I’m a foodie. I love to cook. I love to feed people. I love to eat. Therefore I put this book on my wish list and a book friend gifted it to me!
Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; Hamilton’s own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family—the result of a prickly marriage that nonetheless yields lasting dividends. By turns epic and intimate, Gabrielle Hamilton’s story is told with uncommon honesty, grit, humor, and passion.
I read this book and loved it. Then I looked up the chef and was disappointed with the recent news about who she is choosing to partner with. Alas and sigh. Trying to reserve judgement and hope her intentions are good. The book is very well written, Gabrielle’s voice is amazing. Cooking for me when done without restriction, is zen, alone in a kitchen with loud music and recipes in my head of how I want to cook is one of the sources of joy for me. There is something about cooking with wild abandon that speaks to my soul. Feeding people is one of my gifts that I purely enjoy. I’m undecided if I will read her next book, Prune.
