Poor Man's Feast: A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking

by Elissa Altman

From James Beard Award-winning writer Elissa Altman comes a story that marries wit to warmth, and flavor to passion. Born and raised in New York to a food-phobic mother and food-fanatical father, Elissa was trained early on that fancy is always best. After a childhood spent dining everywhere from Le Pavillion to La Grenouille, she devoted her life to all things gastronomical, from the rare game birds she served at elaborate dinner parties in an apartment so tiny that guests couldn't turn around to the eight timbale molds she bought while working at Dean & DeLuca, just so she could make tall food.

But love does strange things to people, and when Elissa met Susan — a small-town Connecticut Yankee with parsimonious tendencies and a devotion to simple living — it would change Elissa's relationship with food, and the people who taught her about it, forever. With tender and often hilarious honesty (and 27 delicious recipes), Poor Man's Feast is a universal tale of finding sustenance and peace in a world of excess and inauthenticity, and shows us how all our stories are inextricably bound up with what, and how, we feed ourselves and those we love.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Memoir, Cookbooks, Cooking, Biography Memoir, Food Writing

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 25, 2013

About the author

Elissa Altman is the author of Poor Man’s Feast: A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking and the James Beard Award–winning blog of the same name and Treyf: My Life as an Unorthodox Outlaw. Her work has appeared in O: The Oprah Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The New York Times, Tin House, The Rumpus, Dame Magazine, Krista Tippet's On Being, Tablet, The Forward, LitHub, Saveur, and The Washington Post, where her column, Feeding My Mother, ran for a year. Her work has been anthologized in Best Food Writing six times. A finalist for the Frank McCourt Memoir Prize, Altman has taught the craft of memoir at The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, The Loft Literary Center, 1440 Multiversity, and Ireland’s Literature and Larder Program, and has appeared live onstage at TEDx and The Public, on Heritage Radio, and on NPR’s The Splendid Table and All Things Considered. She lives in Connecticut with her family.
elissaaltman.com Facebook.com/elissa.altman Twitter: @ElissaAltman Instagram: @ elissa_altman

Reviews

[Minako Morin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elissa Altman has been compared with M.F.K. Fisher. I don't get it. Her writing does not possess the elegance or the class that Fisher's prose does. Altman's voice is condescending, her style stiff, her narrative often angry.

I liked the recurring theme of the love between her and her father, which I really understood to be the foundation of her love of all things food. But everything else, particularly her relationship with her now-wife, felt strangely not-real-enough for me, and therefore, boring.

I did finish the book although I nearly gave up a few times. The reviews on Amazon are stellar, but they all seem to have been written by her fans who were determined to like the book before even they purchased it.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know a book is good when you don't mind subway delays because they give you extra reading time.

I absolutely loved reading Elissa's story and how she tied it all together with mouth-watering images of food. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her relationship with Susan and her relationship with food evolve throughout and I made mental notes to try almost every recipe in this book.

If you enjoy food and you love watching great love stories unfold, then Elissa's memoir is definitely for you.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really love memoirs that center around food but this one never quite caught me. The stories were fine but maybe it's because I'm not from the East Coast, or rich, or a New Yorker, or a Jew, but I didn't get many/most of her name dropping references, except to know that I was supposed to be impressed but wasn't. Maybe she was supposed to be poking fun at herself? I don't know. 2.5 stars.

[Mari Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for books that have “culinary themes” and enjoy them even more when there is a well written story with well developed characters. I felt like I entered right into the lives of Elissa and Susan...from two very different backgrounds, but very much in love with each other and with all things food. The preparation, the scents, the textures, the presentations. All were backdrops against the story of their relationship and of their relationships with their families. Her writing reminds me of Ruth Reichl’s...descriptive and visual with well chosen words.

I am always careful with giving high reviews and I had to ask myself a few questions to justify the 5 stars. Was it hard to put down? Yes! Did I enjoy it? Yes! Did I learn something? Yes! Had to google a few of the terms. And also ended up ordering a ridged pasta board to attempt to make homemade penne pasta and an herb garden starter kit.

Is this book for everyone? No. But if you enjoy reading about all kinds of delicious foods and learning the complexities of relationships (PS. Loved her butcher Arnaud!). And as a bonus...there are 26 recipes...three of which I plan to make this week.

