Synopses & Reviews
From the legendary editor who helped shape modern cookbook publishing one of the food world's most admired figures an evocative and inspiring memoir.
Living in Paris after World War II, Judith Jones broke free of the bland American food she had been raised on and reveled in everyday French culinary delights. On returning to the States hoping to bring some joie de cuisine to America she published Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The rest is publishing and gastronomic history.
A new world now opened up to Jones: discovering, with her husband, Evan, the delights of American food; working with the tireless Julia; absorbing the wisdom of James Beard; understanding food as memory through the writings of Claudia Roden and Madhur Jaffrey; demystifying the techniques of Chinese cookery with Irene Kuo; absorbing the Italian way through the warmth of Lidia Bastianich; and working with Edna Lewis, Marion Cunningham, Joan Nathan, and other groundbreaking cooks.
Jones considers matters of taste (can it be acquired?). She discusses the vagaries of vegetable gardening in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the joys of foraging in the woods and meadows. And she writes about M.F.K. Fisher: as mentor, friend, and the source of luminous insight into the arts of eating, living, and aging.
Embellished with fifty recipes each with its own story and special tips this is an absolutely charming memoir by a woman who was present at the creation of the American food revolution and played a seminal role in shaping it.
Review
"Jones was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. This accolade, along with her prolific editing career, makes her story especially intimate and poignant to the reading foodie, while also standing alone in its particular view of American history." Cathie Beck, Rocky Mountain News
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"As for the 'tenth muse' in The Tenth Muse: Call her Gasterea, who presides over all the pleasures of taste. Brillat-Savarin named her. Judith Jones does a heartfelt job honoring her." Leonard Gill, Memphis Flyer
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"A foodie reader's paradise." January magazine
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"This volume produces a powerful nostalgia for the days when food books could be culture shapers and not just party favors for TV chefs.... By the time you get to the 60 or so recipes Jones includes at the end, they seem like familiar characters we’ve met in the well-told tales that precede them." Dorothy Kalins, New York Times Book Review
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"Affectionate, passionate and informative." Kirkus Reviews
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"In addition to mouthwatering descriptions of various dishes, Jones offers an inside scoop on the publishing world. The story of her life is enjoyable in itself, and the added tales of the famous are the frosting." Library Journal
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"Judith Jones has written a love letter to food charming, wise and irresistibly tasty." Peter Mayle
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"Judith Jones's lovely memoir shows us that this petite giant, blessed with a voracious sense of adventure and timing, an erudite palate, a marksman's eye for talent and an abundance of good taste was there at every step of our country's culinary revolution, finding, coaching, editing, and promoting the players who made it happen." Danny Meyer
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"An entire generation of women (including me) learned to cook from Julia Childs' books. And for that we have Judith Jones to thank. Judith was the first to champion Julia's brilliant career, as well as many others who have changed the world of food. This, Judith's personal adventure, is a truly wonderful story." Ina Garten
Synopsis
In this evocative, delightful memoir, legendary editor Jones recounts the early years of the modern American cooking revolution and her own inspiring role in it.
About the Author
Judith Jones is Senior Editor and Vice President at Alfred A. Knopf. She joined the company in 1957 as an editor working primarily on translations of French writers such as Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. She had worked before that for Doubleday, first in New York and then in Paris, where she was responsible for reading and recommending The Diary of Anne Frank. In addition to her literary authors, she has been particularly interested in developing a list of first-rate cookbook writers; her authors have included Julia Child (Judith published Julia's first book and was her editor ever after), Lidia Bastianich, James Beard, Marion Cunningham, Rosie Daley, Marcella Hazan, Madhur Jaffrey, Edna Lewis, Scott Peacock, Joan Nathan, Jacques Pépin, Claudia Roden, and Nina Simonds. She is the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of two books: The Book of Bread: Knead It, Punch It, Bake It! (for children); and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L.L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook. Recently, she has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.