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Eating
Jason Epstein, legendary publisher of Norman Mailer and Vladimir Nabokov, editor of such great chefs and bakers as Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck, takes us on a culinary tour through his eventful life.
From the great restaurants of postwar Paris to the narrow streets of New York’s Chinatown today; from a New Year’s dinner aboard the old Ile de France with Buster Keaton to a...more
From the great restaurants of postwar Paris to the narrow streets of New York’s Chinatown today; from a New Year’s dinner aboard the old Ile de France with Buster Keaton to a...more
ebook, 0 pages
Published
October 27th 2009
by Anchor
(first published 2009)
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Community Reviews
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May 01, 2011
Chris
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
food-essays-memoirs,
2011-reads
Really 2 1/2-3 stars.
A review from "Newsweek" on the cover says, "An unpretentious chronicle of an extraordinary life well lived." Unpretentious? Um, I don't think so. Epstein, an editor with Random House, has worked with some of the finest writers including Norman Mailer and Nabokov and edited Alice Waters's cookbooks, a definite name dropper. Unpretentious he is not. We hear he went to Columbia at least twice, he has a penthouse in Manhattan and a house in Sag Harbor, he lived next door to Cra...more
A review from "Newsweek" on the cover says, "An unpretentious chronicle of an extraordinary life well lived." Unpretentious? Um, I don't think so. Epstein, an editor with Random House, has worked with some of the finest writers including Norman Mailer and Nabokov and edited Alice Waters's cookbooks, a definite name dropper. Unpretentious he is not. We hear he went to Columbia at least twice, he has a penthouse in Manhattan and a house in Sag Harbor, he lived next door to Cra...more
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OK, full confession: I'm a a sucker for gastro-memoirs. I love reading about food, food prep, meal consumption and even menu planning. If the author has led a really intriguing life, and/or eaten amazingly diverse and even oddball foods in interesting locations, even better. And if there are a few accessible recipes thrown in, including some things I might even be able to duplicate, or at the very least learn from, my reading experience is complete.
Jason Epstein, who for many years was the edito...more
Jason Epstein, who for many years was the edito...more
I read this a couple of years ago in one or two sittings. It is a wonderful summer read: literate and memorable. Epstein, once a titan of the publishing world, has such a wide range of interests, friends, capabilities, that reading this book is like sitting in his kitchen, chin in hand, the sun slanting in, while he talks and putters, making a tarte, perhaps, or a blueberry pie. That he makes it just a little differently from your mother's is just curious, not catastrophic. I don't know quite wh...more
Mar 09, 2012
Heather
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Heather by:
Megan
I started this book feeling a little grumpy: when I finish reading a novel and pick up a work of nonfiction, it requires a little adjustment—and maybe this is especially true when switching from a novel to episodic nonfiction like this book. Eating started not as a book but as a recipe column in the Style section of The New York Times, and it feels it: it's not exactly a chronological memoir, as Epstein goes from talking about Paris circa 1954 in one chapter to lobsters in the next to cooking Ch...more
I got this book from the library--I tend to scroll through the listings of e-books available at the library and just randomly choose books that I think might be interesting--what the heck, they are free and I can always delete them with a click of the button--I don't even need to return to the library!
Anyway, I selected this book, started to read, and then realized that I had read the book once before. As I read through it for the second time, I enjoyed all the same things I enjoyed the first ti...more
Anyway, I selected this book, started to read, and then realized that I had read the book once before. As I read through it for the second time, I enjoyed all the same things I enjoyed the first ti...more
I liked this book and have read many foodie/chef books, but you would think that such a famous editor and publisher would have written a longer and better organized book. At a mere 165 pages, the book is slight, but the annoying thing is that there is hardly any demarcation between the author's written words and his recipes. They just sort of run together with the recipes in darker type. Plus, the recipes aren't that exact and I'm not sure the average cook could reproduce them. Still, I always e...more
Mar 21, 2012
Kaitlyn Barrett
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
eating-and-cooking
Meh. A bunch of things about this book rub me the wrong way.
The subject matter is great – food and travel – but the stories are told with too much emphasis on location and landscape and not enough street/personality flavor.
The recipes could be delicious but the writing structure is maddening. I have to read the whole recipe to figure out what to do and in which order, I then have to make my own list of what I’d need to buy/acquire/have because the ingredients and tools are scattered throughout...more
The subject matter is great – food and travel – but the stories are told with too much emphasis on location and landscape and not enough street/personality flavor.
The recipes could be delicious but the writing structure is maddening. I have to read the whole recipe to figure out what to do and in which order, I then have to make my own list of what I’d need to buy/acquire/have because the ingredients and tools are scattered throughout...more
This is a very small book, not only a thin one. But although I was thus warned that it would be brief, it was still disappointingly so. Epstein stays away from outright gossip, for which I am grateful, but I really could have used more anecdotes. Easily a third of the text is (tasty) recipes, most involving lobster. There's also a pretty creepy story about a lobster dinner. I will definitely need to try adding duck fat to a burger. There's a chapter on M.F.K. Fisher (recounting her own memoirs;...more
This book was a great interim nonfiction between the classics. It was short, funny, and all about great food with great people. Jason Epstein has lived the kind of life and known the kind of people that made reading this book a little reminiscent of "A Moveable Feast" which is maybe my all time good food/good people book.