Bon appetit!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read and insight into how food shapes us whether planting, buying, cooking, or eating. It is also the story of leaving Manhattan, a known place and life, to a small town in Connecticut to start a new life with Susan. Bonus; there are recipes. Enjoy.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been more interesting to me if I was a foodie. The reflections and memories of the author’s childhood and adult adventures in NYC were well told and often very poignant.

[Bookish Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a big lover of food, finding great joy just puttering in my kitchen with a pot roast in my slow cooker and making and baking a couple dozen of my buttermilk cheesy biscuits.

I’m also a big lover of memoirs of all kinds, thoroughly enjoying the stories of people from all walks of life with interesting stories to tell.

So I was pretty thrilled to find Poor Man’s Feast by food blogger Elissa Altman. Would Poor Man’s Feast be a fully-satisfying literary meal or would it leave me hungry for more?

The answer? Well, both.

Altman is a native New Yorker, and throughout Poor Man’s Feast she never lets you forget it. Her love of food is something she shared with her father, and it was how these two bonded as parent and child.

On the other hand, there was Altman’s mother, a total glamour puss who didn’t just disdain food and refrain from eating; she actually seemed to fear food and her own appetite.

Once Altman got older she refines her love of food by working at Dean and Deluca (hmm, just like Felicity), working throughout various departments and spending a big part of her paycheck on Dean and Deluca’s culinary delights. Dean and Deluca is a touchstone for Altman, one she harkens back to throughout Poor Man’s Feast.

Altman also comes to terms with being a lesbian and Poor Man’s Feast focuses a great deal on her relationship with Susan, a woman who would become the love her life.

On paper, Altman and Susan couldn’t seem more different. Whereas Altman is a sophisticated city slicker, with a finely-tuned taste and palate only a place like New York City could offer (yeah, right—Milwaukee has just been named a great food town), Susan is a small-town gal whose love of food is too low class for the likes of Altman.

And it was these aspects of Poor Man’s Feast that left me unsatisfied. Though Altman tells us of her love for Susan, she never really seems to show it. Altman, at turns, is dismissive of Susan and her family, and their less sophisticated lives and food choices. Perhaps, Altman’s dryer than baking powder humor was supposed to be witty but I found it way too sarcastic and not funny at all. Only as Poor Man’s Feast come to a close did I truly feel Altman’s love for Susan and her growing acceptance of Susan’s family and their plebian taste in food.

Perhaps I would have liked Poor Man’s Feast better if Altman would have focused more on her relationship with her father and how they bonded over their love of all things food. It was these lovingly-written passages that truly touched my heart and made my mouth water with beautifully written.

Originally published at the Book Self:
https://thebookselfblog.wordpress.com...

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Food blogger, cookbook editor and writer Elissa Altman has written her own memoir, looking at her association and relationship with food and culinary matters that have been with her from a very young age.

Such books, particularly from a fairly unknown person, are rather hard to review as there is less of a perceived connection to the author because of their relative obscurity. This can be a good and a bad thing, as sometimes the best stories come out of the most unknown characters. This book left this reviewer in two minds. With a "culinary" hat on, it did not necessarily seem to be that interesting, despite it being about food. It was harmless, vaguely engaging and well written but it still left the reader feeling unfulfilled, slightly cheated, waiting for and wanting more. As a general "light read" it would be so much better, but this reader at least wouldn't expect to pay such a price premium for this.

Unlike similar memoirs and life histories this one failed to connect. That should not necessarily rule it out as tastes can vary, but you might be more advised to take the time and examine this in a bookshop rather than just "buying blind". It just feels like it lacks mainstream appeal and interest. Mixed in with the text are a couple of dozen recipes that have a particular relevance and meaning to the author but, gently said, you won't be buying this book for these recipes alone.

Finding love, life challenges and an overall life journey are key parts of the author's story. If it was a fictional story it might be one of those light reads, in a cheap paperback, that would be possibly harmless and an enjoyable way of killing a few hours on a lazy day. It just didn't gel with this reader in any case.

Poor Man's Feast, written by Elissa Altman and published by Chronicle Books. ISBN 9781452107592, 288 pages. Typical price: USD20. YYY.


// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //

[Leah K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Man’s Feast: A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking by Elissa Altman
288 pages

★★★

This is the memoir of Elissa Altman, the blogger for poormansfeast.com. I’ve never actually gone to the website. I grabbed this book from the library because the title look interesting, not because I like the blog of have a great obsession for food (regardless of what my chunky figure says). Her book circles mostly around her relationships – with her parents, with her girlfriend, with food. Most chapters end with a recipe on one of the food items mentioned in that chapter that often holds meaning to the author.

This wasn’t a bad book but I really had trouble relating to the author. She seemed fairly bitter in parts, to the point of distraction, where I just wanted to tell her to hush and suck it up. However, other times in the book I loved how she handled situations and especially loved the relationship she shared with her Dad – I looked forwards to the stories about her dad. And don’t get me started on the part where her girlfriend and she are too poor to get gas in their car but can afford a trip to Italy. I must me doing this whole poor person thing wrong because I have no idea how to afford food, let alone a trip to Italy. I kept going back and forth between being annoyed by the book and enjoying in immensely, hence the inbetween rating.

As for the recipes in this book, some are worth a try for me, being within my budget one day. Others are far too exquisite and highly priced for the average cooker out there. But if you can afford meats that cost $30+ a pound and seasonings that can cost more than a car payment, then maybe these recipes are more up your alley. But there are some recipes for those that are looking for a cheap, easy dinner, some are even too easy (if you have trouble making a tomato sandwich and need the recipe, you’ve found the right book!).

[Jhoanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book #1 from my 2014 goal to read 52 Books in 52 Weeks:

Another wonderful recommendation from the good folks at Book Larder in Seattle WA (which you should definitely check out next time you're in the PNW - if only for their amazing and affordable lunchtime cooking classes - genius idea!).

Anyway, back to Poor Man's Feast by Elissa Altman: if you are a foodie and/or a writer and/or a person who loves good writing and good eating, you will love this book. As her longer title explains, this is a "love story of comfort, desire, and the art of simple cooking." Altman, a self-professed fancifier of food - the more complicatedly prepared and precariously perched on the plate, the better - falls in love with a fellow foodie and "simple is better" cook who shows her the beauty of uncomplicated food to be shared simply with loved ones.

She mixes in reminiscences of her family and their relationship to eating and cooking, as well as the often fraught dance between two people who have lived long and separately who then want to create a life together. Set mainly in NYC and rural Connecticut, it talks lovingly about the Manhattan food scene as well as the process of acclimating to a less urban hometown, where fresh baked bagels, authentic Chinese food and not-immediately-frozen fish can be hard to come by.

There are recipes as well, very delicious looking ones that I have yet to try, but these two looked the most immediately accessible and delicious to me: "Yellow Split Pea Soup with Ham" and "Braised Lamb Shanks in Red Wine."

A great first read for 2014, and an exciting start to my 2014 goal of reading 52 books in 52 weeks.

Happy Reading!

[Robin Scanlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were parts of the book I lived and parts that were annoying. I found it hard to connect with her. She gave you a sense of her passion for food, but the words just didn't touch me. In some parts she comes off as a food snob, yet the best parts are when she speaks about loving a simple dish her partner made using vegetables from her garden and time spent with family. The recipes in the book often don't have the strongest connection with the chapter they are associated with. I often thought about not finishing it...it was interesting enough to complete, but not interesting enough for a rave review.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy her writing, it just envelopes you in the most satisfying way. I felt i could feel the ingredients, the process, taste it, smells the aromas, see it bubbling gently piled high before me. But it's the context of the recipes, the history of the recipe, those involved in creating & sharing it and ehy its specisl to her that i liked best. This is a cookbook, a memoir and a love song to food and the joy it can bring to life.

[Kurtbg · Rating 2 out of 5]

A city and country mouse tale wrapped in a love of food.
Chapters end with recipes a la the Cleo Coyle coffeehouse series.

[Juliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a slow start for me, but by page 80 I was totally hooked. I lived in NYC in the 80's and 90's and revisiting many of the haunts that Ms. Altman and her family favored was a treat, as was her funny stories about growing up a Jewish foodie in NYC and trying to weave a relationship with a smart country girl who she assumes knows nothing about food. Her mother's rants about dieting will resonate with a lot of women too.
There is tenderness but not sentimentality in her development of the relationship, and i was gobsmacked by her descriptions of the 'tall' food she used to cook--and how much money she spent at Dean and Deluca on ingredients that most of us would not know how to pronounce. Discovering in her partner a Yankee practicality that initially she thought was a shortcoming, but proves to be an enriching of her understanding of food and life--and how, but more importantly, why we do the things we do--reminded me to do the same. It doesn't hurt that now I live in CT and many of the places referred to there are familiar to me as well.
Really enjoyed this book and hope to pick out one or two recipes to make for our book club meeting!

