The inimitable Reichl, editor of Gourmet magazine and former NY Times food critic, will read from her latest book--Not Becoming My Mother--at 6 pm tonight in Harvard Square. It doesn't sound as though this book is really about food, but I'm hoping that it secretly is. I'll post a review of the event tomorrow.
Event Review: Reichl began her reading last night with two “Mim tales”—funny anecdotes about her mom’s utter lack of taste for food—including one story in which her unwitting father was fed a spoonful of something that tasted like “cat toes” just so her mother could confirm it was, indeed, spoiled.
That was pretty much where the food talk ended, however. Reichl instead recounted the long and difficult process that led her to writing this latest book, which strives for a more comprehensive and authentic picture of her mother Miriam, called Mim, who was plagued by bipolar syndrome, poor mental healthcare, and her own deferred dreams as a woman in the first half of the twentieth century. I won’t go into the particulars here, but suffice it to say that in spite of its title, this book is clearly an affectionate elegy.
One reader asked: How could Ruth have possibly become such a renowned foodie, having grown up in her mother’s disastrous kitchen? She claims it was the need to become attuned to flavor from a very early age (lest she literally be poisoned) that gave her her start.
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