names or qualifications they may disguise their part in the preparation of foods.–Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)
The Physiology of Taste (1825)

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, August 16, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, August 16, 2011 Permalink 0

by Simón de Swaan

[Breadbaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world’s sweetest smells…there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.-–M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

Mary Francis Kenney Fisher (July 3, 1908 – June 22, 1992). a Californian by birth, was a prolific and well-respected author of 20 books, many of which dealt with the preparation, history and culture of food. She spent the first three years of her marriage in France, where she learned how to live and eat economically and was introduced to various wines, pastries and cheeses. This was to determine the path of her life.

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, July 21, 2011

Published by sdeswaan + Friday, July 22, 2011 Permalink 0

Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.–James Beard

James Beard (1903-1985) was an American chef and food writer who authored 20 books and was instrumental in bringing French cooking to America in the 1950s. World Culinary Institute gives a brief biography. His legacy lives on through the James Beard Foundation.