Synopses & Reviews
A funny and tender memoir about the meaning of food, family and life.
Peter Gethers has loved food and wine all his life, and now he wants to give his 93-year-old mother a final gift: a spectacular feast featuring all her favorite dishes. Problem is, he doesn't know how cook most of them, so he embarks upon a culinary journey that will ultimately allow him to bring his mother's friends and loved ones to the table one last time.
The daughter of a restaurateur, Judy Gethers discovered a passion for cooking in her 50s. In time, she became a mentor and friend to several of the most famous chefs in America, including Wolfgang Puck and Jonathan Waxman. In her 80s, she was robbed of her ability to cook by a debilitating stroke. But illness has brought her closer than ever to her son: at least twice a week, Peter visits her so he can make her dinner, ask questions about her colorful past, and learn her kitchen secrets. Gradually his ambition becomes manifest: he decides to learn how to cook his mother the meal of her dreams and thereby tell the story of her life to all those who have loved her.
With his trademark wit and knowing eye, Peter Gethers has written an unforgettable memoir about how food and family can do much more than feed us they can nourish our souls.
Review
"A very personal love poem to the amazing Judy Gethers. I was one of Judy's 'adopted' children after I met her in 1980 at Ma Maison. She was funny, stern, serious, organized, loving and, most of all, a passionate cook. I was saddened by her passing; thankfully Peter Gethers brings back the Judy we all loved." Jonathan Waxman
Review
"Peter Gethers understands the ways of cookbooks so well. But only after reading My Mother’s Kitchen did I realize his own transgenerational involvement with family and food. His was a Jewish kitchen, mine an Italian kitchen. The flavors might have been different but the sentiments and connections through food were the same. A great read!" Lidia Bastianich
Review
"I came to Los Angeles in my mid-20s, becoming head chef and partner at Ma Maison. That's where I met Judy Gethers, whom I soon came to think of as my second mother. Like my mother, Judy always looked after me — as a kind, gentle, and generous friend; as co-author on my first four cookbooks; and as director of my Ma Cuisine cooking school. In fact, I always liked to say that Judy was the Ma of Ma Cuisine. She was its heart and soul." Wolfgang Puck
Review
"Peter Gethers has written a hilarious and emotional memoir about his relationship with his beloved mother Judy, who, with pluck, style and chutzpah shaped the author, her loving marriage and their family life, dish by dish. There is much to savor here: and every story comes with a recipe: the glory days of their family restaurant/celeb haunt Ratner's (those onion rolls!), the Hollywood years with Bing Crosby singing that song at the piano, Judy's gutsy mid-life career as a chef encouraged by Mr. Puck himself, and her full circle move back to Manhattan. Every recipe is a love letter, mother to son, and now, luckily and generously, shared with all of us. Scrumptious." Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker’s Wife and All the Stars in Heaven
Review
"What a heartening love letter! A love letter to moms, a love letter to recipes, to menus, to dishes; a love letter to restaurants and other families; a love letter to the comfort and optimism that making food brings with it." Yotam Ottolenghi
Review
"Proust had his madeleine; Judy Gethers had her matzo brei. Here is a memoir — and a menu — that perfectly pays tribute to a patron saint of American gastronomy. Through his generous storytelling, Peter Gethers provides all the satisfaction and enrichment of a delicious meal." Dan Barber
About the Author
Peter Gethers is an author, screenwriter, playwright, book editor, and film and television producer. His eleven previous books include The Cat Who Went to Paris, the first in a bestselling trilogy about his extraordinary cat, Norton. He is also the cocreator and coproducer of the hit off-Broadway play Old Jews Telling Jokes. He lives in New York City, Sag Harbor, New York, and, whenever possible, Sicily.