The Table Comes First

Adam Gopnik's enthusiasm for all things foodie shines in the audio edition of his latest essay collection. Discussing everything from wine to potatoes, from food TV to literature, Gopnik covers food trends from the birth of the earliest restaurants and cookbooks to 21st-century locavores and urban honey producers. Gopnik's expressive reading--complete with a polished French accent when needed--invites listeners to share a table with him while he composes email to the late Elizabeth Pennell (food critic) or talks about the hidden knowledge of all good cooks. The text includes some discussion of cooking methods, but the narrative is not interrupted by formal recipes. Gopnik's passion for food history and how our culture became obsessed with food is a treat for the ears and the palate. C.B.L. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

January 2, 2012
Longtime New Yorker contributor Adam Gopnik charts the rise and evolution of America’s obsessive foodie culture, tracing the roots of “eclectic eating in big cities” back to French manners, describing how the emergence of restaurants affected social norms, and chronicling his own culinary adventures and misadventures in both the United States and Europe. Gopnik is an enthusiastic reader, especially when describing his own experiences, e.g., the wariness in his voice is palpable as he embarks on a possibly illicit mission to procure (and consume) a New York–raised chicken. However, Gopnik’s narration is less natural during more academic sections of the book, such as when he attempts to place our relationship with eating in a historical context. In such cases, his reading sounds stilted—as if he’s delivering a lecture from his notes. A Knopf hardcover.