At Grandmother's Table: Women Write about Food, Life and the Enduring Bond between Grandmothers and Granddaughters

by Ellen Berkeley (Editor)

In this deluxe gift book, more than 50 women share their grandmothers' deeply moving life stories and favorite family recipes.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Memoir

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2000

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I savored this beautiful collection slowly. Eighty lovely memoirs about eighty interesting women and their recipes, this has been a valuable resource as I tackle my grandmother's recipes.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely delightful collection of pieces from women writing about their grandmothers with a recipe for each. They are diverse in character; and each recipe is diverse. Many of the recipes are enticing and will encourage you to try them! I appreciated that there was an assortment of grandmothers presented, and memories of them: not all grandmas are sweet collections of humanity.

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone who loves to hear immigration stories told in the words of granddaughters, will LOVE this book! Grandmas' stories, from the early 1800's into the middle 1900's, make you feel as if you knew these women, too. Great recipes are included. It is a treasure.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook and At My Grandmother's Table were used in our July Try Something New Cookbook Club but this one was the favorite - so much so that one of our members bought 3 copies for the library so there would be plenty to share. The stories are wonderful and the recipes are comfort food at its best. Adult Macaroni and Cheese was the hit of the evening. Of course none of us eat this way anymore so there was much conversation about how our mothers and grandmothers lived to the ripe old ages they were cause it sure wasn't the food - but then again, maybe it was as we all remembered gran/mom cooking from scratch and from the garden, and the work and exercise that went into it. Food for thought, conversation, and tummy. Yum. Raise a fork to a perfect evening!

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenge: Reading Women - Food in the title (17)

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning about each author's relationship with her grandmother. However, although I normally love this type of book (memoir interlaced with recipes), I felt some of the stories were either overly edited (chopped up) to fit the given page allotment or just poorly written. Many of these stories felt as though they were the result of a school writing assignment asking students to reflect upon their grandmothers. Don't get me wrong... Some of the stories were great and even brought a tear to my eye, but I felt that this quality of writing did not extend throughout the entire book. I did really enjoy the grandmothers' photographs that often accompanied the stories and felt they helped me envision each woman's life a bit better. I would say this is worth reading if you are interested in the relationship between grandmothers and granddaughters, but be prepared for a wide array of writing styles and ability.

[marissa sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are no food photographs in this book, which normally aggravates me in a cookbook. But there *are* photos of the contributers' grandmothers, which makes up for it and simultaneously lends the compilation a sense of shared intimacy. Some of the stories are painful, some amusing; most of them are engagingly heartfelt, and the recipes cover a broad range of skill levels, tastes, and culinary traditions.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely book! Sixty-eight women write about their grandmothers - some beloved and familiar, some living far away, some never even met - and share their stories. Then, each grandmother is remembered with a recipe or two, perhaps a much loved specialty, perhaps a make-do dish from Depression days. This makes me want to make a book of my own like this one.