Start the Fire: How I Began a Food Revolution in America

by Jeremiah Tower

AS SEEN IN THE NEW DOCUMENTARY JEREMIAH THE LAST MAGNIFICENT

Newly revised and reissued to coincide with The Last Magnificent, a documentary feature produced by Anthony Bourdain, the indelible and entertaining memoir from Jeremiah Tower which chronicles life at the front lines of redefining modern American cuisine.

Widely recognized as the godfather of modern American cooking, Jeremiah Tower is one of the most influential cooks of the last forty years. In 2004, he rocked the culinary world with a tell-all story of his lifelong love affair with food, and the restaurants and people along the way.

In this newly revised edition of his memoir, retitled Start the Fire, Tower shares with wit and honesty his insights into cooking, chefs, celebrities, and what really goes on in the kitchen. Above all, Tower rhapsodizes about food—the meals choreographed like great ballets, the menus scored like concertos. No other book reveals more about the seeds sown in the seventies, the excesses of the eighties, and the self-congratulations of the nineties.

With a new introduction by the author, Start the Fire is an essential account of the most important years in the history of American cooking, from one of its singular personalities.

Genres: Memoir, Food, Food Writing

412 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 4, 2017

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part fascinating, part sanctimonious. A kind-of-memoir that breezes over the very real sorrows that could've humanized Tower. JT employs citations of the journalists and food luminaries who praise him and mockingly quotes his detractors. I can see him riffing off this meaningless review one day in a future book, griping about the slight of a keyboard warrior.

I loved The Last Magnificent, in spite of the retrospectively awkward inclusion of Mario "Cinnamon Roll" Batali. Bourdain humanized Tower, deftly acknowledged the messiness of the origin stories of California cuisine, and brought out the best version of Jeremiah. It felt here like Tower was more interested in a topical account (and taking down Alice Waters) than digging deep.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I'm a foodie, I enjoyed reading not only about the life of the great chef Jeremiah Tower, but about his philosophy of cooking and the evolution of American cuisine in the past 50 years. The book starts and ends somewhat frenetically -- I wonder that a little more assertive editing wasn't brought to bear, but once JT hits his stride, I found the narrative of his formative years, relationships and struggles in the high-stakes restaurant business very engaging. He brings an acerbic wit to his writing, as well. Fabulous anecdotes about the movers and shakers on the culinary scene. Highly recommend if you like this genre.

[Lex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite how scattered Tower can be at times (Start the Fire loses its chronological anchor about halfway through and doesn't regain it until the final 50 pages, and do we really need to know the name of every celebrity who dined at Stars?), if you love food, this is a book worth reading. As he says at the end, Tower "lies like an eyewitness" throughout this jam-packed account full of kitchen tales tall, short and otherwise.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where to begin? I am a foodie and am aware of the food movement of the 70's and 80's. I was interested to read of JT's accounting of this time period. What I got was a self-indulgent romp of pretentious menus and name-dropping without much personal reflection. He is quite good at proclaiming his status as the father of New American Cuisine, but often it seems that his successes come from circumstantial accidents rather than intentional culinary direction. A great example is the Grilled Meat and Salsa being born from lack of space, time, and money at the Santa Fe Grill rather than real intention. I was also struck by his lack of ability to maintain any stability. He would take credit for the creation of something (Chez Paisse, Stars, teaching, etc) but often would abandon the project after a few short years.
Perhaps Towers is the father of New American cuisine, but like many fathers of that time period, he left the raising of the child to the mother, Alice Waters.

On a side note: I find it deeply disturbing that he glossed over his molestation at the age of six, again, by priests, and later by boarding school coaches. Equally disturbing were his own comments about sexual encounters with 15-year-old dishwashers or culinary students. Perhaps his own inability to face the harm done to him prevents him from seeing the harm he has done to others.

[Carlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

After seeing the documentary "The Last Magnificent"(and Jeremiah in person) I was intrigued to read more but maybe it was a bit too much more. While interesting. it became a little tedious after awhile- so many menus, often similar, and so many names dropped! Perhaps more stringent editing would have helped though I can imagine Jeremiah wouldn't have been in favor.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Menus and Name-dropping! After watching a documentary on CNN about Jeremiah Tower it made me want to read his book. Interesting but not what I was hoping for. The behind-the-scenes of restaurant industry.

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it if you like this genre. I'm looking at Alice Waters in a new light.

[Andrea]

At first this memoir seemed a bit tedious with its restaurant and famous chef name-dropping. However, once Jeremiah Tower started describing his childhood full of amazing foodie experiences and trips overseas, this book became more interesting.