Title: Has its moments, although...
Review: First of all, don't buy this book for the recipes. They seem to be included to give the feel of the period, and aren't very interesting today. That said, there are some worthwhile passages in this book, notably those that involve the author's bipolar mother. The problem is that the bulk of the memoir is larded with boomer-generation cliches: the motherly housekeeper, the exotic boarding school roommate, the high school 'fast crowd,' the exotic college roommate, the post-college communal household. One cringe-worthy chapter in the middle is reminiscent of Neal Pollack's "I am friends with a middle-class black person"--minus the satire. Finally, at the end, things just begin to get interesting as the author visits French vintners in the company of Kermit Lynch. Perhaps the sequel is a better read. For a far superior coming-of-age-with-food read, try Nigel Slater's "Toast." It succeeds more effectively on every level--and all he had to work with was British food!
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