Women on Food

August 5, 2019
Druckman (Skirt Steak) presents an entertaining and thought-provoking “variety show” of previously unpublished essays, interviews, and ephemera from women working in the world of food. Standout essays cover such themes as motherhood and race, including food writer Osayi Endolyn’s memorable piece on dining out in America as a woman of color (“it’s perhaps still not my demonstrable right to sit at a bar, a woman, a black person, and feel entitled to enjoy my meal”) and cookbook author Tienlon Ho’s vivid essay on spending her postpartum months incorporating Chinese traditions into her life and “being nourished by my family.” In addition, Druckman deconstructs the fabled rivalry between restaurant critics Gael Greene and Mimi Sheraton and examines how each left “enduring marks” in the field of culinary criticism. Druckman also includes meaty interviews with such prominent food personalities as Carla Hall and Rachael Ray, as well as recipes, including Dorie Greenspan’s “(If We Were in Charge of the) World Cookies.” A dozen questionnaires and responses are peppered throughout, polling contributors on topics ranging from the weighty (when have you been complicit “in upholding white patriarchy...?”) to the lighthearted (“What is a good thing to put on toast?”). This celebration of women’s influence in the industry and primer on the discrimination they still face will satisfy foodies and feminists alike.

October 1, 2019

Food writer and journalist Druckman (Stir, Sizzle, Bake; Skirt Steak) sought to talk to women who work in and around the food industry. In casual, previously unpublished essays, she shares an understanding of what it's really like for women in this profession, both the joys and the frustrations. Druckman alternates between in-depth interviews with a single subject and quick responses to a question answered by several writers, chefs, food critics, TV stars, and foodies. Familiar faces make appearances, such as TV chef and personality Rachael Ray and Top Chef contestant Preeti Mistry, as well as those who might be lesser known, such as Cheryl Rogowski, the first farmer awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant, and food writer Rebecca Flint Marx. Druckman's questions revolve around a wide range of topics: Whom would you credit for career advice, were you ever unsure in your role, what's your favorite gadget or food product? VERDICT Druckman's lively work will appeal to anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of the food industry, including the less glamorous aspects.--Ginny Wolter, Toledo Lucas Cty. P.L.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2019
Druckman's (Skirt Steak, 2012) second anthology on women in the food industry is a colossal volume featuring the voices of over 100 chefs, writers, critics, farmers, innovators, and TV personalities. Focusing on her subjects, Druckman's stamp is everywhere: in her enthusiastic introductions for each piece; new interviews with onscreen chefs Rachael Ray and Carla Hall, food activist-entrepreneur Devita Davidson, and Cheryl Rogowski, the first farmer to win a MacArthur "Genius Grant," and in her own essays on the so-called rivalry between legendary critics Gael Greene and Mimi Sheraton and women's complicity in their own disempowerment in the industry. Among many memorable contributions are Soleil Ho's piece on food in video games, Osayi Endolyn's meditation on dining alone while Black, Tienlen Ho's memoir of food as medicine, a handful of photo-essays and cartoons, and just a few recipes. Major truths arise in several sections in which dozens of contributors respond to a single question from Druckman in a not-always-harmonic chorus. Beyond-nourishing fare for foodie-readers, and a valuable catalog of progress and the progress still to come.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)