Food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl took the job (and the risk) of a lifetime when she entered the glamorous, high-stakes world of magazine publishing. Now, for the first time, she chronicles her tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet.
Once again Ruth Reichl has served up something special ... every bit as addicting and satisfying as anything she’s ever written and more ... Reichl offers her story with the craft of a gifted fiction writer, she moves her story quickly and precisely, drawing her readers into her world in every sense, which is just one aspect that makes this book so delightful, another is the many recipes included within the pages. We follow her along as she treks through uncharted regions of learning new things, things she did not believe she could do, but that grew her into more of whom she is, making this a relatable bite. Her story and artistry deserve all the stars.
We know the ending to this foodie fairy tale, but it’s still fun to read Save Me the Plums, Reichl’s poignant and hilarious account of what it took to bring the dusty food bible back to life with artistic and literary flair through the glory days of magazine-making ... Reichl peels away the layers of drama that arrive with her new job. (Caution: Former editors might experience indigestion while reveling in Reichl’s rich servings of publishing world intrigue.) ... Working mothers will sympathize with Reichl’s descriptions of the exhausting rhythms of a 'dream job' ... Tantalizing recipes provide punctuation to the career twists and turns ... each serving of magazine folklore is worth savoring. In fact, Reichl’s story is juicier than a Peter Luger porterhouse. Dig in.
[Reichl] provides entertaining glimpses into life at Condé Nast ... The restaurant columns Ms. Reichl wrote were clever and incisive, but in this memoir, rhapsodic food descriptions can get the better of her ... Sometimes Ms. Reichl’s prose slides into romance-novel mode ... When Ms. Reichl sticks to reality, her story moves along in a lively fashion. Her description of how she and her staff took food down to Ground Zero after the attack on the World Trade Center is heart-rending ... Save Me the Plums is a lively but rather breathy re-creation of a great decade of magazine food writing, a genre now replaced by apps such as Instagram, where you can find pictures of towering ice-cream sundaes, avocado toast and even lobsters—boiled.
