The Bread and the Knife: A Life in 26 Bites (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781628729238)

"You'll wish the alphabet had more letters just so Dawn Drzal would keep on writing."--Laura Shapiro, author of What She Ate, Julia Child, Something from the Oven, and Perfection Salad

As it was for M. F. K. Fisher in The Gastronomical Me, food is more than a metaphor in The Bread and the Knife. It is the organizing principle of an existence. Starting with "A Is for Al Dente," the loosely linked chapters evoke an alphabet of food memories that recount a woman's emotional growth from the challenges of youth to professional accomplishment, marriage, and divorce.

Betrayal is embodied in an overripe melon, her awakening in a B饌rnaise sauce. Passion fruit juice portends the end of a first marriage, while tarte Tatin offers redemption. Each letter serves up a surprising variation on the struggle for self-knowledge, the joy and pain of familial and romantic love, and food's astonishing ability to connect us with both the living and the dead.

There is a chapter for every letter of the alphabet. Highlights include: A is for Al Dente, B is for B饌rnaise, C is for Crab, D is for Dinner Party, K is for Kielbasa, L is for Lobster Roll, P is for Passion Fruit, Q is for Quail, T is for Tarte Tatin, V is for "Vegetarian, W is for White Truffles, Z is for Zucchini Blossoms.

Ranging from her grandmother's suburban kitchen to an elegant New York restaurant, a longhouse in Borneo, and a palace in Rajasthan, The Bread and the Knife charts the vicissitudes of a woman forced to swallow some hard truths about herself while discovering that the universe can dispense surprising second chances.

The book includes six recipes that run the gamut from "Crepes Filled with Huitlacoche" to her stepfather's homely "Stromboli Stuffing," including a couple that are more entertaining to read about than to prepare, like liquified olives with pimento.

Author: Dawn Drzal
ISBN-10: 1628729236
ISBN-13: 9781628729238
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Language: English
Published: 09/11/2018
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.70w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 08/01/2018 pg. 115
Publishers Weekly 12/17/2018