The recipes are super interesting and written in a conversational style. They lean heavily to seafood specific to the Northeast, but I will definitely remind myself of them if...more
The recipes are super interesting and written in a conversational style. They lean heavily to seafood specific to the Northeast, but I will definitely remind myself of them if...more
Epstein was an important figure in the publishing industry. I’m pretty confident that assisted in his book getting published.
He offers a few brief thoughts on some well-known people who are his friends or acquaintances and pads out the book with unstructured recipes and very few details about his personal life.
There wasn’t enough substance to be book worthy for me. It was a super quick read but overall disappointing.
He offers a few brief thoughts on some well-known people who are his friends or acquaintances and pads out the book with unstructured recipes and very few details about his personal life.
There wasn’t enough substance to be book worthy for me. It was a super quick read but overall disappointing.
This could have been so much more. Epstein enjoyed an interesting life as the editorial director of Random House and he can be quite entertaining. He really shines when he is describing old New York, Maine, and the Cape, or sharing anecdotes about his interaction with the likes of Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer. But even if you are able to overlook the hackneyed food "facts" and ambiguous recipes, the redundancies may drive you mad.
This editor is in desperate need of an editor.
This editor is in desperate need of an editor.
Written as only the editor of Random House could write his memoir. The book is spiced with wondrous tid-bits of cooking & eating . His enthusiasm for all things food shines through this sometimes tender, all times candid little charmer. Who knew about "strattu"? My copy is copiously flagged with post-its, mostly marking great recipes to try.
for food and publishing/literary nerds. i doubt i'll make many of the recipes (heavy on the lobster, the oysters and the frying) but it was a great read. glimpse at the bygone days of the book business (martini lunches not mentioned but implied; jackie o and gore vidal make appearances). i really wanted to go to some of these parties.
Reading his recipes is like listing to him talk at a dinner table. A quick read, with some good menus and a publisher's who's who in the food writing world. On a few occasions, mainly the east coast seafood bits, his food experiences really hit home for me. Creating a yearning for steamer clams that has not been satiated yet.
So pretentious! The author clearly states that he's writer and not a chef, but he sure does command you to cook things like a chef. I understand that this is a memoir, but Epstein clearly lived a privileged life that he is quick to brag about. His writing style was to abrasive for me to even finish the entire book!
This book is filled with good recipes, each one accompanied with background details of childhood memories, friends/family who shared the meal, and where many of the ingredients came from. A treat to read about someone who enjoys the process of acquiring, cooking, and eating good food!
The review in the Washington Post made me want to read this book, but it's for a different reader than my humble self! This man knows important people and cooks important food (mostly seafood) using recipes I'd never dare try. O well!
I wanted to like this, I really did, but it was such a very difficult read. Not really something you can sit down and read - I think it functions more as a recipe book (without measurements?). This is all very strange considering he's a well-known editor.
Jason Epstein lived a life I would love to live. It was different era. The book left me wanting to know more, though. There are some nuggets, including my new favorite quote (by J.T. Peete): "Pray for peace and grace and spiritual food, for wisdom and guidance, for all these are good, but don't forget the potatoes."
Epstein is from another era. He and Gore Vidal toured Europe with a driver. The anecdotes about Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck were interesting, but the recipes were rather unrealistic to me.
Interesting essays. A recipe comes with every one, but you'd better like fish, and I'm not a huge fan. About 75% of the recipes involve fish, so it was not as much fun for me.
May 06, 2010
Colleen
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
biography-and-memoir,
cooking-and-eating
Though I did enjoy this book, I felt it was only an appetizer to what could have been a glorious meal. "Please sir, can I get some more?"
I will definitely try some of the recipes, especially the lobster rolls. They sound delicious.
I will definitely try some of the recipes, especially the lobster rolls. They sound delicious.
A Christmas gift given to the Giddings family for Larissa and I. I will be the first to read and then pass along to Larissa....looks like a good read!
Needed more memoir and less recipes (or at least more accessible ones - or at least more acknowledgement of how far beyond the Lean Cuisine pale he was taking us).
Not well-written! This was basically boring, and even though I like informal recipes, I couldn't get through the recipes either. Quite disappointing.
I wanted to hear more about eating and recipes not publishing and old restaurants and old recipes that I've seen before. I'm all for memoirs with recipes but this is more for someone who actually likes Epstein or maybe old NYC restaurants and not just generally food. Other reviewers keep saying that this isn't just a cookbook and I think I'd have liked it more if it was just a cookbook. This feels like the kind of book that you'd write to leave to your children and family who know you and not th...more
This slim memoir captures quite a few memorable meals and includes recipes and a bit too much name-dropping for me.
good recipes and easy to follow . goof stories to set a context for the recipes
I remember almost nothing from this small and rather insignificant book.
Got to be a foodie to really get it but well written
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