Shoshanapnw's review of Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs
Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs by Andrew Friedman
I'll admit that though I'm a very good cook, and with my partner own somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 cookbooks, I don't own cookbooks by any of the chefs represented in this collection. I have nothing against them, but I've never heard of most of them. This means that I read the anthology without a picture of anyone (except Anthony Bourdain) or any orienting knowledge of them. Not a Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Marian Burros, Mark Bittman, or Nigella Lawson in sight.
The 41 authors vary significantly in their capacity to tell a story and evoke either empathy or laughter. Puzzlingly, the entries are in alphabetical order by author, which means that the stories aren't grouped thematically or interwoven by theme--there is no narrative arc. The only rationale I can ascribe this to is that this way, none of the authors would feel snubbed. This seems emblamatic of something that's mostly missing from this collection, acknowledgement that the chefs themselves may cause their staff mem...more
The 41 authors vary significantly in their capacity to tell a story and evoke either empathy or laughter. Puzzlingly, the entries are in alphabetical order by author, which means that the stories aren't grouped thematically or interwoven by theme--there is no narrative arc. The only rationale I can ascribe this to is that this way, none of the authors would feel snubbed. This seems emblamatic of something that's mostly missing from this collection, acknowledgement that the chefs themselves may cause their staff mem...more
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