Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (2005, Hardcover)

Garlic and Sapphires is a terribly funny and entertaining book. Ruth Reichl used to be the restaurant critic for the New York Times, so this is the story of her life during that time period. Ms. Reichl appears to be a person who enjoyed her job because she loves food, not just as nourishment, but the way it brings people together and it affects lives. Her job ended up bringing out the worst and best in herself, literally. She had to use disguises to be able to see how the different restaurants treated different customers, and everytime she became someone new, we as the readers get to learn about the transformation and the reactions of those she came in contact with, from her own son, to the terrified waiters that met her "bitter spinster" persona. She also writes about what's going on with her own life at the time, and the recipes that were meaningful for her because of it. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

I am not sure whether this is a food book or a psychological treatise. I found some of the disguises she chose to be very condescending. The women she depicted would never be able to eat in the restaurants she went to. For the first time I considered that the restaurant critic is a dinosaur we no longer need.