[Cameron Toney · Rating 3 out of 5]

What sets apart good food writing from mediocre or bad food writing is charm. Thats a hard thing to quantify, but its the critical ingredient. I've read things that, while undoubtedly have recopies or observations on food, but read like a textbook. So a memoir about food is very much in need of charm.
I think this book has it. Its not quite a food memoir, Altman isn't a chef, doesn't work in restaurants, but it is a story that has food at it's center.
It just avoids feeling unfocused, as she deals with dating a new love (one with a very different cooking style than herself), her relationship with her family, and the difference between life in the city and the country.
I think this is a very nice read, more about the emotions of cooking and eating rather than the technical details (though there are recipes) but that is more of what I am interested in.

[Connie Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Nora Ephron and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had a baby together, it would be this author, Elissa Altman, who will entertain you with her ingenious quick wit and incredible sense of humor.
As a child of a reed thin model mother, who was always watching her weight, Elissa's father secretly treats her to the finest restaurants in New York City.
Elissa begins to appreciate food and loves to prepare it. The more extravagant the better.
Upon meeting Susan, who resides in upstate Connecticut, the connection with all things food and preparations develops.
Susan demonstrates how simple ingredients and preparations can be just as satisfying.
It is a love story of food, sharing and learning.

[Kym · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delicious little memoir! (Really. The food-talk and recipes are mouth-watering.) I’ve been following Elissa Altman’s writing for awhile now, and have always meant to pick up her memoir, Poor Man’s Feast. So I guess you could say . . . it’s about time! I find Elissa’s writing style to be very accessible and conversational. Reading the book made me feel like she was talking to me over a (couple of) glasses of wine. I especially appreciated and enjoyed how naturally she used food to tie together and balance the various elements of her story. So glad I finally grabbed this one off the library shelves!

[G.K. Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading a whole streak of books about homesteading and cooking and farming and ~food related feelings~ written by straight (white) (cis) men, this was a breath of fresh air. More queers writing about these things, please. More middle aged lesbians in passionate love affairs with other middle aged lesbians.

[Joan Stroh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, but do think its audience is for the person who loves food and loves reading cookbooks and food articles. I love cooking, reading food memoirs, food articles and admit I was hopeful in thinking I'd find a person just like the author did - a lover of food.

I read a chapter a day because the story unfolded like having coffee with a girlfriend - great heartwarming story.

[Kiwi Carlisle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m nuts for good writing about food. Elissa Altman can do it. I really should stop right there and let you discover this richly-textured, beautifully vivid memoir for yourself. Her memories of growing up with a father who loved food and a mother who hated it, the ways that love transformed her life, and the delights of cooking and eating in city and country are a joy to read. Have fun.

[Panteha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love and admire that she knows so much about food, but not at the cost of my having to out the book down constantly to look up very technical terms for food and paraphernalia. The love story gives one hope.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick and enjoyable read. Part memoir part loves story; About the love of food and about the love between two women. One woman is into high haute cuisine, the other, has a simpler but no less take on food. We are what we eat: not just in the present but what foods out our families.

[Sarah Shafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed this book. The food descriptions are MOUTHWATERING and so incredibly diverse, the recipes included seem attainable (I plan on trying a few soon!) and the story of love and family throughout brought tears and many a smile.

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just beautiful. Elissa Altman has a lovely tone that manages to be conversational and poetic at the same time, it's quite something. This view into her life through her food and her food through her life is just really compelling.

[Jen Wier- · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!

[Sam Berner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully funny, bittersweet and human. Loved it!

[Maggie Panning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the most dishonest title ever, it is all about the love of fancy food.

[Mandy Crumb · Rating 1 out of 5]

The love story I unearthed while reading this was the one between the author and food. The tone that Altman utilizes white talking is one of fake superiority and rage. What an angry person!

[Tommie Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book of love of people and love of fantastic food. Sometimes the food preparation overwhelms the love story and the flashbacks of the author's family. Couldn't put it down.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my least favorite genres of books is books written by New York hipsters that complain about all the hipsters ruining New York.