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Synopsis (From Goodsreads):
When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America's oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone's boss. And yet . . . Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no?
This is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world and worrying about losing her soul. It is the story of the moment restaurants became an important part of popular culture, a time when the rise of the farm-to-table movement changed, forever, the way we eat. Readers will meet legendary chefs like David Chang and Eric Ripert, idiosyncratic writers like David Foster Wallace, and a colorful group of editors and art directors who, under Reichl's leadership, transformed stately Gourmet into a cutting-edge publication. This was the golden age of print media--the last spendthrift gasp before the Internet turned the magazine world upside down.
Complete with recipes, Save Me the Plums is a personal journey of a woman coming to terms with being in charge and making a mark, following a passion and holding on to her dreams--even when she ends up in a place she never expected to be.
Review:
I have long been a fan of Gourmet magazine, and it's last editor-in-chief, Ruth Reichl. This memoir chronicles her tenure at the magazine and its change from staid, old-world dinosaur to a more democratic take on eating.
What I Liked:
Narrator:Just as she made the world of gourmet eating more accessible, Ruth Reichl is the perfect narrator for her own book. She brings a warmth to her presentation that invites the reader to be on her side.
Setting:
I am an avid home cook and still have many issues of Gourmet on my shelves. Under Ruth Reichl, the publication went from a stodgy dinosaur to a chronicler of American culture through food trends. I loved the behind the scenes look at how a food magazine worked (the critiques of recipes seemed particularly brutal!).
This is also a love letter to the city of New York. From the old-school power lunches to how the city came together during the 911 crisis, you just know how much Ruth loves The Big Apple.
Story:
It seems strange to talk about a memoir in terms of a "story", but the rise and fall of Gourmet Magazine held a great deal of suspense and poignancy. While Ruth did turn the monthly publication into required reading for home cooks, their publisher, Condé Nast, was too slow to embrace the Internet. Their failure to understand that home cooks wanted the ease of online access was their fatal failure. The Great Recession of 2008 hastened their downfall.
Rating:
Release Date: April 2nd, 2019
Genre: Memoir
Author: Ruth Reichl
Narrator: Ruth Reichl
Audio Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio
Audio Length: 7 Hours, 55 Minutes
Print Publisher: Random House
Page Length: 288 Pages
Source: Publisher
Format: Audio Book
Recommendation: Even if your too young to remember Gourmet Magazine, anyone who loves cooking will get immense pleasure from this book.
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